Review Detail

I thought this book sounded really interesting from the description and while there were some cool elements, the story fell flat for me.

Brielle, an eighteen year old former ballerina has returned home after being away at a prestigious boarding school for the past few years. She's come back broken and scarred after suffering a recent, tragic loss. All she wants is to fade into the background of her old life but the new guy in town won't allow her to do that. There's something about Jake that draws Brielle to him but she can't quite put her finger on it. He's hot for one, like physically hot, to the touch, and there's the light in his eyes that draws Brielle in every time she looks at him.

The more she gets to know Jake, the more she realizes he could be one to help heal her brokenness and if he can't, he might be able to point her to someone who can. It won't be easy though and Brielle will have to fight if she wants to overcome her pain. She'll also learn that the battle she faces isn't always one easily seen but it's worth it if she wants a way out her old life and into a new one.

Dittemore's prose is beautiful and the different character POV's adds a creative touch. What I found to be difficult and slightly confusing was not only are the POV's switching back and forth but the characters themselves are switching back and forth between the Terrestrial and the Celestial realms (Essentially the physical and spiritual realms) with the bulk of the action taking place in the Celestial realm.

Not all of the characters are human, some are angels and demons nor can all of the humans "see" what's taking place within the Celestial realm. That fact ties into the story but it's also what made it hard to follow along, for me at least. The battles are vividly descriptive but not gory which some readers will appreciate. The romance develops rather fast but is pretty chaste - not a bad thing but I'm not opposed to plenty of kissing when necessary. ;)

It's obvious that Dittemore has a good working knowledge of the Bible and the scriptures within that discuss spiritual warfare and I enjoyed the verses that were scattered throughout the story. I also liked that she chose to have the characters discuss topics such as free will, and the difference between God "making" bad things happen and God "allowing" bad things to happen in order to fill a greater purpose. Showing how the choices we make can reach far beyond just ourselves was a good point to drive home as well.

I do think there are many readers who will enjoy this book and the ones to follow in the trilogy even if I wasn't one of them.