{Review}: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Angelfire
by Courtney Allison Moulton
Series: Angelfire #1
Release Date: February 15 2011
by HarperCollins / Katherine Tegen Books

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First there are nightmares. Then come the memories. Now she must hunt.
Ellie can't shake the terrifying dreams about monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. Then she meets Will and feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. When they meet on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.  Her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. In order to survive, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives, the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, and the truths that are too frightening to remember. Angelfire is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

I started Angelfire not really knowing what to expect. I'd heard great things about it and terrible things about it. I guess my opinion falls somewhere in the middle, because while I didn't love the book, I also didn't hate it. To me, this book is the definition of a 3-star book. Not perfect, but not terrible. I'm not really sure how to make this into a formal review, so I'm going to break this review up into 4 elements: the writing, the plot, the characters, and the romance.

• The writing I didn't have any real problems with the writing, but it wasn't my favorite. I like it when the writing flows smoothly without any bumps, but this writing had some flaws. For example, sometimes the sentences were kind of choppy and didn't fit together perfectly. I guess this might be the result of this having been Moulton's debut novel. Ellie as a narrator was...interesting. I wasn't a fan of her character (more about that later) but I also didn't like her narration. Sometimes she'd say things and I would literally roll my eyes. I'm sorry but I'm just telling the truth. The thing I did like about the writing was that Moulton did an insanely awesome job describing the fight scenes. She described them in such detail and that's a skill that many authors lack. 

• The plot The plot was definitely my favorite part--but that doesn't follow that I adored it. I have only read a couple books about angels (Hush, Hush and Fallen). I loved Hush, Hush and wasn't a fan of Fallen, so I wasn't sure if I was keen on the angel thing coming into this book. I like the idea of a girl being kick-ass enough to save the freaking world, but the idea wasn't carried out well enough. I heard on and on about how Ellie was so powerful and courageous and Moulton displayed examples of this, but all in all, I didn't CARE how powerful Ellie was at the end. I've already heard this ten gazillion times!!!!! What I did like about the plot really comes down to the angels. The Fallen, the Grigori, the reapers, etc. I loved hearing about all of them and their powers and what they could do. It was like discovering a new genre of books that I'd never heard about before. So I loved that. 

• The characters I have a lot of mixed feelings about the characters. On the one hand, Ellie is pretty kick-ass for a YA female character, but on the other hand, I hated her and was *this close* to wishing that she would die already. As a character, I found her to obnoxious. And also. I am SOOOO, SOOOO sick of heroines in young adult books blatantly lying to their parents and not even feeling very bad about it! Ellie did have some regrets when she lied to her parents, but when she said, "I have more important things to think about than curfew and house rules" (direct quote missing), I literally wanted to throw the book across the room and scream.  Anyway, that was my opinion of Ellie--not very good. I liked Will too. He definitely wasn't my favorite YA love interest, but he was lovable and crush-worthy. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about him (well, other than the fact that he's a...guardian angel) but he seemed sweet and caring (even if Ellie didn't deserve his love at all), so I liked him. 

• The romance I probably have the most to say about the romance. For one thing, I liked the buildup to the romance and how it really didn't get started until like 75% of the way through the book. I also liked the forbidden love element, since I always am a sucker for reading about forbidden love. But also, it seemed like once it did get started, it escalated too quickly. Such as, just days after their first kiss, Ellie was thinking that she wanted to touch him, feel him, and even though she never said directly that she wanted to have sex with him, it was strongly implied--so strongly implied that it took me a moment to realize that she didn't actually say it. Anyway, though, the romance had an interesting ending. Cliff hanger!! Another thing about the romance: It wasn't insta-love, but it seemed like it because just moments after Ellie met him she was "captured by his gaze" or "thinking that he was sooo hot". I get that Ellie and Will had known each other from previous lives but it didn't prevent those things from being annoying. As you might now, I'm not very picky and can usually go with the flow with things like this, but it bothered me a little. 

So all in all, Angelfire didn't blow my mind, but it also didn't make me want to hurl (always a good thing). It seems like your typical YA fantasy romance, and it is. A little cliche, but I haven't read too many angel books, so maybe the reason why it seemed new and different was that. I suggest you read it if you like angels, and you don't mind if your female protagonist is a complete idiot. Happy reading. :)

3/5 stars