Hello guys!! Happy Friday!!
I'm finally getting today and the weekend off, and after the many days of work on a row I've had, I really really needed this!
Today I might be baking a bit, depending on how I feel after taking a lil resting nap after night shift, tomorrow the plan is to be taken to a spa as an early birthday gift by one of my besties and then read and watch Doctor Who and Outlander!
This week's Friday Reads is all about one of my most anticipated debuts of the year. Not only I was very intrigued by the premise of the book, but also the author is an absolute dear! She made sure I managed to get my hands on an ARC of the book! Thank you so much Nikki! And thanks a lot to Danny from Bewitched Bookworms for sending me her ARC!
As an ARC it's gonna be counted towards my 2014 Review Pile Reading challenge!
Lailah by Nikki Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have been super excited about this book for so long and I've had both the Kindle and the hardcover preordered for quite a while, so when the author made sure I could get my hands on an ARC, I was quite beside myself with excitement!
I'm very happy to say that I was not disappointed by this book, even if it has a love triangle, and I think it's been established that I am not a fan of those!
When we first meet Cessie, we find out that she's not really human and that maybe Cessie is not her real name, and once she starts stumbling into vampires and then meeting up with an angel and realizing that her memory is being both an ally and a liabilty.
My absolute favourite part of the book is the mythology and how Nikki has mixed Angels & Vampires, creating a whole new origin story for both that is both fresh and fascinating. The origin stories of vampires and angels and the connections between them were quite unique in themselves and I really enjoyed how the explanation for the mythologies and religions created around those facts for this world worked very well with what we know but thankfully never got preachy, which is quite usually a danger with angel books. I have the feeling that we have bt scratched the surface of more information about the world of Styclar-Plena and I cannot wait to find out more.
The characters were quite an interesting mix, Lailah is a girl in trouble, that knows she's lived more than once and that finds herself torn between two guys, two sets of instinct and two guys. Gabriel and Jonah could have been made into two typical archetypes of good and evil, but with the intriguing mythology that Nikki created, neither of these guys is entirely black or white, even if they wouldn't want to accept it themselves. Both deal with the world with a good palette of greys. The love triangle set up here managed to work for me because it's all about choice and destiny/fate and also each guy calls one side of Lailah's dual nature. Gabriel brings out the light, and Jonah seems to bring the wilder and more dangerous nature of Lailah out.
Despite my enjoying their interactions and finding both guys very intriguing I just couldn't pick a side, so to speak, both love interests had fantastic & swoony perfect moments and both had moments that made me want to whack them in the head! Lailah herself has a tendency to recklessness and acting on impulse that made me shake my head more than once. It didn't bother me as much, given how maddening being on the run or in safe houses must be, and her memory loss means not knowing who to trust and what to think of those that know you better than you do at the moment.
The ending and the epilogue were the "have you on the edge of your seat" kind and I was so glad to see the first chapter of the next book in this one, but that was not good since even that chapter ends up in a cliffhanger!
Very well deserved 4 stars for this new refreshing twist on the paranormal!
View all my reviews
I'm finally getting today and the weekend off, and after the many days of work on a row I've had, I really really needed this!
Today I might be baking a bit, depending on how I feel after taking a lil resting nap after night shift, tomorrow the plan is to be taken to a spa as an early birthday gift by one of my besties and then read and watch Doctor Who and Outlander!
This week's Friday Reads is all about one of my most anticipated debuts of the year. Not only I was very intrigued by the premise of the book, but also the author is an absolute dear! She made sure I managed to get my hands on an ARC of the book! Thank you so much Nikki! And thanks a lot to Danny from Bewitched Bookworms for sending me her ARC!
As an ARC it's gonna be counted towards my 2014 Review Pile Reading challenge!
Lailah by Nikki KellyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have been super excited about this book for so long and I've had both the Kindle and the hardcover preordered for quite a while, so when the author made sure I could get my hands on an ARC, I was quite beside myself with excitement!
I'm very happy to say that I was not disappointed by this book, even if it has a love triangle, and I think it's been established that I am not a fan of those!
When we first meet Cessie, we find out that she's not really human and that maybe Cessie is not her real name, and once she starts stumbling into vampires and then meeting up with an angel and realizing that her memory is being both an ally and a liabilty.
My absolute favourite part of the book is the mythology and how Nikki has mixed Angels & Vampires, creating a whole new origin story for both that is both fresh and fascinating. The origin stories of vampires and angels and the connections between them were quite unique in themselves and I really enjoyed how the explanation for the mythologies and religions created around those facts for this world worked very well with what we know but thankfully never got preachy, which is quite usually a danger with angel books. I have the feeling that we have bt scratched the surface of more information about the world of Styclar-Plena and I cannot wait to find out more.
The characters were quite an interesting mix, Lailah is a girl in trouble, that knows she's lived more than once and that finds herself torn between two guys, two sets of instinct and two guys. Gabriel and Jonah could have been made into two typical archetypes of good and evil, but with the intriguing mythology that Nikki created, neither of these guys is entirely black or white, even if they wouldn't want to accept it themselves. Both deal with the world with a good palette of greys. The love triangle set up here managed to work for me because it's all about choice and destiny/fate and also each guy calls one side of Lailah's dual nature. Gabriel brings out the light, and Jonah seems to bring the wilder and more dangerous nature of Lailah out.
Despite my enjoying their interactions and finding both guys very intriguing I just couldn't pick a side, so to speak, both love interests had fantastic & swoony perfect moments and both had moments that made me want to whack them in the head! Lailah herself has a tendency to recklessness and acting on impulse that made me shake my head more than once. It didn't bother me as much, given how maddening being on the run or in safe houses must be, and her memory loss means not knowing who to trust and what to think of those that know you better than you do at the moment.
The ending and the epilogue were the "have you on the edge of your seat" kind and I was so glad to see the first chapter of the next book in this one, but that was not good since even that chapter ends up in a cliffhanger!
Very well deserved 4 stars for this new refreshing twist on the paranormal!
View all my reviews
Sounds like a fun filled day of R&R! I just watched the most recent episode of Outlander yesterday, but we're 2-3 weeks behind the Starz version, so I'm not exactly sure which one you'll be enjoying later today. Anyway, I hate that there's a love triangle in this book, but at least both of the prospects were equally swoon worthy, and those kinds of epilogues are my fav! Have a great weekend, Pili!
ReplyDeleteThank you Carmel! Isn't Outlander totally addictive?? I binge watched the show in 3 days and now I've started the book!
DeleteGame changing epilogues are indeed the best! Hope you'll have a great weekend too!
Love triangle?? Really? *sigh* I kind of felt like there would be one from the blurb... *double sigh* I don't know, you seem to really like it despite the evil geometric shape of love, so I think I'll give it a shot nonetheless :)
ReplyDeleteI say do give it a try, some love triangles work and this is one of them, Lili!
DeleteI'm glad you liked this one Pili! Most of my bloggy friends really did :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristen! I'm so sorry that it didn't work for you!
DeleteYay for getting time off. <3 I hope you have the most awesome weekend Pili :) Thank you for sharing your awesome review. <3 I'm glad you ended up loving this book. There is no way I will ever read it, never ever ever, but love your review, hih :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Carina! It's being quite nice so far!
DeleteAnd yeah, I know love triangles really bother you, so this one won't be for you!
Like you i'm still dying to get my hands on my copy of this! Congrats on getting a copy of this one early and having everything just work out for you! I'm glad you really liked this one and that it didn't disppointed! I'm also thrilled that the love triangle wasn't somehting you completely hated in this book! Great review :)
ReplyDeleteOh i'm so glad you liked this one! I've also been dying to get my hands on a copy of this one so i'm glad the release day is nearly here! I'm so happy this one worked for you and wasn't a let down! Love the fact that the love triangle also didn't uin your feelings about this book!
ReplyDeleteGreat review :)
Thank you Lily! I was quite pleasantly surprised when the triangle didn't bother me!
DeleteTeehee! You know how I feel about this one... too bad for me! Nikki is so nice though :D Well, I'm giving away one of my copies of Twitter now, if anyone happens to read this comment and wants to enter!
ReplyDeleteExcellent review, Pili!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
Nikki is truly awesome! I'm sure you'll get loads of entries in the giveaway!
DeleteOoh, this is good to read. I've been interested in seeing reviews of this book. I like good world-building in books as a rule, and though I'm generally not into books about angels or vampires, you're really selling this. Well-built mythology, yay!
ReplyDelete