Daring You to Read - Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Daring You to Read is hosted every week by Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews.

Here's how it works:

- You choose a book you’ve read, loved and would dare your readers to read!

- The book you choose must be an older release (at least 6 months ago), because let’s be honest, we’re all quite aware of the latest releases.

- Write your own blog post, using the button and linking back to Tynga’s Reviews, inviting your readers to read your chosen book.

- Come back on Tynga’s Reviews and put your link in the linking tool.

- Browse other bloggers Dare and let them know if you’ve read their featured book, or plan on reading it.

- Super easy and an awesome way to discover that special book who might have slipped off your radar!

This week I'm daring you to read Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton. Especially with the release of the second novel in the series, Wings of the Wicked, coming up here in less than two weeks now.

When I reviewed it last year, I commented on the quickness of Ellie accepting her role as warrior for Heaven. But, as I said before, had she not it would have greatly hindered the pace of the book. And I probably would have grown tired of it.

As it were, I thought the pace of the book was great. The conversation between characters was effortless (I seriously cannot STAND when conversation sounds scripted) and it was a fun read. There were some controversial topics you don't often read about (or at least, I haven't, I don't know about you) in other novels that popped up in this one. And I was surprised but had to give props to Courtney for not being afraid to throw it in there.

I loved Ellie's sense of humor and Will... ::sigh:: he's serious, and seriously focused. But he sounds seriously dreamy too.

The book is a great read and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of book number two!

So read it! I dare you. :-)

Book Trailer: Wings of the Wicked

Cover Reveal - Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

Angelfire novel number 2 by Courtney Allison Moulton:

Wings of the Wicked



From Goodreads:

"Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.

Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven’s warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell’s strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night.

She’s been warned.

Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian’s new plan to destroy Ellie’s soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian’s schemes , the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself.
She’ll be betrayed.

Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be hell to pay."

Ladies & Gentlemen

I would like to introduce you to my BOOKSHELVES.

 This Harry Potter bookend was originally purchased before Harry Potter was a movie I believe. So, we've had it for a while. My mom was big into HP stuff so we got it for her. :-)

These owls are just cool. And reminded me more of Harry Potter. I'm weird. What can I say.

So I don't have ENOUGH books to fill my shelves. I know. Horrible isn't it? And You see Elvenblood by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey there... I have the 2 other that have been published SOMEWHERE. Still wish they'd publish the final book... even though Andre's not around anymore. Next to that are some things from Angelfire signed by Courtney Allison Moulton! And next to THOSE is the note that came along with Experience written by Meg Kerr!

More HP memorablia. That little dragon right there is Norbert. :-)

And the bottom shelves have my daughter's books. It looked like she had more than that, but I didn't realize how skinny some of her books are. That's all Junie B Jones and Magic School bus etc.

And... courtesy of my brother, lol, Rough Weather Ahead for Walter the Farting Dog.

This... I am sad to say.... does not fit on my bookshelves. :-( This is Hagrid... and another Norbert. Hagrid sat watch over all my books while they were stacked up on the top of my chest of drawers. Now, I don't know where to put him. Makes me sad.

And there you have it folks. A quick look at some of the things on my shelves. There are more shelves than what's pictured, of course. But They're kind of bare, so I'm waiting until I have more on them to show them off. :-) I have other books upstairs, I just have to go through boxes to find them. But I'm wicked excited to finally have somewhere to put them!

Review - Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Possible Spoilers... if you haven't read the book and don't want to possibly have it ruined, stop now.

I finished Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton this afternoon.

Good book. Interesting premise and fun story. In my opinion it's definitely a page turner.

I didn't expect Ellie to accept her "life" as quickly as she did, but I suppose had she not it would have hampered the pace of the rest of the book. I was surprised to see a familiar something from Fallen/Torment by Lauren Kate. The Grigori are mentioned in Angelfire as well. First reaction was "Nice, another Fallen novel" (I love the series, but can't stand finding books that mirror others). But I looked up the Grigori online and here's what I found:

The Watchers (from Greek egrḗgoroi (ἐγρήγοροι)) or Grigori are a group of fallen angels told of in Biblical apocrypha who mated with human females, giving rise to a race of hybrids known as the Nephilim. The Watchers appear in Biblical apocrypha, in the first and second books of Enoch and Jubilees. The word "Grigori" derives from the Slavonic Second Book of Enoch.

So, crisis averted, no issues with the book there.

Really, the only ISSUE I had with the book was the alcohol. Now, I know that teenagers drink alcohol. I'm not going to pretend that they don't. I just don't like reading about it. It's bad enough to deal with them in real life.

And her dad... wow. But kudos to Courtney for adding that controversial bit in there. I don't often read novels in this particular genre where the dad shows such hatred and contempt for his own child. It happens quite enough in real life unfortunately, but I never expected to see it in this type of book. It's not happy by any means, and I've been through my share of verbal/emotional abuse in my almost 28 years.... but it's not something a lot of authors I read seem to have the nerve to delve into.

Conversation in the book was effortless and easy to read. Ellie has herself a sense of humor. And Will, even though he's a bit uber-focused, sounds pretty dreamy.

If this had been a movie, I'd have been on the edge of my seat.

Take Me Home

Well, I've been gone for a week. Computerless even (Oh the HORROR). But I'm back. :-)

I did finish The Cowboy. And yeah... great book. My opinion of the back cover (remember I thought Trace was controlling and manipulative and a real jerk? Yeah... COMPLETELY wrong). I highly recommend anyone who's reading this to go get a copy. Or borrow it from the library.

ALSO...

In the last week I have started and finished Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies. It was a book I picked up from the library last week and I must admit... I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't sure I would, as it's about talking deer. BUT. It is kind of like Harry Potter... but with deer. Very cool. I don't have like, a formal review or anything for it. And right now I'm unfortunately too tired to type one up. But there wasn't a minute while I was reading it that I thought "WOW this is boring". I really couldn't put it down. It was great. Another one you should go check out from your library/friend/local bookstore.

I also finished Afterlight by Elle Jasper. It took it a while to totally grip me and suck me into the story (and by a while I mean 20 pages) but after that it was another one that I just couldn't put down. I mean, come on. A chick that's a wicked awesome tattoo artist and vampires. This was not a "Twilight-esque" book (and don't get me wrong, I love Twilight). Riley Poe isn't the sort of girl who just falls all over herself over the love of her life or who NEEDS someone to protect her from all the dangers of the world. I mean, the damsel in distress type of story is only appealing for so long. Riley can definitely hold her own in a crazy situation. Great book from the Dark Ink Chronicles. Can't wait for Everdark to come out in June!

And last but not least, while I was away I received a nifty little prize from brand new author Courtney Allison Moulton. Angelfire is her debut novel (just hit shelves YESTERDAY) and I'm really excited to read it. You all should go check out her blog for lots of fun stuff about her book!

She's wicked sweet and nice to chat with (and she loves horses!). I actually won another contest of hers a while back where I received a copy of Percy Jackson from her.

So... that's been my exciting week. I'm off to figure out which library book to dive in to next, and tomorrow will be a long awaited trip to the bookstore where I'm hoping to find copies of Angelfire, Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater, and whatever else I can get my mitts on.

Ciao!