AUTHOR: Shannon Dittemore
GENRE: Christian, Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
PARANORMAL ELEMENT: Angels and Demons
PUBLISHED: Thomas Nelson (2012)
RATING: 3
FIND ON: Amazon
SYNOPSIS:
(Courtesy of Goodreads) Brielle’s a
ballerina who went to the city to chase her dreams and found tragedy instead.
She’s come home to shabby little Stratus, Oregon, to live with her grief and
her guilt . . . and the incredible, numbing cold she can’t seem to shake.
Jake’s the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption.
Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what’s going to happen. And a beauty brighter than Jake or Brielle has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start.
A realm that only angels and demons—and Brielle—can perceive.
Jake’s the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption.
Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what’s going to happen. And a beauty brighter than Jake or Brielle has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start.
A realm that only angels and demons—and Brielle—can perceive.
REVIEW:
I love reading books about supernatural creatures
and worlds. I am looking for Christian books about the spirit realm, angels,
demons and how it all REALLY works. This story is all fiction and every aspect
of Shannon Dittemore’s angels, demons and their interaction in this world is
not real.
That being said, after my disappointment fizzled and
I continued reading, the story is quite interesting, intense and held my
attention as a fictional story with fictional creatures. I loved the beginning
where Brielle embarrasses herself and continues to embarrass herself in front
of Jake, the hunky love interest, throughout the book.
His gift (no spoilers here) and her gift is
fantastic and a great element to the story. BUT… I wish everyone believed that
we can have spiritual gifts through the power of God and not some “object.”
RATING:
Pet Peeve #1:
“Christianese” - The language in this book did not sound like a Christian
person trying to sound all important and with the “in-Christian-crowd.” She
wrote it like a normal person. Thank you.
Pet Peeve #2:
Cheese-Ball Sanctification – The story wasn’t cheezily set up so that the main
character would “get saved” in the end. There was no sinner’s prayer. YAY!!!
The main character “found God” and turned to Him all along the way. There was
no character shoving God down her throat or making her feel like a doggone
sinner. Double YAY!!
Pet Peeve #3: Unrealistic
Spiritual Gifts, Rules, or Beings – She scored pretty low on this one. But I’m
finding out that my expectations are misguided, because I work in deliverance
ministry I assume everyone knows how demons work and how angels work… which is
not the same at all. So I will forgive that and remind myself that this is a
fiction novel too.
With all of that
said, with way too many words, I give this a rating of 3. It was a pretty
good story, decent characters, interesting (fictional) supernatural characters,
the plot kept me reading and I was not disappointed with the outcome. And
lastly… teenagers kiss in Christian novels???? Awesome!
RECOMMENDATIONS:
I would totally let my
teen or preteen read this book. There is teenage kissing and attraction, but
nothing inappropriate. The only thing that is disturbing is what the bad guys
are doing. They are human trafficking and that is a little appalling (but they are bad guys and demons doing bad things.) Not that it is
forgivable, just understandable.