Go to Confessions of a Book Freak for my thoughts ( )

Angeli tentatori. Angel fire, diL. A. (Lee) Weatherly, è il secondo volume della trilogia YA urban fantasy paranormal romance Angels Trilogy, tutta incentrata sulle creature angeliche.

Diversamente dagli altri romanzi del filone angelico, la Angels Trilogy Series presentava un anno fa un fattore innovativo piuttosto apprezzabile, soprattutto dopo una scorpacciata di paranormal romance stucchevolemtne romantici e pieni di angioletti del tutto devoti al bene: una genesi innovativa della figura angelica e, soprattutto, la malvagitĂ  dei suddetti angeli.

Un anno fa, con il primo volume Angel, la Weatherly era riuscita senza dubbio a conquistare una buona fetta di lettori, soprattutto grazie alla scene cariche d’amore e azione. Il finale poco chiaro non aveva intaccato troppo l’opinione generale del libro, limitandosi a lasciare un po’ di amaro in bocca al lettore.

Angeli Tentatori riparte esattamente da dove avevamo lasciato Willow e Alex: in fuga da tutto e tutti e braccati a vista dagli Angeli che avevano tentato di fermare e distruggere.
Nel frattempo però viene presentato anche un nuovo e pericoloso (unicamente per gli amanti della coppia Willow&Alex) personaggio: Seb. Anch’egli semiangelo come la nostra Willow, Seb è alla ricerca spamodica di una ragazza semiangelo, la sua ragazza semiangelo, ragazza da lui sognata e cercata da anni.

Alex e Willow, alla ricerca di un modo per sconfiggere gli angeli, si recheranno, guidati da una visione della ragazza, a CittĂ  del Messico dove incontreranno vecchie conoscenze e niente meno che Seb. Cosa accadrĂ ? Seb si metterĂ  fra Alex e Willow dando il via ad un altro dramatico triangolo? Si unirĂ  agli Angel Killer sopravvissuti lasciando Willow ?

Come Angel, anche Angeli Tentatori si presenta come una conferma. La Weatherly, infatti, continua a tenere incollati i lettori, pagina dopo pagina, con il suo stile, la cura dei personaggi e soprattutto con questo sua versione “cattiva” degli angeli.
Willow, Alex e lo stesso Seb che abbiamo appena conosciuto sono stati caratterizzati bene dall’autrice, con particolare attenzione Alex che mostra molte più sfaccettature caratteriali rispetto che in Angel.
Altro punto a favore dell’autrice è la cura dei particolari che non lascia nulla se non il necessario all’immaginazione del lettore, mostrandosi a volte prolissa ma sicuramente accurata. E’ piacevole per una volta leggere qualcosa classificato “per giovani” ma allo stesso tempo ricco di particolari, è evidente che “per giovani” non sia un sinonimo di superficialità. Peccato che non tutti gli autori lo sappiano, questo.

Il romanzo risulta scorrevole e piacevole, nonostante i numerosi elementi inseriti in piĂą dall'autrice che hanno dato un tocco piĂą complesso all'intera vicenda, triangolo amoroso a parte che, invece, risulta piuttosto scontato.

Una lettura da ombrellone ma non solo, anzi, visto la piccola "mole" del tomo è consigliabile gustarselo al fresco di un ristorante, e quanto mai essenziale, ventilatore... ( )

This is the second book in the "Angel" Trilogy by L.A. Weatherly. The series follows Willow Fields on a path of self-discovery and relationships in a world inhabited by evil angels that suck the life force of humans leaving them damaged for life. This second book continues straight on from where the first book left off with Willow and Alex running once again for their lives...

This might be a bit long... I did not enjoy the majority of this book. For a huge number of reasons.

1. The book is way too long for a story where not much actually happens in the way of action as you would expect from the plot. Over 700 pages which could easily be halved and the story would flow just the same. The pacing was too slow, dull and boring at times, and it was a huge struggle to carry on reading (the only reason I did was because when I start a series, I have to finish it). The important action scenes were crammed into a small number of pages each and it was just EUGH. A LOT of the story content was just not needed and dragged the whole thing out until it was nearly unbearable.

2. THAT love triangle
I'm normally all for love triangles but this was just unnecessary and awkward to read and seemed like it was just there for well, just because.
After the whole epicness of the love between Willow and Alex in the first book (which happened way too fast), the chucking in of this love triangle just made their love even more unrealistic and ruined the underlying intimacy of the book. It also made me emotionally distance myself from both Willow and Alex because they became immensely annoying. Alex especially... Just... Eugh... I had such high hopes for him and now he's hypocritical and pathetic.

3. Repetition
This is one of my pet peeves when reading... I understand if repetition is used as a device to help demonstrate characteristics and such but this books just... It was tiring reading how many times the male characters shoved their hands in their pockets, how much I wanted to chop off Seb's curls over his forehead, how Willow felt Seb's love for her (yeah we got it the first 4 times...) and it just felt like I was reading the same conversations over and over again just like "DUDE WE'VE BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD DAMNNNN". This of course doesn't help the overall drag of the book.

4. The metaphysical aspect.
There are four different viewpoints in this book: Willow (1st person), Alex, Seb and Raziel. In the first book, the chapters divided the viewpoints up but this book switched randomly in chapters and sometimes made it hard to keep up or understand plus some entries were just not needed. At all.

5. Things that make you scream at the book until you run out of oxygen

Endless supply of money, however little? Unrealistic
How much sex is references in the book as if it's the most important thing between Willow and Alex (which it probably is, thats how little chemistry I feel between them) even on the brink of impending doom...unrealistic (and then it happens but it's over in a few words... Anti-climactic.
Willow needs to find herself a backbone and soon... Damn girl.
Both Alex and Willow have become so juvenile it's annoying. They're supposed to be 17/18 not 15/16. The way they speak and act in their POVs and towards each other is just "Get over yourselves. Please." It's like who they are now is the complete opposite of the promise they showed with Alex being an assassin, Willow fixing cars, it just makes connecting with their characters very difficult when you don't believe them.

All these new characters with no back stories or development? Please don't just add characters simply for story progression, WE NEED A CONNECTION WITH THEM TO CARE. It made me indifferent to the new characters and I pretty much disliked them anyway for their prejudice towards Willow but at the same time, their views on her were more realistic than how quickly Alex fell in love with her. Wesley was the only one we started to connect with out of the new AKs but that was shortly lived.

Ok I'm going to stop now because there are some good points to this book too and they helped me finish the book so here are the redeeming qualities:

1. Seb
He had a backstory you could believe in and he became somewhat the "Voice of Reason" in the book for me. Good character development and such a sweet guy! I felt sorry for him time and time again. Although I feel his part in the "love triangle" was pretty much unnecessary, I probably would have quit this series half way through without him. I actually believe his love for Willow and believe in him as a person but I just wish he wasn't shoved so much into the background and was made more prominent.

2. Crusaders
I liked that this anti-angel group was added to the book. I like the new twist they bring but again, like Seb, they could have/ should have had a more prominent role and it all felt rushed. When the whole series highlights how the AKs are the only ones fighting the angels and then this group comes out of nowhere it kinda makes the AKs look pathetic even though the AKs are the only ones who can kill the actual angels. So why doesn't Alex recruit some of the Crusaders to be AKs? Oh because there's a full scale war on their hands; ain't nobody got time fo' dat.

3. Action sequences
When they happened, for however little time, the action sequences were pretty gripping and kept you turning the pages. These were fairly redeeming but I just wanted more action and less of the lovey-dovey which it felt it all centred on.

I don't know... I just found this book irritating and slow-paced in places, mostly unnecessary new plot devices were used and development in all aspects of the book were kind of lacking in comparison to the first book.
Didn't connect with the characters and became disconnected to those I had in the previous book and actually had trouble getting through it.

I'm giving three stars for the action sequences and for Seb :) I also like Weatherly's writing style, I just wish the focus was more on the action than on a hazy love triangle. ( )

Once upon a time, there was a love triangle.

As a result, Summer hated the book.

The end. ( )

Fantastic second book!!! Loved it. I loved Willow and Alex in the first book and now Seb is thrown into the mix. It has everything the first book has and more. New characters are introduced and a new worry is on Willows head. I can not wait for the third one!! ( )