Becca Fitzpatrick

The second book's draft was so bad that the author had to scrap it, and start over entirely. If that doesn't tell you what you're in for I don't know what will.

Nora and Patch have been dating for two months.

She's saying I love you, and doing all these nice things for him, but he's doing none of it back. I want you to keep that in mind, the guy who has been tormenting her for an entire book, stalking her, all this awful stuff. He now has her and he's aloof and unreceptive.

On top of all that, show more Nora is willing to give up all of her hopes and dreams and the belief that she can live happily ever after with Patch.

*Puts in multiple red flags*

Lotta off page action in this series because I don't know what is going on in some scenes. Patch reveals if you ever truly falls in love he'll go straight to hell so he breaks up with her and gets with the prettiest snootiest cheerleader. All right.

Nora keeps being explained to that she can't possibly have a relationship with him without him basically being erased from the earth, yet she keeps relapsing into asking why can't they be in a relationship. I don't know if this girl is supposed to be rich in the stupid or what, but this is bad.

Also at this point I think Patch is actually Nora's grandfather or great grandfather, angel genetics and family trees are wildly confusing in this book series.

This book series is trash and I don't think we need to debate that.

"My piggy bank is anorexic."

0.5 stars.

The bar is in hell. show less

Ah, gaining a stalker named Patch. How romantic. Where's Captain Hook or Peg Leg Pete to lurk around instead of Patch the not-pirate.

Nora's life is relatively normal, until one day she's made aware of Patch. Patch spends the entire book being an utter twat, and at the end of it we get this grand reveal.

I don't know why they always seem to take 75% of the book to do the grand reveal that he is a fallen angel. This is a huge problem I have with these books. If you're going to Angel route show more reveal it within the first book and upfront and have it be the plot point, not just a later thing that we fall into in the next book, and the next book. There's a problem with these Angel quartets and onward, and it's that they have so many books that they literally make their main plot line something that stars in the second, or the third book. Never the first.

My other issue is I don't know why fallen angels always have to have this horrible stalker tendency while also being obviously of God. Did God decide to make angels into creepy stalkers or what? Why is every angel either a stalker or an abusive person or a narcissist in these romances? Patch regularly taunts and torments Nora, and is a complete and utter asshole to her. I'm supposed to find this endearing but instead I find him to be a creepy stalker that needs to be stopped.

Patches sexually harassing, stalking, abusive, and utterly exploiting every drop of kindness out of nora, and I'm supposed to feel something for him other than wanting to backhand him into a wall.

He also regularly pushes off her lip gloss with a finger and tells her she looks better without it on...

I hate him.

I have no idea how the author managed to write a predatory character that's supposed to be the love interest, but patches of predator and every scene makes me think of him as a creep lurking, waiting to strike.

And suddenly, at the very end of the book, we get massive lore dump! Suddenly this book now tells us it's not one book but many books, which I already knew but I groan because the lore feels so painful to read. Basically all of the fallen angels are male, which is undone in the next books. The rest of it is so stupid I actually don't feel like putting it here, it sounds bad, I literally try to write it out and then read it and felt like I was having a stroke. Essentially the best summary I can give, is: sacrifice a female of their bloodline in order to kill their ancestors.

Oh, and Patch was sent to kill Nora. Plot twist? Not for me because he's being an utter creep, but obviously this is meant to be a twist.

0.5 stars.

This is awful. show less

"The truth is, part of me is definitely not comfortable around you," I said.
"But?"
"But at the same time I feel a scary attraction to you."

That, my friends, is the crux of why this is a bad book. It's awful.
This weird love/hate scared attraction thing...it's okay for adult books.
It's not okay for teen books.

Just ask yourself,
If Nora was YOUR child, would you want this to happen to her? Would you want someone like Patch doing this to them?? Would you be okay with it?

If your answer was no, show more then there is something wrong here.

These kids are new to relationship! They should NEVER want to romanticize anyone who:

1. Won't take no for an answer
Nora has given NO encouragement to Patch. As a matter of fact, she has repeatedly told him to leave her alone, that he makes her want to hurl and all kinds of other insults. He still stalks her, antagonizes her, corners her and forces himself on her. She said No Patch. She said no.

2. Threatens rape and/or other sexual contact
Never. Never is this okay. Never is this "hot" or "sexy" or "misunderstood"

3. Reporting unwanted sexual comments/harassment
Come on! Nora goes to her teacher to say she's uncomfortable the way Patch talked about her suggestively in front of the whole class and analyzed her suitable to mate with! She even cited the actual school rule that was being broken
AND THE TEACHER TOLD HER THAT PATCH WAS FINALLY PARTICIPATING IN CLASS SO SHE WOULD NOT BE MOVED AND, AS A MATTER OF FACT, SHE WOULD NOW SPEND MORE TIME WITH HIM TUTORING HIM (ALONE!)

Really, we want to show girls that reporting sexual harassment just means it will be ignored. Not only ignored, but our kids will be told to pretty much Buck up and take it?? Really???

This should NEVER have been released as YA. It saddens me to think of any teen/young girl who would romanticize this kind of relationship. show less

Can I just say "THIS BOOK WAS FREAKING AWESOME. GO BUY IT. NOW." and be done with this review? No? Fine. But I must warn you that I'm writing this with all my feels.

Finale immediately followed the events in Silence. Nora, literally without getting a break, was thrust into the business of leading the Nephilim out of bondage with the fallen angels who possessed them during Cheshvan. At first, her only plan was to fulfill the oath she'd sworn to Hank so she and her mom wouldn't drop dead, but show more like the blurb said, the best-laid plans often go awry.

And awry their plan went, alright. With old insecurities, new enemies, unforeseen betrayals, and shocking revelations, all I could imagine was a bleak ending. Let's just say it wasn't totally bleak, but not blinding bright, either.

Still, the ending's just one part of it. Finale had the best pace out of all the books in this series, methinks. Never a dull moment, just constant action all around. And when I say action, it's not just the myriad of events happening all at once, but also physical action, especially for Nora as she trained her human body to adapt to the capabilities that her new Nephilim identity offered. She ran miles, sweat rivers, and honed her mind-tricking skills - which she got so good at, she even tricked... *evil grin* Yeah, you really should just read this book.

One thing I didn't like was how Nora was still blinded by her hate for Dabria, which, as always, put her in some very sticky situations. Also, Patch became overprotective at times, but I think I'd have done the same if I were him. Or maybe I just love him too much to dislike anything he did.

I also loved the interaction between the secondary characters, namely Marcie, Scott, Vee, and even Nora's mom. And if you've missed some characters from the previous books, don't worry because Becca wrote a roundup reunion in here.

One surprise and plot twist after another, Finale had me in its grip until the last page. (I did put it down after 300 pages, though, because I didn't want it to end yet.) Even if it's the last book, the mystery and suspense were still there. And yes, I cried tears of joy and relief. I might've hugged the book for a minute or two. Kissed it, even. So this is what it's like to finish a beloved series, huh ♥

MY FAVORITE PART was the one that made me cry. Would saying it's 'Detective Basso's gift to Nora' be too much of a spoiler? I hope not. show less