Fallen Angel

February 14, 2011
In the launch of a series with a biblical twist on supernatural creatures, 16-year-old Ellie Faneuil desperately wants to be normal, but is weirded out by her ability to fly and to see what people are thinking by touching them. New student Michael is certain they are meant to be together: not only does he know her secrets, but he can also fly, and he teaches her that tasting blood is euphorically addictive and a powerful tool. Just as Ellie learns that she is a valuable key in a battle that has fallen angels struggling between returning to the light or turning mankind toward darkness, she and Michael are targeted by a malevolent angel seeking to control them. Ellie's inexplicable attraction to the enigmatic Michael is a familiar device, but adult author Terrell (Brigid of Kildare), in her first book for teens, weaves fresh complexity into vampire and angel lore. While some supporting characters are thinly drawn, Ellie's friendships are deep and abiding—a reflection on the story's smart, thoughtful, and resourceful heroine. Ages 12–up.

December 1, 2010

Ellspeth Faneuil has been hiding her flying dreams and the "flashes" of people's inner thoughts she receives when she touches them. When she meets and falls for new student Michael, Ellie discovers that her flying ability is not merely a dream and that tasting blood gives her more intense flashes and power. Not certain if she is a vampire, as Michael suggests, or the offspring of a Nephilim, or fallen angel, as her parents are forced to admit, Ellie tries to figure out who—or what—she is, helping scorned classmates, evading an evil Nephilim, tracking down a Harvard scholar who studies vampires around the world and falling in love in the process. What saves this YA debut from being another run-of-the-mill supernatural romance with a vulnerable girl, stereotyped characters, flat dialogue and clichéd chases are interesting explanations of the lesser-known legend that links Nephilim with vampires and the Book of Enoch, an apocalyptic religious text that was never included in the Bible. An abrupt ending with unanswered questions leaves room for a sequel. (Supernatural romance. YA)

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March 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-Ellie Faneuil, 16, has intense psychic flashes and vivid flying dreams, but no memory of meeting the irresistible Michael Chase in Guatemala three years earlier. This memory lapse was caused by her parents, fallen angels dedicated to the good, who sought to delay Ellie's destined meeting with him in an effort to postpone the "end days." Newly met Ellie and Michael cannot resist one another and begin to explore the powers that Michael embraces and Ellie denies. Possibly too-obvious clues indicate that she is "the Elect," the half-angel, half-human leader who will emerge when the fallen angels, evil and good, will battle for supremacy. Ezekiel, who is determined to bring Ellie to the dark side, confronts Michael and Ellie in Boston's Quincy Market and engages him in mortal combat. Much of the action in this apocryphal Bible-based fantasy takes place in and around a Maine high school, complete with Queen Bees and Carrie-like prom plans (using social media, not pig's blood). The relationship between Ellie and Michael is fated, passionate, and related to the exchange of blood, a detail that encourages Michael's early belief that he and Ellie are vampires. Terrell controls the pace of Ellie's first-person narrative, and her characterization is less vapid than that of many other heroines of contemporary YA supernatural romances. The plot is overconstructed, however, and the writing includes some amateurish conventions, including telling about characters' personalities rather than showing them through their actions. Still, the prose is clean, the action is fast, and the sexual heat between Ellie and Michael is intense but not explicit. All in all, teens should find this a reasonably satisfying beginning to a new series.-Janice M. Del Negro, GSLIS Dominican University, River Forest, IL

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.