The Ninja Reader

Oh, Angel. I wanted to like you so much!Full disclaimer: I've seen L.A. Weatherly in talks. I think she's an awesome lady and I even got my copy signed, which I think was pretty cool because we don't have authors signing books down in Eastern Europe, comerades! Anyway, I really liked her, and I wanted to like her book too. Really wanted to like her book. But... it didn't quite work for me.This is how my beta readers must feel...Anyway, back on topic. In this universe, angels aren't virginal celestial beings, but invaders from another plane of existence. As their world is dying away, they're slowly invading ours, because humans make an incredibly nutricious snack. Eh... what can you do. Anyways, their existence is doubted by some and reveled by others, leading to the appearance of the Church of Angels, a cult-like institution, led by angels and attracting zealots from all over the country.There are also those who are trained and dedicated to kill them. Meet Alex, a seventeen-year old boy who has had an... unusual upbringing, shall we say. After the death of his father and older brother, he's been around the country, taking hits on angels almost non-stop, and has never doubted the orders given to him, until he is told to kill Willow - a girl who is like no angel he's ever met.Willow, as it turns out, is only half-angel, and she's stayed ignorant of that side of herself. She has a psychic ability, though, which she uses to make a little spare money in school (hey, I would too). But that ability attracts the angels' attention to her and they decide she's dangerous. They order Alex to kill her, but he, realizing that she's not dangerous, takes a risk and saves her. From then on, the two need to travel the country, looking for an answer to the questions that have arisen: How is it possible that angels breed with humans? Why do they think Willow is dangerous? And how can they stop them?Or, at least, that's the premise.First things first - I loved Alex and Willow. I thought they are great characters and have some pretty exciting adventures on their way to the truth. I applaud Weatherly for taking her time to build their relationship and avoiding the Stockholm Syndrome landmines that exist in those kinds of stories. Theirs was a believable romance and I really liked the chemistry they had together. I only wish that their romance wasn't the main plot of the novel.Let me explain: I like romance. I enjoy the Dance, as it is called, as much as any other person. To me, the longer and more complicated it is, the better. But if you have the romance being the main source of tension throughout your novel, then you have to keep it up to the end, because otherwise, it won't hold. Case in point: I started Angel during the October 2011 read-a-thon, and only finished it during the one in April 2012, because as soon as Alex and Willow got together, my interest fizzled out. That's not to say there isn't a plot - there is. But for the bigger part of the story, Alex and Willow are pawns, tossed left and right and constantly on the run. They learn a lot, but that's not the main focus, and once the two can take a breather and admit their feelings for one another, they create this bubble of ignorance around themselves and instead of thinking about their next step, they spend their time making Bamby eyes at each other and refusing to acknowledge reality. When the climax literally pushes them apart, it feels contrived and a little silly, considering that ten pages ago Willow was talking about how perfectly in synch they were.Okay, you say, so the plot needs a little work. That's not too bad, is it? Normally I would be the first person to agree with that. I love character driven novels. But this book is literally about the romance, and not any deeper themes of growing and healing.That's not to say that those themes aren't there. Alex in particular is pretty torn up because of... oh, let's count the ways: growing up without much parental love, the deaths of his parents and brother, his confusing feelings over Willow who is half-angel herself and his struggle to get over a lot of guilt from his past. Then there's Willow, who's had to take care of a mentally-ill mother, which she just learned her father is responsible for. The novel could have easily been about those two characters getting over their respective problems with each other's help, their growth and realizations of one another, and their eventual acceptance of the darkness in their lives, and THEN about a tentative romance. Instead, the book tells us that:Yeah... it's disappointing.But still, it's a good book. I think it's much better than most of the stuff that's out there for young adults, and it's a read I would recommend, if only because I believe in Alex and Willow and their romance. Rock on, you guys!