47. Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

listened to on Chirp
read by Caitlyn Green
Unabridged audio (8:55)
2009 Simon & Schuster
420 pgs.
YA Fantasy
Finished 5/20/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.99 - 517,264 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary Coldwater, Maine

First line/s:  "I walked into Biology and my jaw fell open."

My comments:  Well...this is just the sort of book a young teenage girl would enjoy greatly.  Romance, cute boys, a little bit of mystery, an "innocent" protagonist who is daring one minute and shaking in her boots the next.  As an adult, of course, I spent much of the read (or should I say listen) rolling my eyes.  But it's perfect for a 13-year-old fantasy lover.  I do think I'll pass on the rest of the series, myself....

Goodreads synopsis:
A SACRED OATH
A FALLEN ANGEL
A FORBIDDEN LOVE
          Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.
          But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
          For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life.

21. Outcast by Adrienne Kress

read on my iPhone
2013 Diversion Books
322 pgs.
YA Contemporary Dystopia
Finished 3/2/18
Goodreads rating:  3.61 - 2012 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary Louisiana

First line/s:   "They com out of the sky and take you.  Everyone knows that."

My comments:  I like fantasy, but I've never much been into fantasy about angels and all their relations...and I didn't realize how deeply it would go into all of that until the last quarter or so of the book. But I enjoyed the rest of the book, and even shed a tear at the end, which I don't usually do. Another reviewer mentioned they thought the book moved slowly, but it didn't at all for me. I really enjoyed the protagonist/heroine, too. Recommended.

Goodreads synopsis: After six years of “angels” coming out of the sky and taking people from her town, 16-year-old Riley Carver has just about had it living with the constant fear. When one decides to terrorize her in her own backyard, it’s the final straw. She takes her mother’s shotgun and shoots the thing. So it’s dead. Or … not? In place of the creature she shot, is a guy. A really hot guy. A really hot alive and breathing guy. Oh, and he’s totally naked.
          Not sure what to do, she drags his unconscious body to the tool shed and ties him up. After all, he’s an angel and they have tricks. When he regains consciousness she’s all set to interrogate him about why the angels come to her town, and how to get back her best friend (and almost boyfriend) Chris, who was taken the year before. But it turns out the naked guy in her shed is just as confused about everything as she is. 
          He thinks it’s 1956.
          Set in the deep south, OUTCAST is a story of love, trust, and coming of age. It’s also a story about the supernatural, a girl with a strange sense of humor who’s got wicked aim, a greaser from the 50’s, and an army of misfits coming together for one purpose: To kick some serious angel ass.

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Lani Taylor

#1 in a new trilogy
read on my phone through Kindle
2011, Little Brown & Co.
432 pages
Written for YA
Awesome (5)

Setting:  Contemporary Prague as well as an otherworld called Eretz.
OSS:  Karou, a human college student raised by chimaera (mixture of different animals), meets Akira, the hated enemy of the chimaera because he is a seraphim.
The title:  As is discovered in the later part of the novel, smoke is a major part of the survival of the chimaera.  And a wishbone, worn by Brimstone, is a huge link to the present and the past...and the truth for Karou.
1st line/s:  "Walking to school over the snow-muffled cobbles, Karou had no sinister premonitions about the day."

This was a fascinating story.  There were surprises along the way, and if you've not read the book, go no further, because I'm going to review this book with possible spoilers.  Why?  Because I can't wait to read the 2nd installment, which won't come out until September and I'll be foggy about the storyline. So here goes.

Karou speaks many languages and is an art student in Prague.  She was raised by four chimaera, reptile heads, snake bodies, different animal body parts in different places, with the head-of-house a powerful being called Brimstone.  Brimstone collects teeth.  Thousands of teeth, teeth from any animal or human.  Karou helps him out by traveling through portals to pick them up and messenger them back.  Although she now lives on her own in an apartment in Prague, she fondly recalls her life with her "family," even though this life still leaves her with countless unanswered questions.

Then Karou "meets' Akira.  Their immediate attraction to each other is marred by violence and antagonism, which quickly disappears.  Karou doesn't understand this pull she has toward Akira.  She soon discovers that he is a seraphim, that angels are the archest enemies of the chimaera...and that there's a terrifying war being fought in anotherworld, one that Brimstone has never let her enter.

That's all the first half of the book.  In the second part, we meet Madrigal, the chimaera who was the absolutely forbidden love of Akira.  Madrigal who was put to death because of their love, which was considered a betrayal by her kind.  So the reader starts to wonder....how are Karou and Madrigal related?  There has to be a relation.....

The secret to everything is behind the reason for Brimstone's obsessive collection and trafficking in teeth.  Those teeth were used to create new "vessels" (bodies) for the souls of killed chimaera.  Souls that were collected from the previous body by a stream of incensed smoke.....

Well, I don't know if this is enough to help me remember what went on in the book.  Let's hope!  Clever, different story.  I look forward to the next in the series.