Review: Misguided Angel

Title: Misguided Angel
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 265
Series: Blue Bloods #5
Rating: 4/5
**WARNING: Spoilers from earlier books (not this one)**
From the book jacket: 
After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them must embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the five remaining gates that guard the earth from Lucifer, lord of the Silver Bloods.

Back in New York, Mimi has been elected Regent of a crumbling coven. Struggling with her heartache over the loss of Kingsley and with her overwhelming desire to destroy Jack, she must focus all her energy on a perilous new threat. Vampires are being abducted and their captors are planning to burn them alive online... for all the world to see. Help arrives in the form of Deming Chen, a Venator from Shanghai, who must untangle the web of deceptions before the killers strike again.

As the young vampires struggle for the survival of the coven, they uncover a deadly secret, a truth first discovered by Schuyler's mother during the Renaissance but kept buried for centuries. And as the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler to a terrible choice that will ultimately map the destiny of her heart.

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A warning before you read this book: Make sure you've read the previous books in the series, and recently. I've read all the other Blue Bloods books, but apparently not recently enough, because I spent the first sixty pages of Misguided Angel being seriously confused. I couldn't remember why Schuyler and Jack were in Italy or where Oliver was.

At first, I was prepared to give this book a "meh" rating or maybe not even finish it -- I thought maybe I'd go back and reread it once I had refreshed my memory of the earlier books. But Melissa de la Cruz sucked me in with her writing and I couldn't put it down. It almost didn't matter that I'd forgotten a lot of what happened: this novel tells a story in and of itself. (Of course, it also helps a ton that I did eventually remember most of the earlier books...side note: I really do love these books, I just haven't read them recently enough. I did not forget them because they are bad; they're awesome.)

Anyway. Before I go on getting distracted, the book: Schuyler and Jack are in Italy looking for the Gate of Promise. Mimi wants revenge on Jack and she's torn apart by her love for Kingsley, but as the Regent, she can hardly spend her time on that. Not when Blue Blood lives are in danger -- which they are. A new threat has arisen... well, sort of new. The Silver Bloods are very much involved.

Instead of switching between characters frequently, Misguided Angel is divided into thirds. The first third is told from Schuyler's perspective, the second from Mimi's, and the third from Deming's. I thought Deming was an interesting addition to the cast of the series, and even though I'm not a fan of her name ("Schuyler" I just love, "Deming" not so much), I loved her character. Mimi...I just don't like her very much. Schuyler didn't seem very real to me, but I wished there had been more to her part of the story.

What I loved was that even though the three sections of the book are told from very different perspectives and one takes place on the other side of the globe from the others, they still worked together to explore ultimately the same mystery. Obviously, I don't think you should read this if you haven't read the earlier ones in the series...but if you have, read this one! (Before you forget!)

One thing is for sure, Melissa de la Cruz can write. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment of the series...

Links:
Melissa de la Cruz's website
Blue Bloods website

Guest Review! The Eternal Ones

Title: The Eternal Ones

Author: Kirsten Miller

Pages: 411

Publisher: Razorbill

Rating: 2.5 stars

Book jacket:

Haven Moore has always lived in the tiny town of Snope City, Tennessee. But for as long as she can remember, Haven has experienced visions of a past life as a girl named Constance, whose love for a boy called Ethan ended in a fiery tragedy.

One day, the sight of notorious playboy Iain Morrow on television brings Haven to her knees. Haven flees to New York City to find Iain and there, she is swept up in an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Is Iain her beloved Ethan? Or is he her murderer in a past life? Haven asks the members of the powerful and mysterious Ouroboros Society to help her unlock the mysteries of reincarnation and discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves, before all is lost and the cycle begins again. But what is the Ouroboros Society? And how can Haven know who to trust?

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So, I must first clarify a few things before I get into my review. First, I’d like to thank Bex for letting me guest on the lovely Bookworm Boulevard. Second, I normally don’t judge a book by its cover; however, in this case, I kind of did. At least, I judged by the title, and who could not love this one?! Especially the subtitle “What if love refused to die?” So intriguing! Third, I’d like to tell you all that this is the first book I’ve read in about, oh, a month. And a half. SCARY long time without books, if you ask me, all thanks to school. So all I had read before this was random stuff for my English class. Oh, and analyzing Macbeth.

Any book you read after analyzing Macbeth is just not gonna cut it.

That being said, there were definitely parts of this book I loved, and a majority of the book that I liked. Beau Dexter, for one, is the most amazing best guy friend I can think of (I mean, he drove to New York City from Tennessee just in time for the amazing rescue. He is amazing). However, I was still in analysis-mode for most of the beginning of the book (and by this, I mean the first half or so), so I definitely picked up on the heavy religious parallels, as well as a few major contradictions (Haven is deeply religious, enough so to believe her grandmother when she says she’s possessed, yet she has sex before marriage; the book is about reincarnation, but the main character is supposed to be very religious… I was really confused). I think the main problem I had with the book was the contradiction between genre and setting: this was a paranormal romance, yet the settings were small-town in the Bible Belt of Southern America, New York City, and Rome, with somewhat sudden transitions between each. But the way the story played out was different (not your straight-forward plot outline), which I enjoyed greatly. I had originally had a few problems with the ending, mainly because I thought it could have stopped earlier and had a better point, as opposed to the and-now-we’re-all-happy-yay it seemed to be, but now that I know there will be a sequel, I’m a lot happier: it all makes sense now.

All in all, I do recommend this book, because it was a good book – just not exactly my cup of tea. I think. (As a matter of fact, I’m still somewhat confused about whether I like it or not.) And everybody should know who Beau Dexter is. Because he is just that amazing.

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Thanks, Tonya! <3