Review: A Shimmer of Angels by Lisa M. Basso

Goodreads Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy. She ignores signs that she may be slipping into the world she has tried so hard to climb out of. But these days, it’s more than just hallucinations that keep Rayna up at night. Students are dying, and she may be the only one who can stop it. Can she keep her job, her sanity, and her friends from dying at the hands of angels she can't admit to seeing?

Publication Date: January 29, 2013

This book was an interesting and enjoyable book about good and bad angels battling on earth. I liked the characters and thought the premise was intriguing enough to keep me reading.

I had mixed feelings about the main character Rayna. I could empathize with her difficulties with no one believing her story about having the ability to see angels roaming the earth. She’s worried about her mental state and also about being shipped back to a mental institution where she had spent the past couple of years. I liked her inner monologue and how she questioned whether what she was seeing was real or not.

The only thing that was a little off-putting about Rayna was that she was very intense. I understand her skittishness, but I wished she would tone it down a notch. She was also one of the clumsiest characters I’ve ever read about. I think a little bit of clumsiness can be cute, but this girl was a menace. There was no way that she wouldn’t have been fired after all of the falls, spills and breakages that happened after only a couple of days of working.

The world building was done pretty well. There were a few concepts I didn’t completely understand, but since this is a series that’s expected. I liked how the angels had to follow a certain code or risk becoming one of the fallen. The murder-suicide plot was suspenseful and the baddie of the book was definitely scary.

As far as the love interests, I thought Kade was much more intriguing than Cam. Cam was bland and I didn’t like a lot of his actions. Plus, maybe I was put-off from the beginning when Rayna said he smelled like a lawnmower (a lawnmower? I think freshly cut grass would’ve been a better descriptive choice). Kade was the hot bad boy who kept sticking his neck out for Rayna. I was glad Lee wasn’t another love interest thrown in there. His character was fun (although the cursing by using Dr. Who references was a little over the top) and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him in subsequent books.

I can’t wait for the next book. More Kade please!

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this novel for review!