A Shimmer of Angel Review (Novel)

Title: A Shimmer of Angels

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Fiction, Angels

Put on the Song: Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade

Rating:




This ARC was given to me by Month6Books via Netgalley for an honest review.



A SHIMMER OF ANGELS is a strictly mediocre book. And I mean that in the nicest of ways. Okay, so maybe 'mediocre' doesn't have many positive connotations to the word, but it aptly describes this book for what it is: mediocre.

To make things easy for all of us, I'll put things in a nice, succinct table. It'll make this review easier to read, hopefully.

PROS	CONS
Very simple use of language Simple-minded character Easy, uncomplicated plot Formulaic YA novel	Very simple use of language Simple-minded character Easy, uncomplicated plot Formulaic YA novel (‘You idiot! It is a YA novel!’ Yes, well, I’m pretty nit-picky.)

Synthesis: What makes a book, apparently does break a book.

This book is an incredibly simple read. It took myself under two and a half hours to complete it, maybe under two hours even, I'm not too sure. I didn't exactly time myself. That said, it was not a particularly gripping read. Yes, I finished it in record time, but it was perhaps due to the pure simplicity of this novel. I should probably vary my adjectives in describing the book, but really, there's a reason I'm using 'simple' so many times. It's that simple. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Rayna, she likes Ray, is a formulaic YA heroine, oozing goodwill and selflessness and all. All right, I'll say it, she's a Mary Sue, she's the epitome of Mary Sue-ness. I don't mean that in a bad way, really. There's a reason why Mary Sues are Mary Sues, the way cliches are cliches. They appeal to the masses, they work, they rake in cash. I don't mind a Mary Sue honestly speaking, but Ray fell a little flat to me.

I think it's due to her tendency to freak out. She freaks out at everything, I know she's just out of a mental hospital, and she's understandably jumpy, but it was written in a way that didn't allow me to empathize with her. Or maybe that's because I'm a cold-hearted b*tch. Well, yes. There's that. The thing is, when I (as the reader) know that she's not crazy and that the angels are real, while she doesn't, it just makes me want to do this.

Really, it does. Okay, honestly, I did that. More like, I used my pillow as a punching bag. And I'm just screaming, literally, at the computer screen, WHY U SO SLOW?????????

Then comes the part with Ray's awesome conspiracy theories, and my reaction to that was really:

I am every bit sympathetic towards people are truly diagnosed with disorders and psychological illnesses. but Rayna is well... the average person (with wings). What happened to rationality and logical reasoning? Most people would have at least some instincts. If Rayna's supposedly special, sensitive to angelic beings and whatnot, shouldn't she be able to reason better? Instead of reacting every. Single. Damned. Time.

Oh goodness. I'm going off track here. Let me put myself back on track.

Rayna as a protagonist is neither appealing nor unappealing, in all honesty. She's just very, very mediocre. I get annoyed at times, but overall, I'm not emotionally invested either way. Of course, some people might relate to her, she's just not for me.

The plot generally follows the YA formula of Girl-meets-Boy, Boy-turns-out-to-be-a-supernatural being, but Girl-still-falls-for-Boy. There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy, the murders weren't very significant, the interaction between Rayna and the angels took a larger chunk of the book. I've a feeling that I might have liked it better if there was more focus on the murders, but it's all about preferences really. And considering the intended audience, teenage girls with romantic notions, well... I think Ms Basso might have made the right call. It'll sell with that audience.

And since I'm going to be a little nitpicky, I'll include in this review the few things that jumped out at me over the course of the novel:

Page 17: 'Lee checked his watch. It was his father's watch and hung so loose on his wrist I was constantly worried he'd lose it.' I don't know about you, but I don't constantly worry about losing my own watch, much less worry about my friend's. Maybe it's done to emphasize how nice she is, but really? Really?

Page 68: 'The boy smelled like a damned lawnmower - which I loved - but was that his wings or just him?'

He smells like this, I'm thinking gasoline and metal. That isn't a good smell by any measure.

Page 75: Rayna almost gets run over by a van, and then she asks Cam why he didn't let the van hit her, because then it'd be easier for him. Huhhh... Familiar much?

Aside from those things, I didn't spot anything else that really hit my reader's radar as weird. Well yes, there's the fact that one of her love interests dated her mom, but still... Really, it wasn't a horrible book, it was a light, and simple read. I would read it to pass my time, but ultimately, I don't think it's a book I'll pick up to re-read again. At least, not anytime soon.