Burn Blog Tour: Review

I'm excited to once again participate in a blog tour for Paula Weston's The Rephaim series! This one's a little bittersweet, because we've arrived at the fourth and final book, Burn. Continue reading for my review of this thrilling series ender!

Burn (The Rephaim #4)
By Paula Weston
Publisher: Tundra Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Publication Date: June 7, 2016
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Synopsis: Suddenly, Gaby remembers everything.

For a year she believed she was a backpacker chilling out in Pandanus Beach. Working at the library. Getting over the accident that killed her twin brother.

Then Rafa came to find her and Gaby discovered her true identity as Gabe: one of the Rephaim. Over a hundred years old. Half angel, half human, all demon-smiting badass—and hopelessly attracted to the infuriating Rafa.

Now she knows who faked her memories, and how—and why it’s all hurtling towards a massive showdown between the forces of heaven and hell.

More importantly, she remembers why she’s spent the last ten years wanting to seriously hurt Rafa.

Review: It’s time to show one last bit of cover love for The Rephaim series, as we’ve reached the fourth and final installment, Burn. The cover of Burn reminds me of the cover for the first book, Shadows, which makes perfect sense because we see the series complete a full circle here. And what a thrilling, non-stop tidal wave of a journey it is from the first page to the last page of Burn.

The previous book, Shimmer, ended with one jaw-dropping cliffhanger. After spending three books trying to piece her lost memories together while simultaneously dealing with demons from hell, protagonist Gaby now remembers everything. How she and her twin brother Jude ended up going their separate ways, what brought them together again, and how they both nearly died. All of it. Unsurprisingly, the past holds some very ugly truths for Gaby, particularly the incident leading up to Jude and the Outcasts walking out of the Sanctuary. I winced on Gaby’s behalf quite a few times.

Paula Weston has done a marvelous job pacing this series from the beginning, and especially so with Burn. The novel shifts back and forth between the present and the past as the gaps in Gaby’s memory are filled in. The startling revelations just keep flowing, but they never feel like info dumping. Rather, the book compels you to continue reading because you can’t wait for the next missing fragment of Gaby’s past to drop. I inhaled Burn in three days; I don’t get to binge read books too often anymore, but this book demanded that I not leave it for too long. You know a book has wholly reeled you in when you can never find an ideal spot to place your bookmark.

The ending of Burn was not at all what I’d thought it might be, and I loved how it caught me so completely by surprise. Before the series draws to a close, however, there’s plenty of its signature heart-stopping action. Hell is literally headed for Gaby’s beloved Pan Beach, and it’s going to take the collective efforts of all the Rephaim, both the Outcasts and those still loyal to the fallen angel Nathaniel, to even stand a chance of facing down the approaching horde. As bitterly divided as the two sides of the Rephaim have been, they also realize what’s at stake. Gaby herself has to come to terms with an extremely painful event in the past. She must reconcile the Gabe she once was with the Gaby she is now, and there’s nothing like impending destruction by demons to help put things in the proper perspective.

There are so many things I’m going to miss about this series: Gaby and her amazing strength, Rafa and his brilliant snark (I will especially miss Rafa AND his brilliant snark), the intense, knockout action scenes, the beautiful book covers, and, of course, Weston’s wonderful prose. Although Burn provides a very satisfying conclusion to The Rephaim, it also leaves open the definite possibility of another story. In Burn, the Rephaim learn that prophecy doesn’t necessarily translate to destiny and can be altered by free will, which further raises my hopes of reading more Rephaim chronicles one day.

All in All: The Rephaim series closes on a high note with Burn. Readers who’ve been with the series since Shadows are well rewarded, as Gaby finally has all the missing pieces to her past. The present story line offers its own surprises as well, meaning that you’ll be riveted by Burn from start to finish.

Find Paula Weston:

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Shimmer Blog Tour: Review

I'm so, so excited to once again be part of the blog tour for Paula Weston's fantastic angel series, The Rephaim. Today I'm reviewing Shimmer, the third and penultimate book in the series. You can check out the other stops on the tour by clicking here or on the banner above.

Shimmer (The Rephaim #3)
By Paula Weston
Publisher: Tundra Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Publication Date: March 8, 2016
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Synopsis: Gaby thought her life couldn't get more complicated.

She's almost used to the idea that she's not the teenage backpacker she thought she was. She can just about cope with being one of the Rephaim—a 139-year-old half-angel—whose memories have been stolen. She's even coming to grips with the fact that Jude, the brother she's mourned for a year, didn't die at all.

But now Rafa—sexy, infuriating Rafa—is being held, and hurt, by Gatekeeper demons. And Gaby has to get the bitterly divided Rephaim to work together, or Rafa has no chance at all.

Review: As has become traditional with The Rephaim series, I must first take a moment to show some love for the cover. Every book in the series has sported a beauty of a cover, and the one for Shimmer is no exception. Even if I hadn’t already come across the positive advance buzz for the first book in the series, Shadows, back in 2012, I still would have picked it up because the cover is such an eye-catcher.

It’s been a bit of a wait here in the U.S. for Shimmer, a wait made all the more torturous by the cliffhanger ending of book two, Haze. Rafa, my favorite character thanks to his endless supply of snark and high likelihood of causing swoons, has fallen into the hands of demons. Of course I already knew going into Shimmer that the fates of Rafa and Taya, another of the half-human/half-angel Rephaim, weren’t going to be revealed straightaway, but I also wondered how much of a presence Rafa would have in the book. I’m pleased to say that was a non-issue because our amazing protagonist/narrator Gaby continues to anchor the series, even when Rafa isn’t around to supply his usual acerbic (and amusing) commentary.

Gaby always seems to have a full plate of problems to cope with, and Rafa’s capture weighs it down tremendously. She’s only just reunited with her twin brother, Jude, whom she believed had died in a car accident, and now the siblings are scrambling to assemble a plan to bust Rafa out. Gaby and Jude are also still simultaneously working through memory loss, including the circumstances that led them both to be nearly killed. In their previous lives they had a falling out, with Jude and some of the other Rephaim, Rafa among them, splintering off into their own group and becoming known as the Outcasts. All present day Gaby and Jude know is that they’re together again, and their protectiveness of each other after each thinking the other lost forever is especially moving.

As devastated as Gaby is by what’s happened to Rafa and the horrors the demons are very likely subjecting him to, she doesn’t fall apart. Instead she tries to organize a rescue mission, not an easy feat at all when the Rephaim who didn’t walk out with Jude continue to remain loyal to their angelic leader, Nathaniel, a fallen angel with his own agenda. Nathaniel won’t budge on going after Rafa and Taya, even though Nathaniel counts Taya among his faithful Rephaim, unless he literally receives a sign from heaven. The majority of Shimmer takes place at the Sanctuary, home to Nathaniel and his followers, and when the Outcasts arrive there, tensions shoot into the stratosphere. Gaby refuses to allow Rafa and Taya to get lost amidst all of the messy Rephaim politics, though, and she really emerges as a leader here. With the support of Jude and a few other friends, Gaby realizes that they may need to take charge of this situation without the Sanctuary’s backing.

Paula Weston writes wonderfully throughout Shimmer, with the fight scenes especially well done. Sometimes I’ll read a fight sequence and after maybe the third exchange of punches and kicks they all sound the same to me. That’s not the case with this book, however. You truly feel like you’re right there, watching the action play out in front of you. It’s a completely immersive experience, made even more intense by how scary the Rephaim’s demon adversaries are. They’re as terrifying as the hell they were spawned in, but if there’s a single thing the Rephaim, including the Outcasts, agree on, it’s that they’re fierce, formidable warriors and can take on anything that hell throws at them. Seriously—they carry swords around the way regular humans carry cell phones.

I had a very strong feeling that I was going to love Shimmer not only based on how much I’d enjoyed the previous two books but also as soon as I started reading the Rephaim Who’s Who at the beginning of the novel. The descriptions of the characters are so witty, and a few of them are even sarcastic and sound like things Rafa would say. So I was hooked before the story even got underway, and once it did, I became totally lost in this world of angels, half-angels, and demons all over again. There’s zero question that Shimmer was more than worth the wait. Gaby has been a strong heroine from the outset, but Shimmer sees her character development ascend even higher. I’m so thrilled to be back among these characters, and the good news is, the series finale, Burn, is only a few months away!

All in All: We have another winning installment in this series here! If you haven’t checked out The Rephaim yet, I urge you to do so. I’ve read quite a few angel books that just didn’t do anything special with such a rich mythology, but Paula Weston has created a thrilling, compelling series that I will miss very much once it’s concluded.

Haze Blog Tour: Review

Today I'm thrilled to be reviewing Paula Weston's Haze, the second book in her amazing The Rephaim series! You can follow the other stops on the tour by clicking here or on the tour banner above. All of the bloggers on the tour were also given a fun quiz to find out which character from the series they're most like, and you can check out my result below, following the review!

Haze (The Rephaim #2)
By Paula Weston
Publisher: Tundra Books
Publication Date: September 9, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Synopsis: Gaby Winters' life used to be pretty normal.

She lived with her best friend. She worked in a library. She was slowly getting over the death of her twin brother, Jude. And then Rafa came looking for her.

With him, her blood-soaked nightmares stopped. But now they are reality. She is one of the Rephaim—a wingless half angel, descended from the Fallen. Demons exist and they are hunting her.

She knows she's alive when she's meant to be dead. And that means maybe Jude is too. So why isn't she out there looking for him?

Review: First, can I gush a little about how pretty the cover of Haze is? I could stare at it and admire it for hours. OK, I’m good now!

It’s been about a year since I read Paula Weston's Shadows, and what an agonizing wait it’s been to get more of this story of angels and demons and memory loss/recovery. Shadows had an utterly addictive quality to it, and Haze was just as hard to put down. Like its predecessor, Haze features perfect pacing that sates enough of your curiosity to keep you riveted to the book without revealing all of its cards. For me, a lot of the fun in reading this series has been trying to puzzle out exactly what’s going on right alongside the protagonist, Gaby. These are not the sort of books where you’re ten steps ahead of the heroine and rolling your eyes as she struggles to put foreshadowed clue #1 and foreshadowed clue #2 together. On the contrary, Gaby is much smarter than that, as well as smart enough to know not to implicitly trust all of the faces that keep popping up from a past that she can’t fully recall.

Gaby may be coming to terms with the fact that she’s one of the Rephaim, the half-human offspring of fallen angels, but her life continues to become more and more complicated. Her twin brother, Jude, who supposedly died in the car accident that left Gaby seriously injured, may in fact be alive. Gaby’s ensuing search for him figures prominently in Haze, but the novel doesn’t forget to revisit some unresolved plotlines from Shadows, either. In no way has Gaby seen the last of both friendly and not-so-friendly Rephaim, as well as the demons who once haunted her dreams but are now all too real. Her interactions with the other Rephaim are especially intriguing to read about because all is not harmonious among them, and they’re essentially split into two groups. Of course each badmouths the other, making it difficult for Gaby, and the reader, to figure out who to trust. And then there’s Rafa.

As the Rephaim who appeared out of nowhere into Gaby’s life at the beginning of Shadows, Rafa has been a constant—and most enigmatic—presence in both books. There are things he knows about Gaby’s past and their past that he keeps tucked away in that lovely head of his. He can be so exasperating, antagonistic, hilarious, and swoon-inducing, and I love all of these facets to his character, particularly the snarkiness. Sarcastic guys may not be to everyone’s liking, but they are to mine, and that’s why Rafa and I get along so well. Even if I didn’t already love the series for its deft storytelling, its version of angels, and the clever chapter titles, I’d love it because of Rafa.

Once again, I found myself absorbed by the mystery of Gaby’s past as she worked to reconcile the Gabe whom the other Rephaim knew with the Gaby she believed herself to be. The suspense only deepens in Haze, culminating in a cliffhanger that still pains me terribly when I think about it. You’d better believe that I’m counting down the days until Shimmer arrives in the US.

All in All: I love Paula Weston’s storytelling and characters. The latter are quite numerous, but she gives them such distinct personalities that you never have to stop and sort out who’s who. And you certainly never confuse Rafa with anyone else!

And now to reveal the Rephaim character I'm most like . . . .

We learn quite a bit more about Jude in Haze, and I think my quiz result is spot-on!

Photo Credit: Celia Southcombe, Flow Photography

Find Paula Weston:

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Shadows Blog Tour: Review

I am extremely excited to be a part of the blog tour for Paula Weston's Shadows, the first book in the Rephaim series! I'd been eagerly awaiting its release in the U.S. and was beyond thrilled for the opportunity to review it for the tour, which you can follow by checking out the schedule.

Shadows (The Rephaim #1)
By Paula Weston
Publisher: Tundra Books
Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

* A copy was provided by the publisher for review for the blog tour.

Synopsis: It’s been almost a year since Gaby Winters watched her twin brother die. In the sunshine of a new town her body has healed, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she fights and kills hell-beasts. And then Rafa comes to town and tells her things about her brother and her life that cannot be true, things that are dangerous. Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And who is Gaby? The truth lies in the shadows of her nightmares.

Review: I don’t want to jinx myself, but I daresay that I’m officially on a lucky streak with angel books. A little voice inside my head says it’s about time, given the number of so-so reads that I tried before finally finding some that clicked with me. I’ve always thought of angels as fascinating beings, but quite a few of the books I read just didn’t make them seem all that interesting. This is not the case with Shadows, which not only delivers a captivating take on angel lore but also vividly brings that lore to life all while cleverly unraveling the story of a young woman who doesn’t even realize she’s forgotten who she really is until a stranger with a somehow familiar face appears. Intriguing premise? Oh, yes.

I’ve never been big on books that deal with memory loss because usually one of two things happens: either you figure out the entire plot before the affected character does and then have to wait impatiently for the character to catch up, or all of the information is saved until the last possible moment, when it’s dumped on your head all at once. With Shadows, I truly felt like I was learning things at the same time as the character who can’t recall her past, in this case the protagonist, Gaby. In the beginning, I was as unsettled as Gaby was when Rafa, a mysterious guy claiming to have been friends with Gaby’s deceased twin brother, Jude, turned up. Rafa is simultaneously someone whom Gaby has and has not met—if you count seeing Rafa’s face in your nightmares as you fight demonic creatures with him as having made his acquaintance before. The novel excels at rebuilding Gaby’s past piece by piece with spot-on pacing that gives you just the right amount of details at a time, neither overwhelming you nor leaving you without a fresh morsel of info for too long. And the surprising turns the story takes—I loved all of the plot twists and how they weren’t simply thrown in for shock value only to be abandoned later. The plotting here is very, very well thought-out.

The angel mythology in Shadows is based on the story of the Nephilim, the half-human children of fallen angels, and these “kids” heavily embrace the warrior side of their angel blood in the novel. If you’ve ever seen depictions of angels in art where they’re wielding swords and managing to look both ethereally beautiful and ferocious at the same time, these are the beings you’ll encounter here. The action in the book was intense, and I absolutely loved it. Who says katanas and poleaxes don’t belong in an angel book?

The tension between Gaby and Rafa was fantastic. They squabble and insult each other A LOT, which is highly entertaining, and their bickering isn’t helped by Rafa’s arrogance. There were many times when I wanted to assist Gaby in smacking the smugness out of him, but guess who had the last laugh by the end of the book? That’s right—Rafa—because he won me over by repeatedly demonstrating that a rather decent fellow lurked under all of that swagger. Kudos also go to Gaby for her determination to discover the truth about what happened to her and her brother and for remaining strong despite how frustrating and frightening it must be to try to recover so many years of lost memories.

Shadows is a winning debut novel that illustrates how absorbing an angel book can be when it’s as creative and skillfully plotted as this one is. The suspense, supercharged action, and gasp-inducing revelations made this such a thrill to read. I desperately need the sequel, Haze, NOW.

All in All: Another awesome angel read! And it’s only the first book! I cannot wait to find out what other surprises this series brings, and I’m sure there will be plenty of them.

Find Paula Weston:

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