Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare 5/60 towards goal

I had honestly never heard of this book until a writer's group meeting with the Cape Coral Creative Writers. A couple of the girls were chatting excitedly about the release of "Clockwork Prince". I decided to look into the novels, and on Christmas I ordered "Clockwork Angel." It would be over a month until I started it because, frankly, I was somewhat concerned that the book might be more chick-lit-ish. Considering the girls in my writing group I should have known better.

Now yes, there is some juvenile romance in the novel, but that is certainly in the background. The novel is about... Nephilim. My spell checker on this computer doesn't like the word, which is a horrible shame. Considering what I write, this is a word that comes up often.

Nephilim are angel/human hybrids. In Genesis angels left heaven to procreate with human women. Nephilim are their children. Different books treat them differently, speculating on what they might be like. Alivia Andder's book, Illumine, reveals that the main character is a nephilim, and that they are powerful weapons. In Clockwork Angel the nephilim are "shadow hunters" that maintain a kind of balance between humans (they call them "mundanes") and things not-so-human.

When Tessa is kidnapped by a pair of warlock sisters known as the Dark Sisters she learns that she has a mysterious power. The Dark Sisters planned on teaching her how to use it and then giving her to the secretive "Magister."

Tessa is rescued by Will, a shadow hunter, just before the Magister can take possession of her. Tessa is brought to "the Institute" where she learns that her entire life was little more than a dream, and she has only just awoken to the reality of who she is and how the world works.

Clockwork Angel was an amazing novel. Highly enjoyable. My only complaint is that on the Kindle version the formatting is a little off. On occasion the text of the story will be interrupted with the title of the book or the chapter. The first time that happened I was very confused.

I highly recommend this novel, and I am looking forward to reading Clockwork Prince.

Illumine, by Alivia Anders Goal 3/60

And the book that brings me to a whopping 5% of my goal is Illumine, the debut offering by a talented, young new author, Alivia Anders.

Illumine tells the story of Essallie Hanley. Essallie was a typical teenage girl living in New York City; she went shopping with her friends, had a boyfriend, liked to party... but something was nagging at her this time. She didn't really want to go to this party at her boyfriend's place. She was getting tired of showing up only to find him drunk. Reluctantly she shows up at the party anyway, lured in part by her friend Cassie Knight's promise that Essallie's boyfriend, Chase, had a "wicked good" surprise for her.

Essallie had no way of knowing that the surprise would be all wicked, and no good.

Betrayed by her boyfriend Chase and her 'friend' Cassie, Essallie learns that she might not be so normal after all. Unfortunately this realization comes as her boyfriend is murdered right in front of her and devoured by the very demon that he intended to give Essallie to.

Now, months later, Essallie has to deal with the emotional trauma of what happened at the party. And as she learns that the demons aren't just in her head she has to race against the clock to figure out just what she really is-- and what that all means.

The story was fast paced and had plenty of twists to keep my interest. Demons and the supernatural usually make for good reading in my opinion anyway, and I liked the take on nephilim. There are some books, like the Hunger Games, that left me content to read the first in the series and not worry about the next part, but I will definately be looking to read the next in this series.

There were some threads that seemed undeveloped, but that may be resolved in other installments. I would have been more fulfilled with a little more story on some things. Cassie being revealed as a necromancer without any justification or development, the subtle but completely unexpected and well, out-of-nowhere romance between Essallie and Kayden.

The lack of deveopment of these threads does not, however, diminish from the story itself. And I found the story enjoyable, and worthy of my time.