Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate’s tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home—and Meridian’s body explodes in pain. Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos.
What can I say about this book? It was a bit slow, slightly confused me at times and yet I really enjoyed it. It started out a bit confusing, I was grabbed by Meridian's 'power', wondering what she did, the start had a bit of a dark tone and I thought I was getting into a darker book than most that I've read lately.
A chapter or so in, we've been introduced to Meridian's history and the action starts to pick up. I found that the pace of the book fluctuated between being fantastic and gripping and slow and dragging, which was so distracting because just when I was getting into it, I lost it and it was pretty difficult to read because of that. The plot was pretty good, it was kind of a typical paranormal romance with a mystery twist.
Meridian was a good character, she had a level of strength that wasn't too whiny but wasn't unbelievably strong that it was difficult to relate. she did have her weak and unlikable moments, but I didn't dislike her throughout the book. I also liked Meridian's great-aunt, she kind of worked as a tutor to Meridian. Tens, Meridian's guardian and later romantic interest was pretty swoonworthy, though quite boring at times.
I thought the romance was going to be insta-love, but I was pleasantly surprised. there was a level of 'hot guy, mysterious, oooh' but it doesn't develop until the end of the book and I loved the attraction between Meridian and Tens.
Overall, I found that I struggled with the pacing of this book. I enjoyed the plot and the characters but because of the pacing I wasn't completely gripped.
Overall Rating: C
Released August 2011 by Delacorte.
book received through Read It, Swap It.
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