REVIEW: ARC: A Shimmer of Angels by Lisa M. Basso

ARC: A Shimmer of Angels

Lisa M. Basso

Young Adult Urban Fantasy

Release Date: January 29, 2013

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?

I admit, the reason I wanted to read this book was the fact that it had angels in it.  I’ve been on an angel kick for a while now.  Secondly, the cover is pretty.  That never hurts.  And third, it was available on Net Galley – so free is always good.  

With that said, I found very few flaws in this book.  Lisa M. Basso is a new author I think – I can’t say I know all that much about her, but I see that she has this book out and an anthology on Goodreads.  There are two more books in this series (called Angel Sight) so those are up there, but neither of them have been released.  In fact, this book is set to be released January 29, 2013. 

I enjoyed this book very much.  I think the most compelling thing was Rayna’s fear of being sent back to the institution for her mental issue – which is seeing winged people.  She was sent away for a very long time – three years, and has only been recently released.  Her fear came through very clearly and I could understand her hesitation and her vulnerability. 

I liked one of her “love interests” more than the other, but I’m not going to say which, but he’s the one she “ends up with” in the end. .  I did find there to be one strange case of insta-love that seemed out of place.  But I got over it.  Some of the lore was a smidge confusing, but I read a lot of SF, so I’m used to being confused and I just go with it.  I figure it will all eventually make sense, and if this is a series, then this author has plenty of books to get that lore out there. 

One other thing I thought was unnecessary was the strange devil costume Kade gets for Rayna.  It was just out of place and I think, unnecessary.  Also, this book has quite a bit of school and work time – normally I’m not into this, but since so much happened at both of these places I was OK with it.

A Shimmer of Angels is a very good four star YA book with a few swear words, no sex, a few kisses, and lots of deep issues to ponder.  I really liked it and I hope this author is hard at work on her next two books in this series because I definitely want to see what happens next.

 GOODREADS

AUTHOR WEBSITE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa M. Basso was born and raised in San Francisco, California. She is a lover of books, video games, animals, and baking (not baking with animals though). As a child she would crawl into worlds of her own creation and get lost for hours. Her love for YA fiction started with a simple school reading assignment: S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. When not reading or writing she can usually be found at home with The Best Boyfriend that Ever Lived ™ and her two darling (and sometimes evil) cats, Kitties A and B.