Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell

Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell
Release Date –  December 28 2010
Publisher Website –  Harper Collins
Publisher Social Media - Twitter/Facebook/SavvyReader
Pages -  310 pages
My Rating- 2.5/5
**obtained from the library**

**************MILD SPOILERS******************

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Terrell delivers the first book in a dark, edgy new angel series about a girl drawn into an ancient conflict that threatens everything she knows, even the life of the boy she loves.

Fallen Angel offers an interesting perspective on angel mythology, however the characters were hard for me to relate to.

Ellie and Michael are the main characters in the story. Two teenagers who begin to suspect that they may be something more than human. I feel we did not get to know the characters that well. I could barely picture them, and I wish they had been developed more. This made for a disconnect that was prevalent throughout the entire book.

I really liked that Ellie and Michael are both equal. They both are going through the same thing, and they are both supernatural. Too often we read of the supernatural being in love with the human (or vice versa) so it was nice to see it from a perspective that we don’t often get to see. It made the relationship seem more natural, even though it happens very quickly.  The relationship is intense, passionate and consuming for both of them, and as with most YA novels there is an underlying element to the attraction.

The relationship between Ellie and her best friend Ruth seemed a little awkward and strange at times. Ruth was overly dependant on Ellie, scarily so. It could have been a interesting development to dive deeper in the psychological reasons behind Ruth’s behaviour, but it wasn’t fully dealt with or explained.

Fallen Angel has an really intriguing premise. The synopsis doesn’t give much away, but as I reading I could see the mythology the author wanted to incorporate. I though the Book of Enoch was a great touch, and wished that would have been explored more. The novel has a lot of vampire references and qualities.  Blood is a huge plot point, and the characters actually think they are vampires at first. Applying this mythology could have been very intriguing and unique, but in a way I felt the author really wanted to write about vampires. A large part of the book is Ellie and Michael trying to determine what they are and I feel the title gives it away to the reader. This made me less invested because I knew the end result.

While the promise of an interesting premise, and good mythology was there, I was hoping to dive deeper into the story. It left me vaguely wishing the novel focused on the angel aspect more. I do think the second book maybe stronger, and that a younger teen would enjoy this novel a lot more.