Angel Burn (Angel #1) by L.A. Weatherly

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Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip - and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.

I haven't read many of the recent books involving angels but those that have read featured angels that are either kindly, benevolent beings or stern arbitrators or justice. But with either representation, they were the good guys. Not so in Angel Burn, where the angels are villainous and sinister, despite their exceptional beauty. And to me, that's what made this book really unique, this unexpected twist on the traditional way that angels are generally viewed.

When Willow accidentally discovers that there are angels living among them, and that they use people's energy to feed, she becomes a target. Although Willow had always known that there was something unusual about her, she would have never guessed that it was due to her being partially an angel herself. It should not be possible for such a person to exist and when the angels find out about Willow they intend to see her dead because she may be the key to their own destruction. Only with the help of Alex, a boy who has been killing angels all of his life, may Willow manage to stay alive, and perhaps bring about the fulfill the prophecy the angels fear.

When Alex finds out the truth about Willow and decides to saver her instead of kill her, the two of them head out on the road to seek out an ally to help them. I love a good road trip story (the next best thing to going on a road trip myself) so I really enjoyed this part of the story. At first Alex and Willow distrust and dislike each other but along the way, as they get to know each other better, the feelings develop into something else. I really liked the fact that they actually spend time getting to know each other before deciding that they are in-love, which is often not the case in these kind of books.

Alex was a great character, and one that I would have loved spending hours in a car with if I were a teenager. Willow wasn't quite as captivating. Although she should have been really interesting, with her psychic abilities and her interest in fixing cars, for some reason that I can't pinpoint, she really wasn't. There wasn't enough depth to her and she just cried way too much for my liking. I liked female characters who are stronger and do a better job at hiding their vulnerability.

The ending was kind of strange and definitely not what I expected. While usually I enjoy being surprised by endings this one was more of a sizzle where you expect a bang, and usually I like that bang. But it did surprise me, which was something. And it made me curious as to how they next book would proceed.

Reading Angel Burn was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours and I think that it's a book I would have really loved when I was a teenager. So I would definitely recommend it for the YA readers that it is intended for as well as for those adults that enjoy reading YA book.