Strange Angels

Strange Angels #1

by Lili St. Crow, Lilith Saintcrow

In Strange Angels, Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.) Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Vampires, Urban Fantasy, Werewolves, Supernatural

293 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2009

About the author

Lili St. Crow was born in New Mexico, bounced around the world as an Air Force brat, and fell in love with writing when she was ten years old. She lives in Vancouver, Washington, in a house full of stray cats and children.

Lili St. Crow also writes as Lilith Saintcrow.

Reviews

[Kat Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I have this habit that drives my family nuts. My husband just accepts it now and even does it himself because he's just so used to it. I ALWAYS put the subtitles on when I'm watching a movie. It's not because I have a hearing problem or anything. But sometimes important words are muffled, or they're odd words that I understand if I see written but wouldn't understand if they've only been spoken. Sometimes the background noise is too loud to hear what people are saying or maybe I'm just really going deaf like my family accuses me of all the time.

The thing is, I hate to ask, "What did he just say?" only to have the other person go, "I don't know, just a sec." Then of course the press reverse and we go back and try to catch it but can't so we have to try again... I save this time but just having the damn subtitles on in the first place.

I hate "missing" parts of the movie. I hate not knowing what's going on and that's just the thing that annoys me so much about Strange Angels. The book is well written and the characters are fresh and very original, but the action scenes are enough to make me pull my hair out.

They are so ill-conceived, there is so much information and description missing. Graves and Dru managed to kill a Tracker and take down a werewolf and I have no idea HOW. They say they drowned the tracker but the scene was like... well, like.

Okay, this is the best example I can give. Do you remember watching The Little Mermaid? Remember when Ariel is getting chewed out by her Dad for missing the concert and Flounder comes to her rescue recounting why it wasn't her fault?

For those who don't have young children and therefor HAVEN'T seen this movie a THOUSAND times:

But it wasn't her fault! Ah - well - first, ahh, this shark chased us - yeah - yeah! And we tried to - but we couldn't - and - grrrrrrrrr - and - and we - whoooaaaaaa - oh, and then we were safe. But then this seagull came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and -

Unless you'd seen what had happened to Ariel and Flounder, his little speech would have made no sense. Strange Angels is often like missing the scene and getting Flounder's colourful retelling. You're left thinking, "Well, I get that something scary and dramatic just happened and that there was a werewulf involved but... fucked if I know!"

Which brings me to my next sour point! Dru was not TSTL except she was. Am I making sense? I got so sick of her asking stupid questions, pausing and taking too long to shit herself, asking the same redundant things over and over again.

Take this for example. A half vampire has saved her life, knows about her father and comes to her house to offer her help. Okay, I wouldn't really trust him either. But I would at least allow him a dialogue so that I could ease him into talking so that I could get information out of him instead of holding a gun to his head and asking the same inane questions again, and again and again. Fuck woman! He didn't answer them the first time! Or if he does, she only asks him again, to receive the same fucking answer! He told her he was half vampire like FOUR TIMES. I think, and I may be wrong about this, BUT I THINK HE WAS A FUCKING HALF VAMPIRE!

Then there is the internal monologue saying the same damn things fifty million times. Don't even get me started on the point in time at which THEY ARE IN IMMINENT danger - they all KNOW they're about to die - then they stop to have a bitch fight about who gets to drive... *Kat claws her eyes out*

Some people just deserve to die.

There is one last bone of contention I have with this novel - and it's Dru's constant and repeated racial comments about Graves. Yes, we get it that he's half-Asian. Yes, we get how you've described him. Please stop making gross generalizations about his looks compared to, what is a VERY broad term because frankly "asian" covers SO much ground, others of his "race". FFS.

I suppose all of this seems silly considering I gave this book four stars. It is. I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed the fast pace. It's a pretty good read. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the other stuff!

[Vero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover:




Book:
First chapters...



After a few pages...



At the middle of the book...



Second part of the book...



1 hour after finishing the book...



Main Characters:
Dru



Christophe



Graves




OVERALL:

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dru Anderson's life is deeply entangled with the paranormal. She's got a bit of the 'touch' from her father's side of the family, which amounts to a sixth sense for supernatural creatures and a little bit of something extra from her mom's side of the family as well. She uses these gifts as her father's helper in hunting and killing supernatural creatures that prey on humans.

Dru is also pushing a midlife crisis even though she is technically written as a teenage girl. She called every human being her age 'kid' as often as she could. This was meant to sound jaded and world fatigued but it made me agonizingly aware this was written by an adult who saw all teenagers as being one step out of their diapers. I really do understand the intent here. Dru has seen more shit than you have, kid. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like I was reading about a world-weary teenager. It didn't work and it should've been edited out or tempered with other more teenage moments, of which there are few unless you count the ZITS.

The author goes through great pains to let you know that Dru is not extremely attractive. She's got zits and greasy hair -- so she is totally not a Mary Sue... but that's where the line begins and ends. Dru is borderline too stupid too live and she's one of very few supernatural girls in Saintcrow's mythos. Frankly, I almost preferred Bella Swan stumbling around in a world she was too small to play in to Dru's condescending look at anyone who didn't know about the 'real' world. Yeah, the supernatural world = real world and the rest of us live in the normal world.

I found the character annoying, which sucks because I really wanted to like her, but I couldn't. Dru doesn't give a crap about how she looks, because that's for normal girls. I really hate how Dru kept equating girls who gave a crap about their appearance as food for the things who bump in the night. There's a line between vanity and using zit cream or running a brush through your hair. It's a huge line! I don't know who the author was at Dru's age, but I wasn't one of the girls who had a mirror in their lockers and watched every calorie they consumed and still managed to run a brush through my hair without feeling shallow.

Beyond Dru, there were some writing quirks that annoyed me. For instance every fucking thing halfway mentioned in the novel had a smell. Okay, we get an explanation for why Dru's sense of smell is on overdrive (sort of), but it was still totally distracting. There was less scene setting so much as olfactory torture setting and if I had a nickel for every time she mentions how one of the boys in her love triangle smelled like pastries I could get the next three novels without dipping into my own pocket.

The minor characters were okay, although there weren't a lot. It was really just the love triangle. There were a lot of borderline racist comments made about the appearance of one half-Asian character. Who really calls people of mixed race "half-breeds?" Like, where is that socially acceptable? Every time she talked about his half-breed skin color I kind of wanted to strangle Dru. I have a cousin who is half Chinese (and half Irish from my uncle). As a baby he had beautiful copper colored hair and green eyes with an Asian slant. Saintcrow's description of Graves make all half one race and half another race children sound slapped together with broken bits and pieces rather than anything that could possibly be genuinely attractive (although she does say Graves might be pretty someday when he's 40 like she is -- okay she didn't say 40 but it's so effing distracting for her to keep saying when he grows up he'll be cute. NOTE FOR THE AUTHOR: SOMETIMES TEENAGERS ARE ATTRACTED TO PEOPLE THEIR OWN AGE. OH THE CRAZINESS). I say all half and half very specifically because while it was Graves being described it was still done in such a BROAD way that it came out as racist.

Also, some of the world building and character outlines are sloppy. I know this from reading the second book. I won't include the details here, but seriously sloppy world building. I suspect Dru having the touch on her father's side is something that ought to have been edited out when the direction of the store changed, but then the writer decided 'what the hell, I'll make her super special on both sides!'

What fucking ever. I'm so over the Supernatural!Supermagical!Vaginas! Listen, Paranormal authors, having magic breasticles had been done before (Rachel Vincent's Faythe, Kelly Armstrong's Elena, etc). If your character can't be special without being the ONLY ONE OF THEIR GENDER then perhaps your character just fucking sucks nuts.

[⊱Sonja•●❤️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dru Anderson ist 16 Jahre alt. Seit ihre Mutter und ihre Oma gestorben sind, lebt sie allein mit ihrem Vater zusammen. Die beiden sind eine Art „Geisterjäger“ und ziehen von Ort zu Ort. Länger als drei Monate halten sie sich eigentlich nie in einer Stadt auf. Dru kann Poltergeister, Zombies und andere Horrorwesen sehen, die anderen verborgen bleiben. Eines Tages kehrt ihr Vater selbst als Zombie von einer seiner „Geisterjäger-Touren“ zurück und will seine eigene Tochter töten. Dru bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als ihren Vater bzw. den Zombie zu erledigen. Nun ist sie ganz auf sich allein gestellt und merkt bald, dass noch andere seltsame Wesen hinter ihr her sind. Einen Freund findet sie in Graves, einen Jungen aus ihrer Schule. Die beiden tun sich zusammen und nehmen den Kampf gegen Werwölfe und Co. auf…

* Meine Meinung *
Ein Jugendbuch, das sich meiner Meinung nach nicht so sonderlich von anderen Fantasy-Jugendbüchern, die gerade auf dem Markt sind, unterscheidet. Ein Vorteil dieses Buches ist jedoch, dass mal nicht Vampire im Vordergrund stehen. Es geht hier zwar auch um einen „Blutsauger“, der auch keine ganz unwesentliche Rolle spielt, aber in diesem ersten Teil von „Strange Angels“ geht es mehr um Dru, die langsam herausfindet, was es mit ihrer Familie auf sich hat und dass sie selbst etwas „Besonderes“ ist.
Im Großen und Ganzen hat mir der Roman gut gefallen. Der Schreibstil war schön leicht, wie es für ein Jugendbuch auch sein sollte, und das Buch ließ sich somit schnell und flüssig lesen. Auf einige Ausdrücke hätte die Autorin aber meiner Meinung nach auch verzichten können – gerade weil sich dieses Buch doch an junge Leser richtet. Allerdings mag das auch an der Übersetzung liegen.
Gut gefallen hat mir, wie sich aus der anfänglichen Zweckgemeinschaft zwischen Dru und Graves langsam eine Freundschaft aufgebaut hat. Stellenweise hatte das Buch ein paar Längen bzw. Wiederholungen. Die hielten sich aber noch in Grenzen, so dass Langeweile beim Lesen nicht aufkam. Insgesamt gebe ich diesem Buch drei von fünf Sternen.

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strange Angels really grabbed me because it sounded like Supernatural (the show) - a girl and her father out to hunt evil beings of the night. Unfortunately, what resulted instead was nothing like Supernatural but more aligned with the Buffy vibe, only with a whole lot of other creatures of the night.

While there's no doubt that this book is written quite well, I quite a few gripes with the book that prevented me from enjoying it too much.

1. A bunch of teenagers who keep calling each other 'kid'.
2. Double thought processes - some would be in normal font, and others would be in italics with no form of differentiation whatsoever.
3. Weird pronunciation for werewolves, calling them 'werewulven'. Also present when referring to vampires as 'nosferatu'
4. Unlikable heroine who is annoying and living in a different world to everyone else. She's the only woman and an all-important heroine which is the only reason that makes her special.
5. A suggestion of racism with constant slights towards Graves, the half-asian guy with a big beak-like nose and who can get really white even though he isn't a white boy. Not to mention that she refers to him as a 'half-breed' and always brings up his asian features when describing him.

That's probably enough to put me off reading the rest of the series.

Check out Happy Indulgence for more reviews!

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange Angels
(Strange Angels #1)
by Lili St. Crow
Wow! This book has a chokehold on me and would not let me beathe! Fast paced, insanely good world building, believable characters, dialogue between characters often sprinkled with humor and tears, heart pounding suspense, situations no sane person should ever have to be in, and I loved all anxiety induced moments!
Our gal and her dad are hunters, but they don't hunt what the Real world knows about. They hunt the nightmares. But dad doesn't come home. This is our gal's story that takes us into their world, buckle up! It is full of things unseen, things with teeth, and things that hunt back! This book is going in my favorite folder.

[Judith (Judith'sChoiceReads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goodreads Summary

In Strange Angels, Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)

Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

My Thoughts

I realize that I cannot keep doing this to myself, that is, reading books I do not like, for the pure sake of getting it done. Doing so has proven time and time again to be a complete waste of effort. It has taken me forever just to get 70 pgs into this!! I started another book after dumping this entirely, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi and it is brilliant! At 70 pgs with Mafi's book, I never wanted to stop. With Strange Angels I always wanted it to end.

And make no mistake, I'm not hating without a reason, I wanted to like this, I really did, it just never worked out that way because:

I.Hate.Dru.




She's egotistic, boring as heck, generally ungrateful and CONDESCENDING. Ah, Dru, let me count the ways I hate thee:

1. How dare you prance around acting "above" everyone? What makes you so great, kid? NOTHING. I don't care if you could out-barter me when it comes to arguing in the secret underworld black market for canned leprechaun feet! As far as I'm concerned, You. Are. A. Tool.

It's great that some people really liked this, I get that some readers will disagree, but this definitely wasn't for me. The action was slow moving and the characters far too over-thought to provide natural or even enjoyable reading.

The author tried hard to make Dru so, so, so B.A. And all through I kept getting these obvious and weird Rose Hathaway nudges of similarity like, 'look here! She's B.A. doesn't give a f--- and does whatever she wants. Isn't she familiar? But not overly so, so that I could possibly go to prison for attempted plagiarism? You're a teen, right? Love her, love this shit! Please, I'd love to hunt her down, effectively now.

2. This bothered me to no end. One thing I will never get over is how she describes Graves - her only friend so far and with the attitude this girl has, I don't blame anyone for keeping their distance. So Graves basically takes her in, and yet she persists in making him out to be some circus freak. St. Crow even writes him as a, half-breed because of his mixed race.

Whatt De Frickson Racers?!? When did we start talking about dogs here; or are people from mixed coupling not considered human?? She makes him pathetically self-conscious, gangly and just an oddity. As is mentioned many times throughout the book, Graves does not know what to do with himself. Ever.

It's told from first person, whatever, but do I honestly need minute by minute detail on how awkwardly the boy sits/handles himself or how all of his strange complexities can somehow be linked to the fact that he's mixed. GET. OVER. YOURSELF. Children from interracial couples are so freaking adorable! How dare you point a hand at that, St. Crow?

At this point, around pg 40-ish I was already frustrated beyond belief. You know when you stick a book down and want to go back to it? I never did, on the contrary I was relieved whenever the opportunity arose to get as far away from Dru as possible.

3. As a protagonist, Dru sucks. She is stale, uninspiring and just there to act obnoxious. Sorry, but future installments having pretty covers aside this is the real reason I ever picked Strange Angels I cannot deal with Dru; and since she is the main character here, I thought it might be best to cut my losses.

I never grieved for her.

I never rooted for her.

Heck, I never even liked her. Poor Graves, he did though, too much if you ask me. That girl makes Bella Swan and Luce from Fallen look like freaking optimists. She treated him as well as St. Crow implies of him, like a dog.

*Sigh* To wrap things up because I really do not want to be meanerany more honest about this, 1.5 stars is all this book is getting from me, nothing more and if possible a lot less. If it wasn't for the (wasted) potential. The whole 'real world' deal is pretty sweet, it just sucks that Dru tries to make it exclusive to a fault. I'm sure St. Crow isn't a bad writer; she just has very poor characters.

[Prabhjot Kaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dru and her father are hunters. They hunt all kinds of supernatural things. One day Dru's father doesn't return from his hunt and then a half-vampire saves her life and she gets thrown into the supernatural world which she's always known about but now she experiences in a whole different way.

Dru has the touch and that's how she can sense the supernatural beings. I somewhat liked Dru's character but not much. Mostly she was just annoying.

Graves is half-Asian and becomes friends with Dru and he also gets sucked into this supernatural world. He has feelings for Dru. I loved Graves.

Christophe is half-vampire and he's so good looking and all and I couldn't like him. I just couldn't.

There weren't a lot of other significant characters but I loved the plot. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

4 stars

[Aj the Ravenous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read about vampires. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I did enjoy reading it perhaps because it is not solely about the steroetypical sort of vampires or called in this book as "suckers". The concept of half vampire and half human and other classifications of vampires sort of intrigued me.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

TBR Reduce Challenge #3- 2011 (Lora)

Hmmm, not bad. Not bad at all.

Not the best book I've read in the past few years, but it was enough to keep me interested. One of my friends here asked me if it reminded me of Supernatural (the show) and it really did. The mom getting killed, the absentee dad hunting things that go bump in the night and a kid that grows up knowing there is a whole other world out there.

But it felt kinda weird because Graves has been living on his own since he was 12 or something, I don't get how he did that without getting caught, and having just enough money to keep himself fed, clothed and in school.

On a side note: It always surprises me that so-called 'normal' people, never seem to have any idea what's going on in a world where zombies, vampires, werewolves (sorry, werwulven, 'cause that just sounds fancier) are taking over as soon as the sun goes down. Why would they stay hidden deliberately? They are stronger/faster/crazier than the average human. It doesn't make sense, none of them seem to get power hungry enough to try to take over the world. I mean come on. If I was a badass vamp, I would let the world know.

Notable things I liked: Graves. I suspect there must be a reason why we don't know his first name yet.

Notable things I disliked: The French Djamphir guy, although I did laugh when I found out what his last name was. Good one.

I heard the sequel is crap, so I don't know yet if I'm going to continue this series or not.

[Mariel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted this to be something other than it was. What I really wanted was Supernatural the show but with a teen girl. Dru grew up hunting the big bad thing in the dark. Her dad allowed her to be put into those situations but in a half-hearted way. Care, one way or the other (I'd prefer the scary way). The revenge angle was watered down. Dru's motives were boring old inherited. Dru summed up: I'm gonna do what I wanna so buzzzz off. It could have been girl versus un-nature. Struggle with more than destiny. What about outside what has been decided? Not special teen girl again. Her home life should have been more than flashbacks. Where were the overriding influences? It felt too textbook explanation like point a is b rather than a real person. Pity parties for the sake of the pity. Dru never formed much in my mind. Also, the love triangle? Graves is in permanent puppy dog position and.... Christophe? He is so cliche that I almost named the similar Ash from Julie Kagawa's series. I dislike love triangles 'cause they remind me of when I two-timed Usher and R. Kelley (luckily my twin helped me out. Too bad Usher did the same trick with Justin Bieber.) I dislike same as everything else without using the good stuff. Another school story? More bad vamps? Mythology rammed down our throats to swallow. I spit.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

To surmise my thoughts on this book, this series has serious potential. It was sort of like a mix between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight and City of Bones. While the book itself was a slow start to hopefully something even better, by the end of the book I was heavily anticipating the next novel, Betrayals.

The book is about Dru, whose father is a hunter of sorts - except he hunts otherworldly beings in the Real World. Dru is pretty confident about her living situation until a zombie infiltrates her house and attacks her. Then she meets Graves, a half-Asian goth boy with some helpful abilities. Now Dru just has to survive until she can find help against the deadly forces trying to kill her.

Let me just say, Graves all the way! Finally, a talented, kick butt, fierce, hot half-Asian character! He's one of the largest contributing factors to my approval of this series. Christophe is like an Edward Cullen wannabe, while Graves is just amazing.

I recommend Strange Angels over other young adult fiction such as Marked or Fallen.

Want to read more of my reviews? Check out my blog.

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the more enjoyable YA paranormals I've read lately. The heroine has been trained for this her whole life, but holy shit she is a normal teenager (besides being knowledgeable of the paranormal world and stuff, ya know?). Her dad is killed, and so what if she's had training and they've been on the move for years? She's a kid, she's frightened out of her mind, emotional, and unsure of what to do next. Her friend Graves is a good sidekick. He's got flaws, but he's not a complete asshole, nor is he a stalkery saint; they're just two very lonely people trying not to get over their head.

My main issue is with the plot and pacing. This is the first book in the series, so I am cutting it some slack. New information is being thrown at us right and left, and we have to figure out which supernatural characters are in play for this one. Things are really confusing, and there's a lot of gaping plot holes, such as WHO'S THE IDIOT IN CHARGE OF THE KIND OF SCHOOL THAT LETS A KID DITCH FOR A WEEK WITHOUT PARENTAL CONTACT? But hey, willing suspension of disbelief for the sake of literature, right? I wanted more information as to what Dru is, and what kind of stuff she and her dad has been up to since her grandmother died, but I'll let it slide for now, in hopes that the next few books in the series will provide more insight. I am looking forward to reading the next book.

[Anushka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phew. It’s over. It’s finally over!
God, this book was SO boring. It was really slow paced and really trite. I had a hard time keeping my eyelids open.

In addition to being such a drag, it also had a very dull setting and a thin plot. As if that wasn’t enough, our heroine was a no-nonsense, extremely serious person whose idea of fun was blowing up stuff and both the male sidekicks were annoying the hell out of me.

The writing was fairly good but the character description was not. There wasn’t enough information given so it was really tough to imagine how the character looked like. Dru was said to have frizzy hair, Christophe had blue eyes and a good-looking face but that was it. No other details provided to get to know the character better. Graves was a Goth Boy so we don’t need any description for that, I guess.
The story is well, nothing really. Dru Anderson has “the touch”, she can sense supernatural creatures and that’s why her Dad trained her to hunt and kill them, to protect herself. But things start going south when her father goes on a hunting trip and doesn't return. Nothing much of significance happened till half of the book. The story moved a little bit forward when Christophe arrived but still, they did nothing except talking.

What I did like about this was that the girl was not whiny. She took action and never acted on impulse, she thought everything through before doing anything. Second, I appreciate that the author decided her character to be aware of the World. The idea of a guy coming up on your doorstep one day and telling you that you aren't human and there are supernatural creatures out there which makes the heroine go in a state thinking her world is turned upside down is utterly beaten up. But still there were some things that Dru found out along the way which did turn her world upside down but she was able to take it better than those clingy girls.

And the best part about this book – NO ROMANCE! *fist pump*
There could’ve been a love-triangle but there wasn't. Thank God for small favours! I think there will be in the future books but lets not worry about it now. All in all, it was a good book you can say. It is one of those books which irritated you but still you don't feel like giving it less stars. Plus, I think this series has lot of potential in store. I’ll definitely read its sequel someday and pray it isn't as boring as this one.

[Maggie ☘ · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Better to be strong than pretty and useless.”

This was pretty good!

Going into this book, I expected nothing more than a disappointment, so it was a great surprise that Strange Angels turned out as a promising first book of paranormal series. Here's hoping the sequels gets way better.

Of course this book had some faults, since it deserved around two stars from me, but overall after finishing this book in two days, I have to say, even with the imperfections, I pretty much enjoyed it while reading it.

Pros:

► The characters:

“That's the funny thing about old hurts- they just wait for new heartache to come along and then show up, just as sharp and horrible as the first day you woke up with the world changed all around you.”

Dru, the heroine is the right kind of tough girl. She's snarky, sarcastic, imperfect and not-so-much easy going. She's also a teenager and she acts like it. And I loved it, I loved that she's just a human (kind of?) and has her good and bad sides! But I hope that she goes through some character development, grows up a little and becomes more responsible for herself, her actions and abilities as a hunter in the future.

“You're not dead. You're too goddamn annoying to be dead.”

Graves, Drue's friend and (possible) love interest, was pretty likeable chatracter as well. He was witty, trustworthy and loyal to the heroine. Though I can't (yet) see him as a love interest (which I hope will change in book 2), I like him very much as a character.
The only thing I didn't like - which isn't fault of his character, but the way the author wrote it - was that every time he appeared in the scene Dru just had to comment on his race. Yes, we know that he's half Asian, and I get that we need some description of the character, but once the character is described we know how to picture him, so why did the author comment on his looks every time.. It's like she's desperately screaming - Look! Look! My book is SO diverse! ...Ugh. Also wtf was with the half-breed thing at the beginning?!? I don't think that the author meant to be insulting but.. she was.

Christoph, mysterious and charismatic guy for whom I had only two modes - I either loved him or hated him. I'm not entirely sure about his character just yet though.

And yes, as you've guessed, there is a hint for a love triangle in the following books. (What I hope for is no love triangle, but rather two separate relationships. Because one of those guys seems to me more like the first-relationship type of guy and the other like someone with whom the heroine could have more independent relationship of two strong, capable individuals).
So yeah, here's hoping the romance will be more healthy and complex than in most Ya paranormals.. And since this book had pretty much no romance and Dru has her priorities straight, here's hoping that the focus of the next books will be on something more important than petty love triangle.

► Storyline:
The plot took interesting twists and turns and made me read the whole book in a few days. It had the right amount of fast paced action and wasn't overwhelming. There were a few shocking moments, one pretty emotional and the ending hints at more adventures in a different setting in the sequel.

“What do you say when someone takes on a really bad ass, murdering sucker for you? There just aren't words for that.”

Cons:

► The writing style:

The language used in this book was just weird for me. It was very teen-like sounding voice which may have suited Dru's character, but was overall confusing and messy. There were some pretty weird phrases I never even heard of, and Dru had this repetitive internal monologues which got on my nerves, took her damn time to think about EVERYTHING, no matter how trivial it was and asked the same questions more than once. The writing style was definitely the weakest spot of this book.

► The world-building:

Which wasn't exactly a bad thing, but for most of this book, the paranormal aspect was pretty confusing, not entirely explained. Which I kind of get, since Dru didn't know enough about the world, so the readers didn't 100% either. And I really hope that since she'll be more immersed in the hunter world in the sequel, that everything regarding the world-building will be finally clear.
But alas in this book, the not-enough-explained world resulted in lots of total WTFuckery.

All in all, Strange Angels was enjoyable fast-paced paranormal book with captivating plot, kickass, snarky heroine, lots of (messy, weird) paranormal creatures - Ghosts, Werewulfen, Nosferatu/suckers, Djampir (Half-Blood vampires), even zombies and who the hell knows what else - and a bit of potential to be something more. Will definitely give the second book a go and see if it turns out to be better.

“No problem. First one's free.”

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one, fast paced, action packed, paranormal page turner, er... urban fantasy.

The story was interesting. Dad and daughter engaged in a battle with all things that go bump in the night. This was something new for me. Not sure I understood why her Dad would put himself in harms way, when he is her only living family member, but I guess that just adds to the story.

Initially Dru annoyed me, I don't know exactly what it was but by the end of the story she'd grown on me. Graves on the other hand, although wise beyond his years, was one of the reasons I kept reading. Somehow the dynamics of their relationship or duo, call it what you will, it works. Overall characterization was notable.

The is novel is a supernatural overdose, werewolves, vampires, zombies, leprechauns... okay I made the leprechaun part up, but still wow! All my favorite creatures of the night in one tightly bound volume. This is unquestionably a world that I'll want to revisit.

[Melissa Paranormally Romanced · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay so I read the first couple of chapters when I was first started reading Vampire Academy because it was on the last pages as a promo. I read them and I remember I didn’t want to keep reading. So I decided never to be interested in that book. Now there was two particular blogs that I follow and that shall remain nameless that Raved about this book. They said it was almost as good as vampire academy and it has to be read because it’s so good. SO I thought maybe I misjudged the book. So when I saw the whole set of audio books at the library I thought this is my chance. Man I should have gone with my original instincts.

This book just had me in a bad mood. I didn’t like it at all. I can’t even say it has potential to be a great series because the way the plot played out and how the character are its just not in my future. This book had me really annoyed and had me angry and frustrated for many reasons! I will say this, I really didn’t like the book; and the person reading it was awful. Her voice, the way she pronounced everything just made the book more awful.

One of the many things I disliked was Dru, the main character. That’s a bad sign when the reader can’t relate or can’t stand the protagonist. She was so annoying for many reasons. One for some reason she thought she was better than everyone. It’s like she looked down to everyone that didn’t know about the “the real world”. It was so annoying. All she would talk about is how ignorant and oblivious people were. And speaking about the “real world” that was beyond annoying how they kept repeating that over and over again in the book. It was just as annoying when she would say she had “the touch”. It’s funny that she kept talking about the touch because she barely explained what it was, and what she could really do. This chick had no clue. It’s one thing to think your bad ass, it’s another when you think you are better. Even at that Dru wasn’t badass. She didn’t fight. All she could do was point a gun and that for me isn’t making me a fan. What got me more irritated is that she spoke all the time how no one knew about the real world, but I felt like she didn’t know anything herself. It’s like all she knew was that it existed. She had no concept of what was going on around her. I don’t understand how you grow up helping your dad hunt creatures, but yet you don’t know their names, what they could so or anything. She was completely unknowledgeable about anything.

I mean she would even talk bad about Graves all the time. I am assuming that’s her love interest for this whole series; all she talks about how odd looking he is and how when he gets older he will turn cute. But he has a weird nose, he’s too skinny, and just ughhh!! The other thing I felt was that she was fake. All her internal dialogue she would never say. It’s one thing to be bitch, but don’t pretend to be nice in front of everyone else. She was so negative inside, but then the things she would speak up would sound soft spoken.
Even after she *** spoiler**** shot her father. She didn’t hesitate that to me is weird. The first time she shot the safety was on and then she shot again. The times when she would think about her dad, the memories were dry and fake. It’s like all she missed was having an adult. I don’t feel she really missed him. I just finished reading the demon trappers daughter, and let me tell you her father dies, he hunted demons, and he didn’t want her involved, and yet that main character you could feel she genuinely missed her father and she actually knew what was going on in her “real world”** spoiler ended****

Wow I know that sounded like a rant but I needed to get that off my chest. I didn’t like the main character at all!!!

Graves he was okay and nice but that’s about all he had going for him. I guess when I read I look for that OMG guy that can save my world if I needed him too. I think Graves is a punk therefore I wasn’t all invested in that love story. His personality was good but that’s about it. I don’t get why a character like Graves would be the main guy. He’s more like a Simon from TMI. I think I liked Kristoff better as a love interest but I don’t even know if he was meant as an option. Either way nothing going on in that department in the book.
The author’s style of writing was not for me at all. She would overly describe everything to the point I wouldn’t even know what was going at times. That drives me insane. Why must you describe every inch of everything to complete a thought. Seriosuly there was a whole chapter dedicated to Dru not wanting to give the keys to Kristoff. Like really are you serious. Not for me. The pacing was slow and there was nothing going on. I could list the main things that happened in this book in less than 5 bullets.

The thing that gets me the most upset is that I really wanted to like this book. I hate when I feel cheated by a book. I love the covers;. I thought I was getting a kickass heroine that knew how to hunt creatures of the night who gets help from a guy she meets and saves the day falls in love and everything else. I didn’t even get not one thing from that.

I honestly don’t know what type of people to recommend this book to. But if for some reason you liked this book I would love you to leave comments and tell me what you liked. I don’t see the appeal. I think it can be said I will not be reading the rest of the series. And I feel like I have wasted my time.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently I have quit so many UF novels that I was beginning to think that perhaps I don’t really like the genre after all. Then Strange Angels came along. This book didn’t blow me away or bring anything new to the UF or YA genres. But it was an incredibly fast paced, enjoyable read. Lilith Saintcrow has obviously been influenced by many current authors, but you are able to see their effect on her without any blatant stealing on her part (I’m looking at you Cassandra Clare!) And I’ve got to admit that the most refreshing thing about this book is the fact that the super old, super evil and kinda sexy vamp does not have hair down to his waist, thigh high leather boots or puffy shirts with lace cuffs. He is a normal dude with jeans, a thin black sweater and sneakers. Amazing, huh? =) Aside from his vamp abilities, his only visible status symbol is an ostentatiously large Rolex. Three cheers for Lilith Saintcrow! Finally, an author who does not feel the need to keep her old vamps outdated, silly and possibly transgendered.

Strange Angels is a great start to a series. And it’s very clear that this will be a series, although there aren’t any nasty cliffhangers at the end. I for sure recommend this book and am looking forward to getting further into the series.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why do people who didn't watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer just assume that people who did were all about the werewolves and other monsters? That is not why Buffy has such a big fan base...most of us liked the human elements, the real-ness of the show, the characters.
So when someone told me I would like this book b/c I liked Buffy, well, humpf. Ugh...bad characters, stupid plot, and WHYYYY do people feel the need to re-spell words in their own mythology? Werewulf? please. This book was so annyoing....and the lead character drove me up a wall! She was so cruel, and not very smart. And yet...and yet.....when does the sequel come out?

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zombies AND vampires? Okay, you have my attention.

Strange Angels was an interesting book to dive into. I don't think I've ever read a vampire book that had zombies. So I will admit that I was pretty intrigued with what I was about to read. Unfortunately, things sort of fell flat for me. Don't get me wrong, I liked some things about it but I wasn't really invested in the book.

For example, it didn't feel like much was happening in the first half. So once things did start to pick up and we were past the learning phase.. I was just bored. As for the characters, well, Dru and Graves were okay but I wasn't completed invested in them either. I also feel like certain things were repetitive when it came to them - whether they were together or not.

In the end, I hope the next book has Dru making better decisions. Not sure if/when I'll dive into it but if I cross paths with - I might as well dive into the thing.

[Bry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 3.5 stars. (Can't wait for half ratings!)

I thought Ilona Andrews Kate Daniel's series dropped you in the middle of world with the assumption you would figure it out from all her little clues and tidbits as you went along. But St. Crow wins that race with this book. From the beginning to the end you are kept in the dark as to the true realities of Dru's world - what's real, what's myth, what's truth, what's lies.

Normally with a first book in the series a comment would have to be made about the lack of plot due to intensive world building, but since the reader is left to stumble along in the world much like Graves I realize that the thin plot is due to the intense amount of characterization in the book. So much is devoted to the building of Dru, Graves, and even her father that plot was somewhat predictable and thin as a result.

Dru has 'the touch' whatever that it. It seems to be a little bit of magic, a little bit of clairvoyance, a little bit or true sight, a little bit of everything to be honest. Despite all this she seems like a typical teenage girl. Her emotions were extremely real. Her reactions, thoughts, actions were what I would expect from a 16 year old girl whose life had just been turned upside down despite the training from her father. I understood her and to me that's a mark of amazing characterization. Even though I understood her though I thought she was distant and a bit uncaring. But hey her parents are dead and she is being hunted so I guess she deserves some slack.

Graves on the other hand just annoyed me throughout the entire book. I kept waiting for him to prove himself to me, to become attached to him, but it never happened. He was loyal to Dru (real highly dependent/clingy), became strong, and was totally cool with most everything that was happening, but I disliked how much he cried, his assumptions about his relationship with Dru (again dependent/clingy), and his lame sarcastic remarks all in the name of comedic relief. Christophe totally got to me though. I found him intriguing, intelligent, and a bit cocky, but I think there is a really good soul hiding under the snobby pretense. I can't wait to see what he's got in store for us.

I do have a bone to pick with the main character Dru though. For the most part she is brave, quick thinking (though not always smart), and good at relying on her trained instincts. But when she knows that they all need to get out of town, i.e. life and death situation, she thinks it is smart to spend 2 hours packing up CD's, a bed, some bathrooms stuff, etc instead of GETTING OUT OF TOWN. The bad guys are coming to get her and she is more worried about her things?? Where did that come from? Then they get in an argument about who is going to drive? Are you kidding me? The kid has death damn near on her doorstep and she is being pissy about wanting to drive. This whole thing totally threw off the climax of the book for me. I was completely immersed until this idiocy.

Oh and I use the term climax loosely and to me there isn't much of an ending to this book. The set up for the series is definitely in place though, and if you really want to have any idea of what is happening/will happen to this kid you have to keep reading, which I shall be doing.

And as a few others have pointed out the respelling of words like 'werewulf' was a bit annoying, as was the random capitalizing of things to give significance like 'Before' and 'Real World'. Whatever though, I'm still gonna read Betrayals though so I guess I just have to get over it!

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick (-ish) story: This book first came to my attention soon after it was released. I was at Borders trying to decide between three books, Strange Angels among those selections. I read the first few pages of each book in an attempt to narrow things down. Based on the prologue and the first few pages of the first chapter, Strange Angels was removed from consideration.

Why had I been so quick to eliminate this book from the running? Although the prologue pulled me in from the first sentence it was evident that the protagonist was a "tough girl", not one to be reckoned with. And while I luvz me a tough main character, particularly when said character is a girl, it only really works when written correctly. IMHO, when it comes to this genre the tough girl concept fails more often then not. I'm not sure why, exactly. Lazy and/or unimaginative writing is my best guess. But I digress.

Fast forward to the beginning of December 2009: I had a few audible.com credits. Unfortunately there weren't any audio books I was particularly excited about. But I had a ginormous pile (read: mountain) of laundry to fold and I needed something semi-interesting to listen to while I did so. I stumbled across Strange Angels again, and for whatever reason decided to give it a go (If I remember correctly my decision had everything to do with audio book length more then any other factor, which is kind of sad, but whatever).

Long story short(-ish): I'm glad that I chose this book. Not only was it a worthwhile use of an Audible credit, effectively keeping me entertained while folding a few weeks worth of clean laundry (in one night, might I add). But this book is a really good YA paranormal read, not to be overlooked.

Strange Angels is the first book I've read by Lili St. Crow and it definitely won't be the last. I'm disappointed I didn't give this book a chance back when I first picked it up. I appreciate that St. Crow seemed to have a solid understand of the characters she was writing about--their history/background--before she started to write. What I mean is there are believable reasons behind the way these characters react to each other and to situations that unfold.

Within the last year I've read quite a few books from this exact same genre in which the characters are unrealistic in storylines that are incredibly preposterous, or worse yet, unoriginal, I was under the impression ANYONE can be published these days, so long as they write a story about a supernatural-something falling in love with a really insipid teenage girl. That being said, I can't seem to stop reading YA paranormal books which is kinda sad, I realize. But I feel the need to mention, books like Strange Angels make my addiction to this genre bearable. What I'm trying to say is this book is infinitely better then a large chunk (read: around 85%) of other books from this same genre.

Moving on...

Where was I? Yes, I remember now: I really liked this book. Which is why I gave it four stars. Were I to compare this book to books from YA paranormal alone, it would definitely get five stars.

Warning to my LDS friends: There is quite a bit of swearing in this book, but little to no sex. Actually there is no sex in this book, though there are one or two quite mild--but not exactly sexual--situations. Would I let my teenager read it? I don't know... probably. Because swearing aside, I think it's more worthwhile then any of the Twilight books. Do I think your teens should read it? Not my call. But honestly, I've always felt parents should have firsthand knowledge of what their teens are reading/watching, etc.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange Angels inhabits the same world as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Wicked Lovely (and a host of others). Dru (short for ?? - we never learn exactly) is special, seeing and hearing things in the Real World that the rest of us cannot see or hear. She and her father move a lot - so often that Dru doesn't always unpack when they get to a new home.

The only school class we see includes a very nasty teacher (and Dru's telling the teacher off is one of those "I wish I'd said that to my witch-teacher" moments) and a guy, Graves, a half-Asian Goth boy. Their partnership seems unlikely, but in one of those seemingly in-fiction-only twists they become friends, partners and (perhaps in the sequel) something more.

Suffice it to say that I can't wait to see what happens to Dru, Graves, Christophe and how they fare in the Schola.

[Genie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange Angels was a book that was hard for me to get interested in. The issue with the story is that some things are so over described that alot of times I just wanted to rip my hair out!! Then to the other extreme it felt as if I had missed something and I was flipping back to see why I was outta the loop. I guess for some it could be enjoyable I however am not really interested to read another one.

I will be updating this review soon!!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange Angels is a fun start to a series that will appeal to any fan of Cassandra Clare or Scott Westerfeld . . . or the movie Underworld, which it more closely resembles. St. Crow delivers a tightly-written, fast-paced, novel full of paranormal action that exceeds the expectations set by the blurb on the back. I went in expecting the usual vampire/shifter/girl love triangle. And I got something so much better.

Despite the vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc. that inhabit St. Crow's world, at the heart of this book is Dru's struggle with intimacy and the way she is forced to accept others into her life, which she is so not ready to do. Graves' and Dru's relationship makes this book, while the action keeps it moving along. But, beyond that, there's also the intriguing and unique spin that St. Crow has put on vampire lore -- one that is even better than Stephanie Meyers'. I will definitely pick up the next one in the series.

[Crystal Starr Light · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

A decent book with strong characters that unfortunately gets bogged down for nearly 2/3rds of the book with Dru flailing around, not sure of what to do. Although this is good, I don't see myself checking out the rest of the series because A) there are virtually no other women (and certainly no positive female role models) in this book, B) females, once again, are cut out of being supernaturals unless they are REALLY REALLY special (the next book, Dru is the ONLY FEMALE at the school because nearly all dhamphir are male), and C) the book closes nicely enough, there really isn't much of a sting to read on (NOT a bad thing BTW).

I would not hesitate to recommend over similar books like "Shatter Me" (seriously, this book is nearly exactly like it, but WAY better).

Full Review:

Dru Anderson lives with her dad. Together, they roam the country, hunting the beings that go bump in the night. Everything is going as smoothly as things can possibly go when your livelihood involves vampires (suckers) and werewolves (werewolven) until one day, a zombie shambles into Dru's home and changes her life forever.

Eons ago, I picked this up on sale at a used bookstore. It might have stayed on the shelf for many many more years, but for a few reasons:

+ This year's goal is to weed through all these books I've had sitting lonesome on my shelves for years.
+ I also have this goal of trying to eradicate my shelves of young adult fiction, a "genre" that I am increasingly growing out of (yes, it makes me sad too).
+ Don't spend any more money on new books (this has been going REALLY WELL!)
+ If you must read a book you don't own, get an audiobook at the library.

Whaddya know - there was an audiobook at the library! So naturally, I put this on my iPod, held my breath and dove in.

This project hasn't been very kind to me, as you can see. At best, the books I've waded through have been "meh" or "not my thing". At worst, we have Patch.

So when I say that "Strange Angels" is the best of the recent bunch I've waded through, it's a HUGE compliment. The writing is better, the characters are better, the world-building is better. Part of me wonders if this is because Lili St.Crow is the adult author, Lilith Saintcrow, who has already written quite a few books so is very well aware of the ropes. Part of me wonders if someone FINALLY wrote the hard-bitten, tough girl right (can't help but put in a jab at LKH and her Mary Sue, Anita Blake).

I really liked Dru. She was a tough kid put in a sh!tty situation, and she handled it about like I imagine I would - terrified out of her mind and trying desperately to understand it. I also liked how she wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, how her first thoughts weren't about how hot the guys were around her, how she was just so NATURAL.

I also adored Graves. In fact, I may like him more than Dru. Graves is half-Asian, and I'm just like FINALLY!!! I am SO TIRED of everyone in these novels being so blooming WHITE. (Which is why I undertook a different project to challenge my white bias.) He's a great friend, smart, resourceful, just all around NICE. I love his interactions with Dru, I love how he likes her, but isn't like, "ZOMG, lemme save you, you poor whimpering baby!" Oh, and I love how they don't fall insta-love and have time to GET TO KNOW each other (a shock, amiright?).

The unfortunate thing is that Dru and Graves pretty much live in a world alone, until the very end when we get Christoff, a teenaged hunter (really? I mean, really?). We have Dru's dad (who is cool), but other than him, we have Dru's teacher, who is a b!tch, and that's about it. No females of note - and to make THAT worse, it's because, in this world, all the special suckers and supernatural woowoos are male. To be a female in this world is VERY VERY RARE.

The fact that YET ANOTHER series starring a female protagonist in an almost exclusively male world (along with Mercy Thompson, Anita Blake, Merry Gentry, and many, many more) says something about us. It says that the default is male. That men are the ones to be and do special things. To be a woman and equally special, you have to be EVEN MOAR special than the men - not just the same special, but EVEN RARER. And that if a woman does become that special thing, she becomes the sole woman in a world of men. It's sad, that in the year 2014 (I know, this book was published years ago), this mentality is still very much the norm.

Enough about the book's sexism. I have to now get into the biggest reason this is merely 3 stars and not the 4 I very much wanted to give it. And the reason is simple enough: for 2/3rds of the book, NOTHING HAPPENS.

Oh, sure, Dru has to kill a zombie, flee werewolves (no, I refuse to call them "wolven" because that is stupid), befriend Graves, and mourn the loss of her dad (not spoiler - this happens in the first few chapters). And I didn't have a problem with this for a good 40% of the book. But by that point, I was like, "Come on, Dru. Get off your @$$ and start hitting the books." (Which she doesn't do until the 80% mark, and even then, that's one big huge ugly infodump.) By the time I got to the end where some pretty cool revelations and action scenes happen, I was so bored, I had tuned out. I didn't care what happened anymore, I wanted this book to be DONE. A shame, truly, because this book IS really good.

And one more thing to note: while I loved the narrator, her voice for Christoff SUCKED. HARD. She like talked in Shatnerese...pausing...whenever she...felt like it might...create some...drama...for the story.

Since this is a young adult novel, I also want to bring up some items that parents might be interested in. First off, there is a LOT of swearing in this book, and I'm taking f-bombs, not just "damn" and "hell". There aren't any objectionable sexual situations, but the violence is pretty gritty and non-stop. I would recommend for teens 16+.

"Strange Angels" is one of the strongest vampire/urban fantasy novels in the young adult age group. It's got some great characters, great ideas, and some great action. That said, I doubt I will go further in the series because A) I've heard the end really sucks, B) I have a lot of other books to read, C) I don't have the other books in this series, D) the next book is more about how Dru is the only female in this male-centric world. Regardless of that, I would not hesitate to recommend, if you are a fan of vampires or liked the idea of "Shatter Me", but thought Juliette sucked. (Seriously, "Strange Angels" has a similar plot to "Shatter Me", but WAY better characters.)

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, Strange Angels didn't really work. It sounds really good, it has a good plot, strong characters and all, but then... nothing.

I didn't feel any real connections at all in Strange Angels. The relationships between the characters didn't feel real enough. Even some of the character traits didn't match up to the character. For example, Dru is supposedly an artist who's really good at drawing. Um, what? It's mentioned a couple times that Dru sketches and can draw really well, but it felt disjointed. I couldn't imagine Dru drawing at all. It didn't help that drawing only comes up a few times and each time it felt forced and not at all like it connected to Dru's overall character.

I also wasn't able to relate to the characters. I mean, no one is really going to feel like Dru when her dad comes back as a zombie to kill her, or when she has to fight off some werwulf. But there are other times that, if done better, I should have been able to empathize with Dru. I didn't. I felt so detached from the book and that does make me a little sad. I wish I could have gotten into it more.

The writing is so-so. It's readable, but it doesn't stand out. There are too many descriptions in the book, especially with describing the two love interests who's names I have now forgotten. (Which that in itself is quite sad, since I read the book only a couple days ago. The characters just aren't memorable enough.) The descriptions though, my god. I lost count how many times the eye colour of the two guys were described. I skimmed over a lot of the book because there are so many attempts at descriptions. There's also a lot of use of different verbs that sound really awkward. Of course it would be boring if the author only used simple verbs like "said" and "walk", but it just went too far in Strange Angels. It felt really forced. I'd bring up a few examples of verbs, but I had to return my copy to the library already. The verbs fall into the overly descriptive and trying too hard category.

And because it just really bugged me, the word "hinky" was used far too much. I hadn't heard the word before, I've never heard a teenager say it. Maybe it's just me. But using "hinky" made the book seem more dated to me, or more like a hick.

On a more positive note, the plot is interesting. The book really picked up towards the end, when a bit more is explained. In the second half or so, Dru's exceptional powers come to light, as does the actual bad guys that Dru must face.

Overall, I like the idea of the paranormal romance. A strong heroine battling against evil while also having to deal with some love interests- sounds good. While not exactly original, it's a good idea. However, the execution was poor. The writing could have been a lot better as could the characters. The plot could also have been cleaned up.

Still, if you haven't read it, you could pick it up. Don't bother buying it though- borrow Strange Angels from somewhere.

[Vinaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dru Anderson has the touch, her family is all dead, and she's caught in the middle of something she doesn't understand. Her life, never normal to begin with, has now turned upside down, and the only rock in her world is a half-Asian Goth Boy she met a few days ago. This is the opening premise for Lilith Saintcrow (writing as Lili St. Crow)'s young adult series, Strange Angels.

Dru Anderson is not as annoying as most YA heroines these days. She has a personality, she doesn't fade into the background and, thank the good lord, she doesn't spend all her time worrying about her love-life, despite being stuck in the standard love triangle.

But my personal favourite in the book, much to my surprise, was Graves. I am not generally a best friend-slash-werewolf supporter. In the war between vampire and werewolf, I am with Edward and Jean Claude every time. So imagine my astonishment when Graves totally stole my heart. I loved the way his character was portrayed, down to his babyface and his favourite "First one's free" dialogue. And I loved the way the relationship develops between him and Dru, going from indifference to helpless dependence (on both sides) to reluctant friendship and finally, to unflinching trust.

Of course where there are werewolves, how can there be no vampires? Or in this case, half-werewolves and half-vampires. I think Lilith Saintcrow woke up one morning and thought, Yeah, that whole werewolf-vampire love triangle is so cliched, let me hedge my bets and make them half-and-half! Enter Christophe Reynard, djampir and mysterious rescuer of Dru in distress. I cannot tell a lie, I like Christophe, too. He's an arrogant know-it-all, mysterious so-and-so, but Saintcrow could have done a better job with him. He is unnecessarily cryptic, and refuses to equip Dru with vital information that could save her life, despite his self-styled guardian angel designation. And please, what was that, with the whole fighting over the keys to the car thing? Dusk is approaching, so are the suckers, imminent death is staring them all in the face, and they want to argue about who gets to drive the car? Please, give me a break.

The book also gets annoying in parts when the narrative becomes incomprehensibly disjointed. I understand that stream-of-consciousness writing tends to be a little uneven, but the reader still needs to know what happened. And I found Dru's coping mechanism — repress all painful thoughts, then cry about them, then repress them again — unbearably irritating sometimes. And the way she keeps repeating her questions, even when she knows she's not going to get any answers. And some of her questions are SO lame.

All in all, this book is definitely worth a read, although I don't know if I'll be reading it again any time soon. But at least I'm moving on to books two and three, which is a sort-of -positive recommendation for the series in and of itself.

[Chelsea · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's been awhile since I read this book, but I hated it so much that I have to review it.

This book was a major disappoinment. I wanted to read the book so bad because the plot sounded similar to my favorite tv show Supernatural, a show the originally started out centered around two hunter brothers that had lost their mother to a demon but later evolved to include angels and demons. The show is fantastic, unlike this book. The annoying thing is, the book has MAJOR potential to be amazing and if only the plot was more developed and the characters less annoying.

First off, the main character, the teenage girl, who's name I can't even remember, is a major crybaby. She talks herself up so much that you think she is some badass hunter, but she isn't. She's just an annoying and unrelatable wus. It seems as if every other chapter she just bawls her eyes out over her dead father. I understand having a character crying once or twice, weakness makes characters believable and enhaces the plot, but seriously, the girl cries way to much and just adds to the stereotypical emotional female persona.

Secondly, the plot is very hard to follow. The book just doesn't transition well from event to event. It was rocky, confusing, and generally annoying considering it was coupled with the protagonist's unending crying. It seemed like there was no point to most of the story and that it just wasn't going anywhere.

Finally, in one part of the story, the girl's newly made best friend is described as something like "a halfy" or along those lines. This confused me to no end. Was the boy a human-vampire halfbreed? I later read that another reviewer thought this refered to his half-Asian appearance, which made much more sense.

Overall, do not waste your time with this book, especially if you are annoyed with today's lack of strong female characters.

[Mistress ~ ♠ Mistral's Kiss ♠ ~ (Mist) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holy Twilight regurgitation, Batman. Even with the hot yummy smelling vampy boy and wolfish best friend, it didn't get going until almost mid book. I often find Crow's writing annoyingly moody, but dang it if her action scenes aren't killer = ). I'm going to hang in there and hope now that the foundations laid bk 2 will impress.