Book Review: A Shimmer of Angels - Lisa M. Basso

Title: A Shimmer of Angels (Angel Sight #1)

Author: Lisa M. Basso
Release Date: January 29th 2013
Publisher: Month9Books
Source: NetGalley

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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 was really excited to read A Shimmer of Angels, partly because I read my last angel book way back in October (it was Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick, which I really loved), and partly because of the gorgeous cover. Sadly, gorgeous covers had never disappointed me this much before.

One of the biggest reasons why I didn't like this book was Rayna, the protagonist, which was really bad because it was written in her perspective alone. She'd spent three years in a mental institution - the term used in the book was 'clinic', but the rooms and restraints proved otherwise - because she made the mistake of telling her Dad that she could see winged people, but now she was out to live a normal life. Only she couldn't, because she was still seeing wings and, worse, the owner of the wings went to school with her. 

If I were Ray, sure, I'd probably never get used to the idea of seeing wings like it was a normal thing, but I think I'd be able to give myself some credit and stop thinking I'm crazy when I'd learned for a fact that the wings were real. Unfortunately, Ray kept doing the opposite for about the first half of the book. Yes, the first freaking half. She kept whining and questioning her sanity, even when Cam, her angel - literally - of a classmate had owned up to his real identity. Also, I never thought I'd encounter a character who's clumsier than Bella Swan and jumpier than a kangaroo, but alas, Rayna Evans, everyone. The other characters didn't help, either. They were too flat, too forced, too much just-here-for-the-sake-of-the-plot. 

And then there was the romance. I wouldn't say it was insta-love, but it did make me raise an eyebrow; there just wasn't enough ground for it to be believable. Well, not between Ray and Cam, at least. Which reminds me - can someone please explain to me how she could choose Cam, the guy who'd brushed her off for his mission until the climax, over Kade, the one who always had her back despite his being one of the weak Fallen? Surely hallucinations aren't the only reason to label a person crazy, right? Yep, I'm still hair-pulling over here.

Fortunately, the action-y part of the story satisfied quite a bit. I mean, there's a chain of teenage suicide that somehow involves the dark-winged angels, and even though that part of the plot was resolved in the ending, there were still a lot of questions left unanswered. I'm most curious about the "changes" with Ray, and that - but mostly it's my concern for Kade - has me looking forward for the sequel, A Slither of Hope.

MY FAVORITE PART was Cam and Kade's testosterone-packed reunion at Roxy's.

RATING:

(cover and summary from Goodreads.com)