Angelbound by Christina Bauer

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review!

Themes: YA fantasy, angels, demons, romance

The synopsis

Eighteen-year-old Myla Lewis is a girl who loves two things: kicking ass and kicking ass. She’s not your every day quasi-demon, part-demon and part-human, girl.

For the past five years, Myla has lived for the days she gets to fight in Purgatory’s arena. When souls want a trial by combat for their right to enter Heaven or Hell, they go up against her, and she hasn’t lost a battle yet. But as she starts her senior year at Purgatory High, the arena fights aren’t enough to keep her spirits up anymore. When the demons start to act weird, even for demons, and the King of the Demons, Armageddon, shows up at Myla’s school, she knows that things are changing and it’s not looking good for the quasi-demons.

Myla starts to question everything, and doesn’t like the answers she finds.

What happened seventeen years ago that turned the quasi-demons into slave labor? Why was her mom always so sad? And why won’t anyone tell her who her father is? Things heat up when Myla meets Lincoln, the High Prince of the Thrax, a super sexy part-human and part-angel demon hunter. But what’s a quasi-demon girl to do when she falls for a demon hunter? It’s a good thing that Myla’s not afraid of breaking a few rules. With a love worth fighting for, Myla’s going to shake up Purgatory.

The review

This book was a great discovery. I found the world very interesting with the classic elements of Hell & Heaven (angels and demons) completed by the quasis and the thrax, which are partly human, angel and/or demon, and also by the ghouls. The different ‘species’ were very well explained, particularly the thrax etiquette, and it was easy to differentiate them. It was fun to see that the personalities of the quasis depended on one of the seven sins such as Wrath for Myla and Envy for her best friend Cissy. I totally loved the latter which I found very funny with her (slight) obsession for Zeke and her jealousy when someone approaches Myla.

The book is very easy to read and fast-paced thanks to the sassy and mischievous main characters. I enjoyed the relationship between them even if the part where they were at odds was the funniest one. I’m impressed by the skill of the author in making two characters that perfectly complement each other. For once, our heroine doesn’t lose her temper when she falls in love and is forming a team with Lincoln. My favourite characteristic was her tail, which made me smile each time it was evoked. Following the idea of Myla remaining quite hot-headed is my main complaint about this book: I simply didn’t understand her reaction in the final fight scene which seems very far from her usual behaviour.

In brief: a book sometimes a bit cheesy and cliché but so easy to read! I really enjoyed it and will try to read the next books of the series.

My rating: 4/5