Mundie Moms

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Book Review: A Temptation of Angels by Michelle Zink

Published by: Dial / Penguin Teen
To Be Released on: March 20th, 2012
Source: ARC from publisher to review
4.5 stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Pre-Order from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Even angels make mistakes in this page-turning epic romance...

When her parents are murdered before her eyes, sixteen-year-old Helen Cartwright finds herself launched into an underground London where a mysterious organization called the Dictata controls the balance of good and evil. Helen learns that she is one of three remaining angelic descendants charged with protecting the world's past, present, and future. Unbeknownst to her, she has been trained her whole life to accept this responsibility. Now, as she finds herself torn between the angelic brothers protecting her and the devastatingly handsome childhood friend who wants to destroy her, she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and above all to be strong, because temptation will be hard to resist, even for an angel.
- quoted from Goodreads

An incredibly enchanting story with the perfect blend of paranormal lore, historical fiction and romance. A Temptation of Angels is a thrilling story that's rich in mystery, friendships, love, and betrayal. There's plenty of steampunk elements that will do more than satisfy fans of Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices craving for this addicting Victorian London era. Though there's not a lot of action in this book, Michelle creates a fulfilling storyline with well developed characters that I didn't even realize that was missing until I was done. Michelle's writing is engaging and left me wanting so much more after this book ended.

The characters are fabulous in this book! There's not one I didn't enjoy, though there are some I loved more than others. Helen, our story's teenage main character, is a character that I had a hard time connecting with at first. She wasn't this fierce, butt kicking character I had excepted her to be right off the bad, though I admired her steely determination she had the entire story. Helen's someone who grew on me over time. I felt that as the story progressed and as she continued to grow as a character I was able to get to know her more and the more I got to know her, the more I started to like her. I will say this girl is resilient and pretty brave. The story starts off with her running for her life, she's thrown into a world she never knew existed, finds out some pretty shocking things about herself and she's also being hunted. Helen was strong when she needed to be and in the face of danger she never waivers on what she feels is right.

What's a Victorian paranormal, romance story without some well written heroes and main love interests. Griffin and Darius are brothers and these two fiercely and loyally protect Helen at all costs. They're also the two whom help her in her quest for answers and are responsible for introducing her to the new world she never thought existed. These two brothers were complete opposites. Despite being rough around the edges, Darius is a character I wanted to get to know more about. He distances himself from others, acts as though he's hard to please and yet I feel there's so much more to him than we learn about in this story. Griffin on the other hand was so easy to love right off the bat. He's genuine, charming, respectful and strong. The thing I loved most about him is he's flawed, which also made him so realistic. He's not this perfect character who's never done anything wrong in his life, yet he's a perfect match for Helen.

The setting in this book is fabulous! I absolutely love this time period and the Victorian London setting really set the tone for this book. Michelle really brought this time period came to life for me, and she made me feel like I was getting a glimpse back in time with her descriptive writing for this time period. I feel that Michelle has done such a great job at creating a story that will appeal to YA fans who enjoy the perfect blend of paranormal, romance, historical and steampunk elements. A Temptation of Angels isn't your average angel-lore. It's a richly crafted together story that truly offers readers a little bit of everything, and introduces them into a unique world with a fascinating lore. I sincerely hope this book will be made into a series, or at least have a companion book to go with it.

The Mortal Instruments Movie News


Recently there's been some exciting buzz about the progress of the TMI Movie. Cassie recently posted on her tumblr account:


I just wanted to say that I am so glad that Marlene is meeting with the director and the producers at Constantin. I know lots of rumours have been floating around and I tend to be really quiet, but I want to make sure that when I tell you something, it’s true to the best of my knowledge. The movie industry runs on rumors and innuendo (this is why IMDB is basically useless till a movie goes into production and they lock down the page) and while things can always change, I want to be passing along info that’s as final as things in Hollywood get.
I have a little bit of news that’s exciting — and not even the news I was talking about yesterday! — I will be flying to Los Angeles from Mexico to meet with the new director. I can’t tell you who he is yet, but I’ve talked to him on the phone and he’s had a lot of great insight into the characters, really smart thoughts about the filming, and he had great thoughts about Jace, talking about how he wasn’t just an action hero, he was a layered, complex character with a lot of depth (oh and he has met with Lily and Jamie and he loves them.)

I’m excited he and the producers have made a special point to meet with me, go over concept sketches, talk about the characters and their direction — that doesn’t happen all that often with authors in Hollywood, that we get included that much. However I don’t want to jinx anything, so I’m going to be vague until things are definite. I will keep you updated as much as I can — I know it’s hard to wait; believe me, it’s hard for me, too. I’m actually really glad that we moved on from Screen Gems because things have been proceeding at enormous speed since then and I hope to have some concrete stuff to tell you soon. In the meantime I promise photos of my crazy trip to LA. :)

Thank you Cassie for this exciting news and we can't wait to hear what your other news is.

* I highlighted a quote from Cassie's post on tumblr about the rumors and the IMDB site. There are a lot and have been a lot of rumors going around since the announcement of this movie being made. It's always a safe bet to know that unless Cassie has confirmed it, it's just a rumor.

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