Title: Angelfire 
Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: February 15, 2011
Hardcover: 464 pages
Where’d I Get It: eGalley

Synopsis (From Goodreads): This debut, the first novel in a trilogy, is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.
When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers – monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell – she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul…

My Thoughts: At the beginning of this debut novel, we are introduced to Ellie and what appears to be the typical life of a typical teenager.  It’s this first bit of writing that kept my interest – not so much because the information was riveting (remember, typical and typical) but because the writing was such that the typical -sounded- good. (Or read well…whatever you like.) It’s in chapter one that we’re introduced to most of the supporting characters in the book, and in chapter two that we first begin to see that maybe Ellie isn’t as much the typical teenager living in a typical world as we first believe.

Now, I could go on and on about the things that I liked about this book, but I feel like I’d eventually get too spoilery and, as usual, I’d like to avoid that.  The characters seem well though out, the writing flows, the plot appears to be solid and substantial, and in general it’s just a good read.  What I did find a -little- tedious are the fight scenes. While they’re just as well written as everything else, there are quite a few of them and after a while got a bit repetitive.  That doesn’t really take away from the story, though, so it’s not something I’m going to fuss overly much about.  Now, regarding religion…obviously since this story is about angelic things, there’s some religious talk in the book.  If you’re one to shy away from books with religion in them, you really should read this anyway.  There’s nothing pushy about the information within the story and it’s presented more like the lore in a fantasy novel rather than a bible study session.

I did enjoy reading this book quite a bit.  Ellie is fun, opinionated, and likable. Will is dashing and exciting.  A few of the other characters are ones that you’ll want to get to know better, but in this first book of the series I think the reader is given enough information on each to be temporarily (while waiting for book 2) satisfied.  By the way, Ms. Moulton’s use of foreshadowing is so utterly yummy that I could hug her.

Rating: 7 of 10

Bella Factor: No