Book Review
of She Speaks to Angels by Ami Blackwelder
Book
Synopsis:
"I tried not to sound hysterical, but it’s not every day you
find out the paranormal is hunting you."
What if everything you believed was a lie?
A Suicide
Seventeen year old Allison Maney attends Millennium High School in
Manhattan. Nothing out of the ordinary, unless you consider the occasional
suicides at the school. At least that is what everyone is told, what everyone
believes. But Tommy Bachelor was a popular football player; why would he jump
off the roof of the school?
Dangerous Liaisons
When Dameon pays attention to Ali, she couldn't be more excited,
because for the past three months he was all she could think about. But now
that Dameon is finally pining for her affections, she is becoming more and more
wrapped up in a clique of three who, as new transfers to the school, are
proving to be trouble. But at least Dameon loves her, doesn't he?
Kian- a dangerous love interest she did not ask for.
Powers- belonging to an underworld she never knew existed.
A Clique- that could be friends or foes?
A Soul Purpose
The underworld of angels and demons have one thing on their mind:
Earth.
Demons want to do what they want.
Angels want to protect humans from these rogue angels, AKA: Demons
For Allison Maney, everything is not exactly what it seems…
A Suspenseful Romance
Caught between Dameon and Kian, the suicide and the clique of
three,
Ali won't know who to trust…or who to love.
Author
Information:
Ami Blackwelder is a romance suspense writer in the paranormal,
scifi and historical genres. Growing up in Florida, she graduated UCF
and in 1997 received her BA in English and additional teaching credentials.
Then she packed her bags and travelled overseas to teach in Thailand, Nepal,
Tibet, China and Korea. Thailand is considered her second home now. She
has always loved writing and wrote poems and short stores since childhood;
however, her novels began when she was in Thailand.
Having won the Best Fiction Award from the University of Central
Florida (Yes, The Blair Witch Project University), her short fiction From Joy
We Come, Unto Joy We Return was published in the on campus literary magazine:
Cypress Dome and remains to this day in University libraries around the USA.
Later, she achieved the semi-finals in a Laurel Hemingway contest and published
a few poems in the Thailand’s Expat magazine, and an article in the Thailand’s
People newspaper. Additionally, she has published poetry in the Korea’s AIM
magazine, the American Poetic Monthly magazine and Twisted Dreams Magazine.
Book
Excerpt:
“Ignorance is bliss,” Molly replied at the park
picnic park table. “Better if we don’t push our noses into someone else’s
business.”
I fidgeted with my galoshes until I finally curled
one leg under the other. “Tommy died for a reason. Doesn’t that reason bother
you?” A gust of wind blew past and tousled my hair.
“How would we ever know the reasons? We can’t read
his mind,” Molly retorted as she fixed her favorite avocado-colored scarf,
which draped on her neck, a scarf that accented the green in her irises.
Sniffling, Jennifer desperately wanted to join the
conversation, but couldn’t speak without shaking and bawling. She tended to her
wool mittens instead. Red-eyed and disheveled, she reminded me of an old rag
doll. Dressed in heavy beige coats, knit hats and boots, the three of us stayed
relatively warm in the 30 degree weather. We were well acclimated, since we
were all born and raised in New City.
“There has to be something we can find. He was
popular for heaven’s sake, ” I insisted as Molly stared at me incredulously.
“Girls loved him. Teachers adored him. Doesn’t make any sense.” I shook my
head.
“Why? His best friends don’t even know why. Why does
anyone do it?” Molly plopped her hand down on the picnic table, the hand
holding the fanning paint brush. Dabbing her ocean blue canvas with specs of
white, she created a snowy effect. “Maybe he just couldn’t take the pressure of
being popular anymore.” When she rolled her eyes, I knew what Molly was
thinking. She didn’t like the so-called jocks. Suicide or not, she didn’t want
to give them any more of her time. But I didn’t want to let it go, couldn’t let
it go. Something about it nagged me.
“Because...people just don’t go killing themselves
for no good reason.”
“If you care so much, maybe you should write
something up for the school paper.” Molly tilted her head to me and I lit up
like a neon light. “You know...like one of those in-memory pieces.”
Brilliant! I hadn’t even thought of it, but I did
have journalism fifth period. I could satiate my persistent curiosity and
complete an assignment all in one. Every writer needed a muse and Tommy would
be mine. A muse from the grave.
“We could work on it together...like Bonnie and
Clyde.” I grinned as a snowflake dropped from the pines above and lit my long lashes.
Tightening the hug-grip around her chest, Jennifer
sniffed one last time before raising her gaze.
“Wait, wait, wait...first of all Clyde was a guy,”
Molly interjected, “and I’m not going to be the guy in this scenario. More like
Rizzoli and Isles. And second, I am n-o-t going to be a part of this.”
“Why not? Could be intriguing. Today is Wednesday and
we don’t have to be back at school until Monday. What else are we going to do?”
I rationalized.
“I’ll do it.” Jennifer interrupted, the sound of her
voice almost foreign at this point in the conversation. We both jerked our
heads in her direction. Wiping her nose with the back of her coat sleeve she
held a sneeze and repeated more firmly. “I’ll do it.” Her big brown eyes
widened as her lips tensed.
“You will? why?” Molly cocked a brow and spun her
body around on the bench to face Jennifer better. Her fingers inched across the
table and found Jennifer’s mittened hands. “You don’t have to do this just
because...” she didn’t want to say it aloud, but Molly had a way about her.
Truth, whether crass or not, always popped out of her uncontrolled mouth.
“...you liked him.”
Blushing, Jennifer tilted back and the freckles on
her cheeks almost faded away. “I am going to do this because Ali is right.
Tommy was not the sort to commit suicide. He had everything going for him. With
his death this makes...” she paused in thought counting on her fingers,
recollecting the names listed in the morning paper, “five deaths from
Millennium High in seven years!”
“Don’t forget Emily.” I reminded them, and they each
gave me wrinkled foreheads of confusion. “The girl who was found dead in
Central Park. She went to the school too...and just because she didn’t die on
school grounds doesn’t make her death any less odd.”
“Something is going on at this school and I’ll be
damned if I’m just going to sit and do nothing.” Jennifer got her mojo back, a
newfound task of investigation motivating her out of her misery.
“Well damn, if you two are going to go at this
then...” Molly raked her fingers through her shoulder length cut and sighed,
“then I might as well do it too.”
Jennifer and I both turned at the same time and
grinned.
“What else am I going to do until Monday without the
two of you?” Molly reasoned.
“It’s settled then. We are officially the unofficial
team investigating this suicide,” I added as another gust of wind brushed
through the park, rushing over Molly and Jennifer.
Book Review:
What if knowing that
angels really existed limited their ability to function? What if it did the same to demons? What if you were the only one who knew that
Angels and Demons were real and that meant that Demons wanted to kill you?
That’s the basic premise
of this book. Shy, smart, bookish Ali
goes from wall flower to center of attention as two new hot guys compete for
her attention. Little does she knows
that one is a demon who wants her dead; and one is an angel who is there to
save her. But which one is which? It took the books spelling it out for me to
figure it out. And can I just say, these
boys are hot!
I give these books 4 out
of 5 stars for originality and writing.
Thank you so much for having me on and this has been so much fun!
ReplyDeleteLoved the books. Totally can't wait to read the next one.
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