Review: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

So here's the synopsis on this book from Amazon.com:


First there are nightmares. Then come the memories. Now she must hunt.

Ellie can’t shake the terrifying dreams about monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. Then she meets Will and feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. When they meet on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie’s power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Will holds the key to Ellie’s memories, whole lifetimes of them, and she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. In order to survive, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives, the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Angelfire is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

I don't know, this book was little odd (almost as odd as that cover?!), but I don't know if I felt that way because I read Fallen first.  It seems there is a distinct formula to these books, eh? Actually, there were so many cross-references to Fallen (fallen angels, forbidden love, reincarnation, the Grigori, etc.) that I think I learned more about Lauren Kate's series in this book, than within the pages of Fallen itself.

Anyways, I still ended up getting sucked into the story (despite some really terrible dialogue - the term "biffles" was used, I rest my case!). Within the first 10 pages, a high school teacher is mysteriously murdered and a hunky, equally mysteriously "college boy" is spotted following Ellie around. My ratings as follows:

1. Originality - It's hard to claim this book is totally unoriginal, but I'd give it about a 2 and that's probably generous. (I feel bad though, because it's a chicken and egg scenario - who was first to the angsty-love-triangle-fallen-angel-multiple-lives genre?!)
2. Absurdity - 5, although I should probably rate it higher due to the single scene depicting Ellie and her best friend, Kate, shopping for party dresses. Badgely Mischka is casually mentioned and a Valentino bag is purchased on the fly ... I. Just. Can't.
3. Level of Paranormal Romance - 7 - Gosh, the sexual tension between little ol' Ellie and her hunka hunka reaper love, Will, is soooooo angstttttty. At one point the heavy petting (and by that I literally mean heavy hands petting - er patting - Ellie's hair) is extra cringe-inducing, but hey they're supposed to have been in love for 600 years, so I can't ding them for letting the romance fade!
4. Level of Harry Potter-ness - 2 - the writing was WONKY, but I still read it because ultimately I get invested in the romantic lives of 17 year olds (anyone who's seen my DVR can attest to that fact ... 16&Pregnant and Teen Mom is all ovvver the place!)

On to the next!