Review: 2.5 stars.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 27, 2013
(Source: Downloaded for free from Smashwords.com.)18-year-old Averie is starting at a new school – Black Gold International College, after receiving a very strange and enigmatic note from her mother who left 7 years ago and never came back.Averie’s first day at her new school doesn’t exactly go well, but she’s in for a surprise when her headmaster (Sir Albion) drags her into a meeting with him and another student.Sir Albion explains that Archangels are each in charge of 3 signs of the zodiac. Each of these 12 signs have human hosts on earth, and Averie is one of twelve hosts of the zodiac. These hosts are chosen because they are nephilim, and each host has the ability to call forward the powerful spiritual being inside of them, simply by thinking its zodiac name.Sir Albion explains that he is going to take them under his wing and teach them how to use their new powers, and that they must not leave Singapore, because Singapore is the only place on earth where Lucifer can’t set foot (because that is where earth’s only entrance to heaven is located.)Lucifer has already subdued Gemini, and they can’t allow him to take another sign.  Can Averie learn how to use her new Zodiac powers? Why is Lucifer trying to destroy the signs? And will Averie ever learn why her mother has been missing for 7 years?This story was okay, but I found it unbelievable in places, and it ultimately didn’t really do it for me.To be honest I’m not sure I’ve ever come across anything like this before – angels and zodiac signs? I would have thought that this was crossing lines between religions possibly? Not sure, I found the whole idea to be a little unbelievable though. You know when you read something and you just go ‘what?’, it was definitely one of those sort of books!There were several other moments that made me think ‘what?’ too – Albion pushing Averie off the top of a building as some sort of test, Lucifer being unable to step foot in Singapore, one of Averie’s friends wanting to fly to Japan just to watch a concert, and Averie agreeing to go with her when she’d been told not to leave Singapore!There was a lot of descriptive stuff in this one that I felt probably didn’t need to be there either. Averie’s thoughts on all the different qualifications she wants to achieve, and the school cafeteria menu were just a couple of the things that bulked the story out and slowed it down.The romance aspect of the storyline was between Sasuke – a Japanese boy, who was Leo’s host, and Averie. It did develop quite slowly, and was more like a friendship turned into a romance. I personally did not find it romantic when he told her that she reminded him of his mother though, even if he meant it to be complimentary! The two were sweet together though, and there were some touching moments between them.The storyline was okay, although like I said, it was a little difficult to believe in places, and utilised some very old and overdone plotlines too. There was the zodiac + archangel thing that I hadn’t come across before, but although this was unique, it didn’t really do it for me.There were several twists at the end that I didn’t see coming, but again there were some unbelievable moments which just spoilt this book for me.Overall; a YA romance story, with archangels and zodiac sign-hosts. I’m sure other people might enjoy this one, but it was just lacking something for me.5 out of 10.