Julie Simons's Blog
June 18, 2016
Angel of Night Featured on Chantal's Fun Treats Friday
Chantal's Post on Angel of Night as featured at *The Gadoury Dreamer*
Everyone who knows me, knows that I love romance: YA Romance, Adult Romance... I love anything "romance." When I first read the description of the novel, I wondered if I would be encountering a novel that was a bit like "Hush Hush," with the whole "bad boy" image in a High School setting and the lure of him becoming the savior. As I read this novel, I realized I was wrong. "Angel of Night" is so much more. With a hint of a flavor of the novels that most of YA Readers have read, "Twlight" "Hush Hush" "Shiver" "Of Light and Darkness," - etc ... "Angel of Night" deserves (to me) to be among the shelves of these timeless YA classics. This should be a novel that sits among the New York Best Sellers List. (And I'm not just saying that either.)
Before I began to read "Angel of Night," I went to check out what others were saying about Julie Simons's novel, just curious to see what I'd be diving into. (It's actually more of a new thing I've been doing lately with all the novels on my "To Read" list - I love to see what others are saying about it but also avoiding Spoilers.) There is one word that I would have to agree with:
Spellbinding
"Angel of Night" is definitely Spellbinding.
Leah is a fascinating character - strong, determined - definitely has a mind of her own.
Asher is this very complex character; mysterious, guarded and very "deep." There was something about Asher that really compelled me to rush (at times) to get back his POV.
I thought it was fascinating in how fluid each transition from one POV to another was in this novel. Having gone to school for Creative Writing, and in the past always writing stories in different POVS - I had always been so discouraged to do what Julie did. There are rare novels that really make it work, and "Angel of Night" worked. We always had just enough of the character that caused us to want more when it was the next character's turn to "talk."
The entire world works - there are key elements of the "fantasy" realm, and yet it stays very consistent in this very "normal," "everyday world."
I'd highly recommend this novel for anyone who loved the classic YA. Those who are looking for that "next" book to quench their thirst for a Great "All-Season" novel.
I definitely give Julie a 4.5/5 Stars for this novel!
see more of Chantal's reviews at
http://chantalgadoury.blogspot.com/
Everyone who knows me, knows that I love romance: YA Romance, Adult Romance... I love anything "romance." When I first read the description of the novel, I wondered if I would be encountering a novel that was a bit like "Hush Hush," with the whole "bad boy" image in a High School setting and the lure of him becoming the savior. As I read this novel, I realized I was wrong. "Angel of Night" is so much more. With a hint of a flavor of the novels that most of YA Readers have read, "Twlight" "Hush Hush" "Shiver" "Of Light and Darkness," - etc ... "Angel of Night" deserves (to me) to be among the shelves of these timeless YA classics. This should be a novel that sits among the New York Best Sellers List. (And I'm not just saying that either.)
Before I began to read "Angel of Night," I went to check out what others were saying about Julie Simons's novel, just curious to see what I'd be diving into. (It's actually more of a new thing I've been doing lately with all the novels on my "To Read" list - I love to see what others are saying about it but also avoiding Spoilers.) There is one word that I would have to agree with:
Spellbinding
"Angel of Night" is definitely Spellbinding.
Leah is a fascinating character - strong, determined - definitely has a mind of her own.
Asher is this very complex character; mysterious, guarded and very "deep." There was something about Asher that really compelled me to rush (at times) to get back his POV.
I thought it was fascinating in how fluid each transition from one POV to another was in this novel. Having gone to school for Creative Writing, and in the past always writing stories in different POVS - I had always been so discouraged to do what Julie did. There are rare novels that really make it work, and "Angel of Night" worked. We always had just enough of the character that caused us to want more when it was the next character's turn to "talk."
The entire world works - there are key elements of the "fantasy" realm, and yet it stays very consistent in this very "normal," "everyday world."
I'd highly recommend this novel for anyone who loved the classic YA. Those who are looking for that "next" book to quench their thirst for a Great "All-Season" novel.
I definitely give Julie a 4.5/5 Stars for this novel!
see more of Chantal's reviews at
http://chantalgadoury.blogspot.com/
April 19, 2016
User's Guide to Angel of Night
Rather than go on praising my own book....It's awesome! I'm actually going to post something more practical. This is more of a user's guide to Angel of Night. I thought I'd post the things I like to know about a book when deciding whether or not to read it. After all, not all books are for all people.
Summary:
genre: young adult paranormal thriller/romance with adult cross-over.
narration: first person alternating between two characters' point of view: Asher and Leah
maturity rating: PG-13.
More info and discussion:
First up: genre: young adult paranormal thriller/romance.
That's a mouthful! I wish Amazon had a way for us to link categories together like I did above. For now, authors have to choose when listing. So my book is listed at Amazon under teen paranormal fiction and separately under teen romantic fiction. Hmmm. Do we have to choose either/or?! And do we have to choose only teen? Well, we can only choose two categories, so that's what I had to do. But Angel of Night is NOT exclusively a teen fiction book. It is constructed to appeal to adult readers as well.
Let's consider the adult cross-over. I deliberately chose to narrate this story from as mature a platform as possible to help it be palatable to adult and teen readers alike. I find that excessive use of slang and "hip" terminology in a book doesn't make a book "hip" or "youthful" it just makes it obnoxious! And insert "immature" in place of "youthful." You will find a pleasant absence of such cheesiness in my book. In fact, I have to say that I am strictly lactose intolerant with both what I read as well as what I write. I don't like to post negative reviews of other books--even by star count. I'm generous. But often is the occasion at home that I rant prodigiously about a book I've read by another author that was so cheesy and resorted to so many cheap short cuts to make a sale that the thing made me sick to my stomach. I've been known to throw books that tick me off (sorry library). Oh authors, why torment your readers so? Why?!
Narration: first person, split narration.
Yes, there are two main characters in this book and they each tell their side of the story. They see the world very differently and having them each contribute to the narration adds variety and flavor to the story. Asher and Leah are both unique characters but Asher especially is full of surprises. There is a lot of mystery surrounding Asher throughout the book and he is not your typical protagonist. No, he is a darker character than that. Neither is he compartmentalized into a few cliche character traits, or there for a one-dimensional job: to tell the dark side of the story, or to fulfill the tedious role of the cliche brooding sexy bad boy. Hmm, NO. No to all of that. He is his own multi-faceted character with his own compelling perspective of it all to share. Yes, he is a strong character. Don't tick him off! Oh, please don't! But there is so much more of interest to him that I can't reveal here without posting spoilers.
Maturity rating: PG-13
That's a loose guideline. Parents and all readers in general can use this informational review to decide if it's the right fit for them (or their teen). Here are the specifics. Language: clean. There are no explicit make-out or sex scenes in this book. There is some violence. There is one violent scene in particular in chapter five that has a bit of a sadistic flavor to it, which is key to character and plot development in this case, but it is not gory or very lengthy. Truth be told, due to what it achieves in character development and the inferences made from how it unfolds, it is one of my favorite scenes.
Summary:
genre: young adult paranormal thriller/romance with adult cross-over.
narration: first person alternating between two characters' point of view: Asher and Leah
maturity rating: PG-13.
More info and discussion:
First up: genre: young adult paranormal thriller/romance.
That's a mouthful! I wish Amazon had a way for us to link categories together like I did above. For now, authors have to choose when listing. So my book is listed at Amazon under teen paranormal fiction and separately under teen romantic fiction. Hmmm. Do we have to choose either/or?! And do we have to choose only teen? Well, we can only choose two categories, so that's what I had to do. But Angel of Night is NOT exclusively a teen fiction book. It is constructed to appeal to adult readers as well.
Let's consider the adult cross-over. I deliberately chose to narrate this story from as mature a platform as possible to help it be palatable to adult and teen readers alike. I find that excessive use of slang and "hip" terminology in a book doesn't make a book "hip" or "youthful" it just makes it obnoxious! And insert "immature" in place of "youthful." You will find a pleasant absence of such cheesiness in my book. In fact, I have to say that I am strictly lactose intolerant with both what I read as well as what I write. I don't like to post negative reviews of other books--even by star count. I'm generous. But often is the occasion at home that I rant prodigiously about a book I've read by another author that was so cheesy and resorted to so many cheap short cuts to make a sale that the thing made me sick to my stomach. I've been known to throw books that tick me off (sorry library). Oh authors, why torment your readers so? Why?!
Narration: first person, split narration.
Yes, there are two main characters in this book and they each tell their side of the story. They see the world very differently and having them each contribute to the narration adds variety and flavor to the story. Asher and Leah are both unique characters but Asher especially is full of surprises. There is a lot of mystery surrounding Asher throughout the book and he is not your typical protagonist. No, he is a darker character than that. Neither is he compartmentalized into a few cliche character traits, or there for a one-dimensional job: to tell the dark side of the story, or to fulfill the tedious role of the cliche brooding sexy bad boy. Hmm, NO. No to all of that. He is his own multi-faceted character with his own compelling perspective of it all to share. Yes, he is a strong character. Don't tick him off! Oh, please don't! But there is so much more of interest to him that I can't reveal here without posting spoilers.
Maturity rating: PG-13
That's a loose guideline. Parents and all readers in general can use this informational review to decide if it's the right fit for them (or their teen). Here are the specifics. Language: clean. There are no explicit make-out or sex scenes in this book. There is some violence. There is one violent scene in particular in chapter five that has a bit of a sadistic flavor to it, which is key to character and plot development in this case, but it is not gory or very lengthy. Truth be told, due to what it achieves in character development and the inferences made from how it unfolds, it is one of my favorite scenes.
