Unnatural

Archangel Academy #1

by Michael Griffo

In the town of Eden in northwestern England stands the exclusive boarding school known as Archangel Academy. Ancient and imposing, it's a place filled with secrets. Just like its students. . .For Michael Howard, being plucked from his Nebraska hometown and sent thousands of miles away is as close as he's ever come to a miracle. In Weeping Water, he felt trapped, alone. At Archangel Academy, Michael belongs. And in Ciaran, Penry, and especially Ciaran's enigmatic half-brother Ronan, Michael finds friendship deeper than he's ever known. But Michael's only beginning to understand what makes the Academy so special. Ronan is a vampire--part of a hybrid clan who are outcasts even among other vampires. Within the Academy's confines exists a ruthless world of deadly rivalries and shifting alliances, of clandestine love and forbidden temptations. And soon Michael will confront the destiny that brought him here--and a danger more powerful than he can imagine. . .Michael Griffo is an award-winning writer and one of six playwrights whose career will be tracked by WritersInsight.com until 2010. He is a graduate of New York University, has studied at Playwrights Horizons and Gotham Writers Workshop, and has written several screenplays.

Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Fantasy, Paranormal, LGBT, Romance, Angels

513 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

Michael Griffo was born, raised, and has since relocated to New Jersey. He is an award-winning playwright and all of his plays have been produced throughout the country and in London. Two of his plays -- CLOUDY and 5G/10B -- have been published in Smith & Kraus's Best 10 Minute Plays for 2 Actors: 2005 and CLOUDY is licensed by Playscripts, Inc.

His first novel, BETWEEN BOYFRIENDS, was written under a pseudoymn, Michael Salvatore (which is actually the author's middle name) and is a hilarious piece of gay fiction that is best described as Sex & The City meets Will & Grace. He has also written a novella published in REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS, a gay Christmas anthology.

UNNATURAL, written under the author's real name, is the first book of the Archangel Academy series that also include UNWELCOME and UNAFRAID. UNNATURAL is a young adult novel that explores the relationship of two young outcasts who meet at an all boy's boarding school in north western England. Set against a backdrop of vampires and the supernatural, it is a coming of age story that young and old alike will be able to relate to.

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a gay high school student living in Weeping Water, Nebraska, Michael Howard, feels lost and alone. He’s dealing with daily bullying at school, a troubled mother, absent father, and disconnected grandparents.

But suddenly a series of events changes his life forever. He finds himself enrolled in the Archangel Academy, an exclusive boarding school for boys in northwestern England. What Michael doesn’t realize is that he’s just landed in the middle of a war between vampire clans.

I normally don’t read books with a rating below 3.5 stars but for some reason I decided to give this one a try. Honestly I’m not quite sure why it’s rated this low. I very much enjoyed it. Having attended high school in a small town with conservative views, I could relate to how trapped and alone Michael felt. Then to suddenly be presented with a chance to change everything; to redefine yourself.

This is definitely not a book where vampires sparkle. It’s not full of action or adventure. It’s a story about discovering oneself and growing into the person you really want to be. It’s about discovering a destiny that will change Michael’s life forever in ways he could never imagine back in Nebraska.

[Katie(babs) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unnatural caught my eye because it’s a M/M YA Paranormal that reminds me of Twilight. I know, it seems every paranormal YA that has vampires is like Twilight (at least to me), but I just can’t stop the comparison. Unnatural is close to Twilight as you can get, but features two teen boys, one vampire, one human who are meant to be with each other for all eternity for no real reason. I think it has to do with their googly eyes they have for one another and the electric shock that flows through their bodies because of it. Unfortunately the writing, editing and the worst case of head jumping I’ve ever read makes Unnatural a major fail. Only a few skilled authors can excel at head jumping between two characters in a scene, but when you have up to five characters head jumping to the point you have no clue who’s speaking or who’s point of view it is, that’s a major lack of skilled writing on both the author and the editor’s part. And when it’s pointed out that the author is an award-winning author, as well as a playwright with six works under him, you assume you’ll be reading an incredibly, written tale. Well, I was fooled big time because Unnatural is anything but incredible or well written.

Michael Griffo does give it a good try because again, he’s taking a chance in writing a gay young adult paranormal story, which I believe is very much needed because the GLBT YA market is very untapped, especially in paranormal.

Michael Howard lives with his very cold and distant grandparents, and his mentally disturbed mother in Weeping Water, Nebraska. Michael is a quiet and studious boy, who longs to leave the small town that smothers him since he’s not accepted. Michael hides a dark secret, or so he thinks his homosexuality is, since his fellow students and his grandfather are homophobic. When his mother kills herself, his missing father comes to take him back with him to England where he’ll attend a prestigious all boys’ private school called Archangel Academy. Michael couldn’t be happier and goes off with his father.

When Michael arrives at the academy, he still feels like an outcast because he’s an American. But his roommate Ciaran is friendly enough, although he spends most of his time studying. As Michael investigates his surroundings, he meets Ciaran’s half-brother Ronan. There’s more than a spark between Michael and Ronan that slowly builds into something deep within their souls between them. Ciaran cautions Michael that Ronan is not what he seems, but Michael can’t stop thinking about Ronan. He not only wants to be his friend, but possibly have something more with the mature Ronan, who he feels is the one he’s been waiting his whole life for. Ronan also wants Michael, but knows if he has Michael the way he wants him, he’ll destroy his soul for Ronan’s a vampire.

Michael’s father has no idea about his son’s sexuality and introduces him to a colleague’s daughter, the beautiful and seductive Brania O’ Keefe, who rubs Michael the wrong way. Brania and Ronan have history together since she’s also a very old and powerful vampire who has sinister plans that could destroy the students at Archangel Academy. Her reasons for wanting this are not really explained, but she’s psychotic, so that’s a good enough reason. Ronan must stop Brania from accomplishing this and bring Michael over to his world so they can be mated or married in vampire terms.

I really had high hopes for Unnatural, but as soon as I reached the first 50 pages, I knew something was very off. The writing is so very lacking and unimaginative. The characters have no real personalities and the underlying sexual tension and attraction between Michael and Ronan almost worked, but soon vanished all because of the lack of depth and falling back on stereotypical tropes we see time and again in paranormal young adult books of this nature.

And I can’t believe this was allowed, but the large amount of head jumping back and forth between more than four characters in one scene is a big no-no for a writer. I was so unbelievably confused and couldn’t get a grip on what was going on. Also the villains in this story are ridiculously silly with their threatening dialogue and mannerisms.

I will give Michael credit for writing nice love scenes between Michael and Ronan, where he doesn’t shy away from the sexual acts between these two. No fade-to-black lovemaking here. But when both boys act on their passion, it was too late for me to carry on since I found myself bored and annoyed.

Unnatural is yet another lacking paranormal young adult that should have shined, but instead was dead on arrival mainly because of the uninspired writing and sloppy editing. A big pass.

[Shelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few spoilers below so read at your own risk:

I had hopes for this book but it disappointed on so many levels. Unlike some, the constant POV switches did not bother me in the slightest. I had other issues. A number of the characters whine and moan, even if only to themselves. Teen angst can be great in a plot and make for interesting characters. In this book, there is so much of the whiny, self-pitying that it got tiresome and old pretty quickly.

What made this all the more tedious was the twist on the vampire lore. Why? Because it's vague. A vampire fell in love with an Atlantean and their love created The Well. How exactly you ask? Don't know because that's the sum total of what we're told about it. Perhaps more will be revealed in sequels but I doubt I will read any of them to find out.

The so called "normal" vampires can only walk in daylight while on the grounds of Archangel Academy according to Nakano's private thoughts. Really? Then how is it that some were seen out and about other places during the day? For Michael to have been able to see so much of the countryside on the drive from the airport to Archangel Academy much, if not all, of the drive had to have been in daylight and based on the tour of campus he received shortly after arriving it was indeed daylight. But the driver is one of Brania's vampires. And, let's not forget the driver being seen in town by some of the students and followed because the person with him was their missing headmaster and guess what, sun was up and shining.

Nakano and Ronan have a private conversation and are seen by Michael. He misconstrues what he sees and gets a little pissy about it. Oh. But wait. After a few scenes of Ronan in his dorm room, including when he and Michael first hook up, it's revealed that Nakano is Ronan's roommate. Nakano who Ronan had a relationship with but no longer does and that day Michael saw them hugging it was for Ronan to lay out for Nakano that they really were over with. Wouldn't that have been something that could have waited a few hours to do back in the dorm room when both there? But then we wouldn't have conveniently had a seriously crushing Michael witnessing something to make him think things with Ronan were over for him even before they started.

Ronan got all concerned about Brania having been in Ciaran's and Michael's dorm but had the passing thought that at least Ciaran knew better than to invite the likes of Brania and Nakano in after dark. So the "normal" vamps only need an invitation into somewhere after dark even though they can go vamp at any time they wish?

The headmaster is made into a vampire for no discernable reason. Having him as a puppet, sure, I can see that. But what was the purpose of turning him? If the normals can only be out in daylight on Archangel grounds then wouldn't having a headmaster who can't leave it during the day seem odd to others?

While I'm back on the whole daylight thing, how exactly was Nakano able to travel all the way to Nebraska with Michael and never encounter daylight? So, you know, this whole aspect of it makes absolutely no sense to me unless in later books it's revealed that it's something Nakano was told to help keep him in line but if he's traveling about, he'd figure out on his own fairly quickly that hey, he CAN be out in daylight. If only the sunglasses or special contacts were what was keeping the normals from going up in flames, making it having something to do with their eyes in daylight, I could buy that. But based on that private thought Nakano has while in conversation with Michael, we are to believe that normals can only be in sunlight safely on the school's grounds.

The water vamps are supposedly all about love. Ronan does love Michael, sure, but he also turned Michael without the boy's consent and without ever having mentioned vampires are real and without the would you like to spend eternity with me as one question. What's worse was Ronan's mother pushing him to do it. She's not the least bit loving. She's deceitful and manipulative and very spiteful. She is so spiteful, in fact, that she ignores her other son because of something Ciaran's father did. That something is not revealed in this book so chalk it up to yet another thing I will not find out since it's highly doubtful I will read the other books.

Mentioned a few times in the book is that Brania is far, far older than she looks. Ronan, we are told, was only turned three years before the events of the book. Yet, at one time when their parents were a couple, they shared a nanny? How exactly would that have worked?

Turning someone into a vampire versus just feeding on them is never explained. I have no idea of the mechanism involved that diffentiates one from the other and the feedings and the turning seems pretty much the same as far as I can tell as written.

Archangel Academy doesn't have an overly large student population but there are twenty-two buildings. Are some of those buildings part of St. Anne's? Even if they are, isn't twenty-two buildings a bit much? There are colleges with a couple of thousand students that do not have twenty-two buildings. Are some of them not used? Are some of them extremely tiny? Just seems a waste of resources to have twenty-two buildings operating for what we are told is not that big of a student body.

I could go on but I suppose I've nit picked enough. A couple of other things forever to be a mystery to me are the deal with the white roses and why, according to Nakano, it's only on the school grounds that the normal vamps can walk in daylight. I'm pretty sure some of it is connected to the monk whose portrait is in the sitting area of one of the libraries since his eyes in the painting are described in a way that seems similar to the eyes of the normal vamps.

[Stephen · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I was hoping for in this book was a teen romance with a gay main character. A sort of Twilight for the same sex set. What I got was a major disappointment.

While Twilight has been roundly criticised for the inexpert quality of its writing, this book is much much worse. Where Twilight had characters that were three dimensional and likeable if at times annoying, the characters here are cardboard cutouts for the most part. Where Twilight's writing sometimes stumbled, here it was just plain confusing.

Twilight was told in first person from the point of view of a shy but self certain girl who explained how she was feeling. This book is none of that.

Here, it's told in third person omniscent with so much head hopping as to be incredibly confusing. Simple conventions (such as starting new paragraphs when changing speakers) are ignored to no great benefit and to much confusion. The author is reputed to be an award winning playwrite but he's not mastered the novel form at all. While it's readily apparent who's saying what on stage, in a book it must be made clear and here it was NOT.

I'm a veteren of seeking out gay content in a non-gay-friendly world. I once found and watched an early Greg Araki movie that was a VHS recording of a bootleg VHS recording and was ready, willing, and able to put aside the low technical qualities for a good story with a good message.

Here I wanted to see the love story play out so badly that I was willing to put up with some really bad writing, but all I got here was the low artistic quality with very little payoff.

And what's worse.... I think that the author thought he was being artistic. He deliberatly added obscurity. Just one example... There is a scene where the two protagonists have finally spent the night together and wake up together. Their diolugue about "wanna share a shower" is deliberatly intercut with narrative about a girl waking up outside and feeling the dew on her face.

All I really wanted was a chocolate chip cookie of a M/M teen vampire romance. What I got was under-developed, under-baked with far too few chocolate chip moments. No sweet gooey goodness just lumps of flour a bit of sugar, badly mixed and maybe a carob or two.

Another reviewer mentioned that we are briefly introduced to two characters in the protagonist's home town that suggest that his horrendous hometown life didn't have to be so lonely. Then his mom dies -- he reacts wierdly and we're off to England with the two sympathetic characters not mentioned again. One asks..."Why even bring them up all?"

I wish that the author would... develop his characters more. Pay attention to writing conventions so that his prose is more readable. Work on his storytelling and leave the artistic bits to more experienced writers.

I've read over 100 books this year and this was unfortunately one of the worst. Particularly in that the premise held so much promise. Lest this review be all negative let me say... the cover was nice

[Wren]

Unfortunately I had to DNF this. I feel like the author was wayyyyy too descriptive on everyday things, he went way into detail for things that didn't matter or were obvious. I didn't like the constant change of perspective either. I considered continuing this but I am at 233 pages and still not liking it. So, I'll be doing myself a favor by dropping this, and the author a favor by preventing a low rating :) win-win. If you want to read a paranormal young adult novel with LGBTQ characters you might want to give this a try, but if you're bothered by perspective changes in third person and excessive description, I'd skip this one.

[Elisa Rolle]

Unlike most of the books I received to review, I actually asked a copy of this one; why? Well since I wanted to understand a little all this talking about Twilight and Co and I didn’t want to read THAT series. Young adult and het romance together were a little too much for me, so when I heard about a gay vampire teenager series, I thought, good, this I can read. I was not at all discouraged by the not-so-positive reviews I read around mostly because my idea was that who was writing them was not a teenager and you have not to forget this is a book that not only it’s classified by the same publisher as “young adult”, it was even released in a special line, K-Teen, that is targeting a young adult reader. So when I read comment like, everything seems too “youngish”, my reaction is “geez, have you or not read the book details? This is a Young Adult book! You should give positive point to the author to have been able to meet the target!”. Also since Michael Griffo is the pen-name of an author of a previous Gay Romance targeting a more adult reader, and having read that romance, I can tell you that he can be very, very adult-like if he wants.

Going back in track and talking about the story, even if the book is almost 500 pages long, it took me only 2 nights reading it since it flowed like water. The vampire theme is good, and with a twist that makes it original among so many trite similar novels, but all in all it was not even so predominant: I had the feeling the plot centered more around the romance between Michael and Ronan than not on the paranormal nature of Ronan. The novel had very much the feeling of a high-school romance and the issues that Michael and Ronan initially faced were more that of two young boys being in love and not being sure of each other feelings. Even the “evil” plot that is endangering their relationship seems more the plotting of jealous high-school mates than that of real dangerous villains.

True, to some readers all above could sound like the novel doesn’t have “deepness”, but again, I would like to highlight the real target of this book, i.e. teenagers; the average teenager wants enough complexity to be engaged but not too much to be “bothered”, the pace has to be fast and light. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the quality has to be low since the target is Young Adult, I’m saying that the “tricks” to attract a Young Adult are different. Me from my side enjoyed quite a lot that the fire between Michael and Ronan ignited easily and without much obstacles, I don’t particular enjoy when the drama of first love is diluted for long. And another point I enjoyed was that that same love was also “sexy” and physical; even if they are both teenagers, these are young men and as such they have strong sexual impulses; again don’t get me wrong, this is far from being an erotic romance, but at the same time, the two boys will be able to enjoy themselves and their young age.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0758253389/?...

[Saritza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected after reading a few reviews and am glad I read it despite the "gay Twilight" labels I kept seeing for it. If Twilight had been even a small percentage of this book, it would have been greatly improved so if, like me, you're not a fan of Twilight, you may just enjoy this book.

I read this book on a recommendation from a client when I asked for a good gay YA series for my teen son to read and was not disappointed. I want him to read about strong male leads whose sexuality can be part of their conflict but not a death sentence. This is definitely a series I'm encouraging him to read.

While it has a slow start (and it really didn't grab me until Chapter 8) I realized when got there the importance of having the background to Michael's story fleshed out for the reader to understand the choices made. I love that the book starts out with a teenage boy admiring another teenager boy's rugged good-looks without sounding campy. There is lots of great symbolism in the story and I really enjoyed the vivid description of Archangel Academy's buildings and setting. I could really envision seeing many of the scenes in the book on the big screen, if the movie industry would be bold enough to actually bring a good gay YA story to the silver screen that is.

I would have given the book 5 stars if not for the many times I found myself skimming over greatly detailed description of Michael's surroundings.

I had issues with formatting in my Kindle version of this traditionally published book which made it difficult to read without feeling a little lost at times as the POV switches were numerous and often. There were also issues with the quotes and line breaks not being accurate despite purchasing this book directly from my Kindle. So be warned that this could be a problem but the writing is so strong, you don't want to stop reading. At least, I didn't.

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reviewed by http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blo...

I loved the cover for UNNATURAL, Unfortunately that is all I loved about it. I liked it so little I couldn’t even finish the book and that is very rare for me. I think I didn’t even get half way through it until I had to put it down and move onto something else. The whole plot just didn’t do anything for me. It was slow and there was way to much info added in that wasn’t needed that made it drag on even more. Because I only got at the most halfway through the book I can only speak of that portion. The writing was slow, the events were boring, the characters were blah, it was all together just lacking what I would need to get into the book. So my final thought to you is I'm glad I didn’t pay for this as I would have returned it the same day =(

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

And now for something completely different . . . This is book one of a young adult vampire trilogy. I know, I know, some may roll their eyes at another vampire book, but this one focuses on two teenage boys who meet at a mysterious boarding school in rural England. Michael is 'unnatural' because he's gay and Ronan's 'unnatural' because he's a hybrid vampire. I've created a whole new vampire mythology and, I think, brought a fresh twist to the genre. But, as always, the readers will be the judge. Enjoy!

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't even know where to begin here. Oh, wait. Yes I do.

This. Is. SHITE.

I started reading the book for free at Barnes and Noble on the nook and was intrigued by the writing in the beginning. It was smart, it was fresh and it wasn't shallow. But, like the Titanic, some of the most impressive creations can make a slow descent into hellish misery. Unfortunately, I had to experience that misery at the cost of $8.

Within 50 pages things start to go south. It began with bits of odd dialog or an awkwardly described situation or setting, then as more characters are introduced the grade gets steeper until we're plummeting like a rock off a cliff.

Characters in this book say the most absurd and cringe-inducing things, especially Michael who suddenly talks like a New England Wasp, with all the depth of a cardboard cut-out. But the biggest offenders are Ronan, the love interest, and Brania (how the hell are you supposed to say that?) the big bad villain whose intentions are so eschewed that the reader never once really grasps what her big plan is. But more on that in a moment.

Let's read an example of some of Michael Griffo's masterful work of speech. In this particular scene, Ciaran wants Ronan to turn him into a vampire, thereby ending his lonely human existance: "Take me!" Ciaran begged. "Please, Ronan, make me a real part of our family."

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Ciaran and Ronan are brothers. I know I've totally told my brother to "take me" in moments of wild desperation (please note the sarcasm). Seriously, this entire scene was so awkward to read that I literally squirmed in my seat, emitting a series of groans, the likes of which I haven't made since being forced to endure The Spirit in a darkened theater on Christmas night.

Then there's the problem with inner monologues. For some reason, the author thought it was a brilliant idea to show what every single character was thinking in any given scene, making the jumps between characters so fast and confusing, you never really know who's talking or thinking. The editors, if they really existed to begin with, should be drawn and quartered for pissing on the foundations of good writing.

Throughout the book there are a multitude of moments where characters experience synchronicity, mainly between Michael and Ronan, which was meant to be a plot device, showing us that they were destined to be lovers (gag). However, it seems in every chapter some extraneous character is thinking the same thing as another. Hell, there are even scenes where three different events are taking place at the same time and everyone shares the exact same thoughts! It was exhausting and irritating.

Now let's talk about some of the more uncomfortable situations in the book. Twice, we are treated to 16 year old vampires having sex with adults. Though not explicitly described, their intentions are clear. At one point, Nakano, another wholly confusing character and newly-made teen vampire, stares down a flight attendant until they go to the bathroom to fuck. WHAT?! And let's not forget Brania, another teen blood-sucker, who has the hots for Michael's father. Has Mr. Griffo ever heard of statutory rape? And no, being dead/immortal does NOT excuse this.

And speaking of Brania, not once is it ever understood what her grand scheme as the villain is. In fact, I don't think Griffo ever had a plan for her, he just went with whatever was going on in his head and tried to create some master objective from unseen forces. Utter failure. Her dialog is so strained and absurd that it's impossible to take her seriously as anything but an animated baddie from an 80s cartoon.

And how freaking many times do we need to read the word "boyfriend?" It's like Griffo just HAD to cement the fact that these two were together and couldn't think of a better way to put it.

Then characters take complete personality 180s throughout. Ronan goes from the unassuming intellectual type to being so sure everyone thinks him dangerous, and for no given reason. Before Michael came along was Ronan rampaging the halls of his boarding school, smashing windows and screaming "Blooooood!" And so many characters go mental at the drop of a hat. Ronan starts tossing people around, Michael punches his boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend, Ciaran goes from sweetheart to angsty kid to loving brother to eventual psycho. NOTHING MAKES SENSE HERE! And then Nakano--oh hell, just kill the bastard already.

Look, there are so many more things wrong with this book (which makes Twilight feel like classic literature). Michael Griffo doesn't deserve the privilege of opposable thumbs if this is the type of drivel he's going to churn out. The entire novel spits in the face of the English language and standards of literature. Every English student should be given this as an example of how not to write so that humanity will never have to suffer another blight such as Unnatural.

Don't waste your time or your money. And for all those people who gave this more than 3 stars: you are either drunk or read at a 3rd grade level. Shame on you all for contributing to Michael Griffo's delusions that he can and should write.

If you'd like to learn more about vampires, homosexual teens and poor writing skills, visit your local library and BURN THIS PIECE OF CRAP.

[Alex Bennett]

Unnatural looked like just another book about a vampire boarding school when I first read the description. I tend to like those books, so I wasn’t too turned off by the idea, and didn’t think I would hate it by any means. Once I started the book, I immediately knew it would be different. For one, the main character is a human guy. Also, he is a gay human guy. I liked this spin on things, because you don’t really see a lot of LGBT when it comes to paranormal YA. So kudos to you, Michael Griffo.

I feel like I could have liked this book a lot more than I did. There is lots of unneeded detail and information packed into this book, and it almost never fully held my attention. It took me quite a long time to read this book, and that could’ve been solved if there wasn’t so much unneeded detail. I did like the whole aspect of the vampire world, however. It is original for the most part, and I hope it is explored more thoroughly later on.

Michael Griffo has a decent writing style, but along with the fact that he adds way too much detail and is pretty repetitive, he head jumps so, so much. One paragraph you will be reading from one character’s perspective, and the next moment you will be reading from another’s. If the book wasn’t in third person, I would have been so lost.

The thing I liked most about this book was the characters. Sure, some of them are kind of flat, but for the most part I really connected and enjoyed reading about them. I really loved the connection between Ronan and Michael just because it was so sweet. I do think that the two are a little too similar when you are reading from their perspectives, which turned me off from connecting to either of them too much. There are tons of characters in this book, so I am sure you will connect to at least one of them.

Unnatural is a fresh, original take on the vampire boarding school cliché in YA literature, and I am excited to see more of this series and world. Hopefully, Michael Griffo’s writing style gets better with practice.

[Richard Summerbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was when I entered my science fiction same-sex love story This Moonless Sky into Elisa Rolle’s annual Rainbow Awards contest for LGBT literature (www.elisarolle.com) that I first realized just how much LGBT-inflected genre fiction is being written these days. Not only are L’s, G’s, B’s and T’s (etc.) writing a whole lot of it, but also, lots of women, presumably mostly heterosexual, are industriously cranking out male-male love stories by the dozen, often with lusty content. One of the reasons I got interested in Michael Griffo’s Unnatural, this month’s LGBT-content discussion book in the Goodreads Rainbow Support Group, was that the group’s choice dipped one item out of this massive underground river of samizdat publication and gave me a good one-shot taste-sample of what’s going on today.

There’s no way to summarize this book without at least mentioning that Michael, the main character, soon sets his eye on a potential boyfriend who happens to be LGBTV – that is, a vampire. I should also mention that the book is young adult fiction – it’s a high school story for high school people, plus those who are willing to teleport back to the high school mind. Which I am; it’s fun.

Michael grows up in a bloodless Midwestern existence in the US, including a school full of bullies and taunts, until family dramas lead to his being put into a private British high school. This isolated institution, high up near the forests and moors of the northwest, is heavily guarded by old Catholic/High-Anglican iconography – any visitor to Archangel Academy soon sees images of all seven archangels, plus many saints.

These days, it will surprise no one that some of the inhabitants of such a place will secretly grow fangs in the dark.

By day, however, Ronan, the potential boyfriend, is as gorgeous as they come, and he brings out the gorgeousness of the hitherto pathetic Michael. I’m happy that youthful LGBTQ+ readers today can have access to these characters, who remain chaste and sweet at heart even as they ache in their eagerness to consummate their homo-erotic passions. There are some interesting angles in the situation they find themselves in. For example, we’ve all read about the quandaries of obtaining valid consent for sex when a partner is drunk, but what constitutes consent to be converted into a vampire? Could something like “yes, I want to be yours forever and ever,” said in the heat of making love, be valid consent for being turned, without further discussion, into an immortal being?

I'll leave that mystery hanging.

Add in some tribal tensions among vampire ilks, the sometimes fanged involvement of parents and schoolmasters, and schoolgirls of various passions and species, and you have plenty of plotlines to apply tractive tension to this boy-on-boy love tale. This novel works. I hope it will have plenty of young adult readers.

I don’t imagine that the author himself, Michael Griffo, is a vampire, but there is more to him than meets the eye. He dashes in a trace of literary comparison: the boys liken themselves to Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Grey, among other plausible schoolboy references. A cut-and-paste technique that Griffo uses to multi-task the co-occurring storylines along drove some members of our reading group a little crazy, but it is clearly a nod to William Burroughs – and probably even an intentional one. Occasionally, Griffo lets loose a piece of real authorial lyricism: “By the time she crossed the room, Brania had let her emerald green cashmere sweater fall to the floor, revealing her soft white arms, the veins underneath her skin so pronounced and blue they looked like a tattoo of intertwining strings of barbed wire.” This is a book that will settle colourfully into the mythology of any young adult mind it crosses paths with.

From a social perspective, this book follows in the track of heavy metal music and much of vampire and zombie lore by exploiting post-medieval Christianity for its ideas of monsterly evil vs. the forces of good, where evil is present and powerful but the traditional good magics of Christian belief are impotent. No one who prays to the Christian God to be saved from an evil lot gets any satisfaction in this book. The trappings of Christianity at the Archangel Academy have some magical hemming effect on vampiric activities, but fail to prevent a series of sanguinary incidents that make you wonder how the school has lasted as long as it has. I keep wondering, as I read such things, how long our culture can take satisfaction from laying 16th century Catholicism prostrate, while vampires join in with Dawkinses and spectral Bertrand Russells dancing on its grave. I’m an LGBT-positive Christian, and I would love to make the socially awkward statement that there may be more to Christianity than the memic eye can see in this gargoyle-rich backdrop for the rise of the dark forces. I daren’t do that, but what I can say is that I nonetheless approve of authors who let well meaning gay boys and vampire-boys, and others of differing genders and monsterdoms, take the burden of making good magic into their own hands. Ronan aspires to turn Michael into the best possible sort of vampire, and even wishes him a place among the other beneficent immortals: “His (Ronan’s) face, awash with the glow of the sun and his own happiness, looked from one statue to another of saint and archangel and deity, and silently Ronan told them that soon they would be able to add one more to their group.” (Those are his hopes; I won't spoil what actually happened.) This do-it-yourself effort to achieve immortal good in a sometimes bloodsucking world is a fine value for our secular LGBT teenagers of today to inspire themselves with, and I hope it brings them, ultimately, a connection to the pure river of sweet love.

Though not necessarily a fanged connection.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an awesome book, and I can't wait for the next one. Ilove the new twist on the old vampire legend. It has been a very long time since I have so easily connected with a character in a book, but I could see so much of myself in Michael. Makes me kinda wish that the world that Michael Griffo has created were real. If you like your vampire stories traditional than stay away, but if you enjoy it when an author creates a whole new mythos around them, grab this one quick.

[Kayla Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this book get horrible reviews but this is the second time I've read it and it is still as amazing as ever! Their are so many things that I love about this book. It has very good character development. A great plot. And amazing detail....... Ok I literally just sat here and thought about it, but no, their is not one thing I didn't like about this book. Not one criticism that could possibly apply to this book. It was truly fantastic!!!

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's go ahead and make this simple. I do not like Vampire fiction normally...I watch The Vampire Diaries, I saw twilight(ehh) and I occasionally watch True Blood out of boredom. I've read a few Vampire fiction books but they were ehh

Unnatural is book one in the Archangel Academy series and no this is not my favorite book of the year but i will say this is a pretty decent Vampire Fiction with a lot of new twists.

1. Plot & Writing
Michael, the main protagonist, comes from a troubled home...His mother is mentally unstable and he lives with his grandparents where his grandfather is a bit of a jerk and his grandmother just stands and never really speaks much. He is bullied at school and he longs for an escape. After his mother commits suicide, his estrange father comes back into the picture and offers Michael the chance to head to a prestigious boarding school in London. Michael jumps at the opportunity for escape and is quickly swept up by how free he feels. He begins making friends and he catches the eye of Ronan, and it's an instant attraction. As the boys begin to fall for one another, there are secrets that Ronan is keeping from Michael and there are people who want to do nothing but tear them apart....

The writing was a bit average...It wasn't HORRIBLE for a debut book but there were a few slightly annoying things. For starters, I love multiple points of views in books but sometimes when you are reading Unnatural you often get confused as to who is talking. It's not hard to catch up or anything but it was a bit annoying sometimes.

2. Characters
Michael isn't the WORST character....but he is not the most interesting. This book is surrounded by Michael and at times he comes off as a victim. He is always feeling weak and what not and he just comes off as weak. Of course as the book continues, Michael gradually becomes tougher and more confidant but for a good portion of the first half he did sort of annoy me and it wasn't until the big twist in the end that I actually liked him.

Ronan, is his love interest and initially Ronan seemed to be a more interesting character than Michael. I liked the confidence he exuded. I like the standoffish and sort of danger his character portrayed. You can tell he was dangerous...But then Ronan sort of became a bit...Sappy. He went from this hot bad boy to a sort of teddy bear when he began to fall for Michael. It was cute, yes but i missed the more aggressive and forcefulness Ronan initially displayed. The first time he meets Michael it was sexy, charming and engaging. Later as the book continues, Ronan more or less just becomes "the boyfriend" and it's like he loses his identity.

Nakano<3 OH MY...I freaking Love this dude. He is so amazing. He reminds me a lot of my brother Riley. He is Ronan's ex and he is jealous and a dangerous boy in his own right. He has no problem hurting others to get his way and he hates being controlled and told what to do by women(Sound Familiar...Drake Merwin lol). I love his witty comebacks and I love his initial rivalry with Michael. I would've liked to have seen more of a competition with Michael and Nakano over Ronan instead of their sort of "love at first" sight because Nakano was amazing when he was taunting Michael. Nakano is the perfect antagonist...even when he was being told what to do by others.

Ciaran is Ronan's brother and they have a tense relationship because Ronan and his mother more or less treat Ciaran as if he is less than them(Which in their eyes, he is) as he is not a vampire and Ciaran reminds Ronan of his mother's ex-husband so she ignores him. Ciaran is far more interesting than Michael and Ronan because he wants to be a Vampire just like his brother. He wants to be equal and wants to not be alone. But Ronan refuses to do so. He won't turn him and Ciaran is desperate and he'll do whatever it takes to become a Vampire. Initially, he and Michael were good as friends but as Ronan begins to sort of push Ciaran to the side, Michael's friendship with Ciaran suffers. Ciaran is one of the few mortals in the book and he makes you feel for him.

Brania(the main Antagonist) is a cool bitch but she is of course one dimensional. She is evil but then you can't really figure out WHY she is so evil. But she is such a bitch you just love her when she is on the scene. I loved the other students at the school like Fritz and Penry because they brought a lot of humor.

The adults in the books(Michael's Father, Ronan's Mother, The headmaster, etc etc) are all pretty much one-dimensional. It was mainly about the teens and I can handle that. Michael's father seemed promising in the first part where he generally seemed interested in Michael but by the end it was like the words he said and felt were just forgotten and he became a scumbag. I don't reallly get what is up with Ronan's mom. She didn't make a lot of sense to me.

3. Overall
After reading the LGBT YA story, Caleo and it's awful Sequel Jack, Unnatural did sort of give me some saving grace. It isn't perfect by any means...For a book about Vampires, the first half of the book really isn't much about vamps and it is about Michael and Ronan's attraction, Nakano's jealousy, Ciaran's resentment and Michael coming to terms with being gay.

It isn't until the second half that the plot becomes more focused on and i feel like for an almost 500 page book, this book could have easily cut out on some of the melodrama and focused more on the plot. Michael and Ronan are a cute pairing but the whole insta-love thing was a bit meh.
Nakano's ways were good to read and I love his jealousy but Ciaran is the one thing about this story i loved the most. He will do whatever it takes to become a vampire even if it means betraying his brother and working with the enemy.

It's a good read for you if you like Vampires or want something different.

3 out of 5 stars

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may start slow but when you reach around chapter 5 the drama and story begin.
Had me hooked from chapter 5 and onward :D

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is gay. Just giving you a heads up. Oh, no, not in the derogatory and politically incorrect "it sucks" context, but in the main-characters-have-this-whole-elaborate-more-than-a-bromance-thing-going-on way, something the back cover on the copy of the book I read failed to mention completely despite the fact that for all intents and purposes, this is the gay version of Twilight. Lucky for me, the friend who lent me the book warned me about it beforehand. The romance is central to the novel and as descriptive, if not more, than most romantic YA books out there. So if same-sex couples make you uncomfortable, you should probably pass on this.

Romance aside, let me just say that the writing itself was horrible. I found myself picking up grammatical mistakes and being distracted by completely redundant phrases that the author may have put in for emphasis, though I'm not sure why the fact that everything outside was wet and soaked and drenched from a bad bit of rain was so important. The narration also rambled on quite a bit. Descriptions were pretty lengthy, though not overly flowery. But what bugged me the most were the point of view switches. The book is written in third person, which is fine, and the author wanted to show different point of views, which was fine as well and really added to the story. What was not fine was the way it was carried out. One paragraph might focus on Michael and his thoughts and feelings and then switch to Ronan for the next paragraph with absolutely no warning, which got to be extremely confusing due to the many he's floating around and the fact that the switches were often during the same scene. They were often very abrupt, though towards the middle of the book the author began linking them more coherently so the reader could better keep up. Another pet peeve I had was that often with these changes, the author didn't follow the old "show, don't tell" rule. The characters sometimes had thoughts and recollections of things they would never have realistically had if the reader didn't need that information, which was awkward and distracting. But a lot of books make that mistake too, so I'll let it slide. And after learning that the author is used to writing scripts, his style makes a lot more sense. Truly, the book reads like a descriptive script in sentence form, which isn't necessarily a bad thing once this context is understood.

I'm done ranting about the writing. I know I have no room, but this book had a professional editor. And I'm done now. Ahem.

So, despite the mess the writing sort of was, once I adapted it wasn't too bad at all. The plot was pretty interesting, though also pretty predictable, and I surprisingly found myself getting into the romance. This is the first book I've ever read with romance between gay characters, and I didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable as I thought I would. It was really cheesy and flowery in a good way, which helped. The book also has a theme of prejudice and acceptance for who you are running through it, of course, so that helped as well.

If you're looking for another vampire series and don't care what sort of romance it is as long as it's strong, this is a pretty good read (as long as you're not too critical about writing *grumblegrumble*). But if gay couples really make you feel weird, it's going to be an awkward read.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first bought this book I really only skimmed the back, I didn't even notice that it hinted at a gay romance. Not that that would have stopped me from buying it or anything, but it might have stopped me from thinking, this better not be another Twilight like novel. Luckily, it wasn't. Not really anyways. Yes, you've got vampires. And yes, there's a bit of a love triangle... or square. Let's see. You've got the main character, Michael, who's sweet, innocent, and lost. Then you've got the love interest, Ronan, who's dark and mysterious, but who's honest and has a sweet side. Then in comes Nakano, Ronan's ex. Nakano is the antagonist, or one of them. I found him rather annoying and whiny. Nakano sees that Ronan's moving on and doesn't like this. He tries to get him back, but fails. Ronan makes it pretty clear that he likes Michael, so that's pretty much the end of that.

Then you've got Brania, who's name I'm still trying to figure out how to pronounce properly. (Bran-i-a? Bra-ni-a?) Michael's father has decided that he should marry her. (Yes, gay boy in the closet, how original). Brania starts chasing after Micheal, but soon realizes that he's not interested, and backs off pretty easily. Too easily. She's got some kind of secret going on, which sort of reveals it's self later on, but is still kind of confusing.

So, have you got all of this down? Because now it gets confusing. Ciaran and Ronan are half-brothers. Ronan is a hybrid-vampire. Ciaran is not. Ronan lives with their mother. Ciaran does not. Why? Well their mother has got some kind of issue with Ciaran, which, again, is sort of explained. Now add all of these half-explanations with the fact that the book goes back in forth with POVs and it all gets a little hard to follow. You can go from one paragraph with Micheal's thoughts, to the next with Ronan's thoughts, then back to Micheal. Then a few seconds later, you're reading about Brania, without much warning other than a new paragraph. Normally, multiple POVs don't bother me, but when you've got a POV for almost every character in the novel it gets annoying and a bit annoying.

I think Griffo really tried to write a good novel, with a good plot, and I give him points for trying. I really do. I just think he tried too hard to make too many things happen at once. Every character was having some mini (or major) drama, and a lot of it was happening all at once. (See, too many POVs). There were things happening and people dying that just didn't make sense to me. It seemed pointless.

I felt that the characters were well developed, and the romance between Micheal and Ronan was cute. But I'm really having problems getting past the writing style and the crazy plot. Don't get me wrong, I'll be reading the next book, I'm just not so sure I'll be buying it.

I've given Unnatural 2.5 stars, mostly for the fact that I liked the characters, and for the fact that a ya paranormal romance featuring a gay protagonist is a rare find. Again, points for trying, but it just didn't work.

[Tana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unnatural by Michael Griffo

This is a story of a young man named Michael who is living in the small town of Weeping Waters, Nebraska with his mother and grandparents. The Michael we get to see in the beginning of the book is very unhappy, sad, you feel so bad for him. He is picked on at school, bullied, isolated and struggling with who he is and his attraction to other boys. He dreams of a better life. His grandparents are distant, him mother is depressed all the time, it’s quite the sad tale. Then to make matters worse Michael’s mother commits suicide. Next thing he knows his father arrives from England to take Michael back to London after his mother’s funeral. Michael doesn’t hesitate in leaving; he cannot believe his luck he finally gets to leave the small town of Weeping Waters and hopefully begin a new life.

When he arrives in London he finds out his father is away on business and his chauffer will be driving him directly to the boarding school he will be attending; Archangel Academy a school for boys. Arriving at school Michael feel a tremendous weight of his shoulders he feels for this first time in his life he is actually home and maybe he could be happy here.

We are introduced to some of the other characters in the book and we get to see some of what they are thinking about. The author does a terrific job with each of the characters points of view.

But of course the best part of any romance is when Michaels see Ronan standing in the rain they both can’t take their eyes of each other. Of course in everything that starts nothing goes as smooth as they want but they both know they feel strongly for each other. This is an amazing story of two young men finding love and accepting who they are.

This is a YA/Paranormal romance between two young men, author Michael Griffo does a terrific job at writing a paranormal romance and puts his own twist on the types of vampires we read about. It’s new and different and I really enjoyed reading Unnatural. There are many other characters in this book that make it a terrific read. It's not just a romance novel though there is murder and some mystery and I recommend this book to anyone who loves paranormal books.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a sucker for boarding school novels. Still have not figured out why, so it is what it is. Unnatural immedately grabbed my attention because this setting.. then when I found out there was a possibility for a M/M YA romance, I just knew that I had to give it a try.

First off, I have to give Michael Griffo some credit. He is working with a creature that has been used to death. At this stage in my reading career, if I never have to put up another vampire book, I would probably be estatic. (Vampire series I am currently obsessed with aside.) But Griffo decided to go with using this character, and for the most part, I was pleased with the result.

Michael Howard views himself as apart from every one in his small town. He is lonely.. trapped.. you get the point. And so does the reader, after hearing about Michael's issues for a longer than needed time frame. Now, don't get me wrong. Whiny characters can be fun characters. But in Unnatural's case, I felt like I needed more than to constantly hear about the same issues over and over again. Thankfully, Michael began to grow on me once he got to Archangel Academy.

Unnatural may not be my favourite vampire novel of all time. But it definitely was creative. I loved that Griffo took a few risks in combining vampire lores that I have seen a few other places, and made it completely his. The novel, overall, felt like it took forever to read since Griffo includes more than enough details to fully grasp his vampire world. Alhough, it I would not have hurt my feelings any if some of the more redunant details had been left out. Overall, I will be looking forward to more from Griffo and waiting to see how this series evolves.

[Byron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is going to be in my top 5 for this year!!!

The book starts off quiet poetic really. Then as we get to know the main character the story starts to unfold. It just flows through out the whole book. There was no parts that jumped from scene to scene leaving me feeling like I missed something.

All the major players are introduced fully and built into real people who I could relate to in someway or another. The protagonist's are all built so well.

The story is blindingly well written with just the right mix of information and tantalising description to keep you wondering just where this is headed. Every time I tried to second guess the direction, I was left flummoxed because it never quite went where I thought it would.

PLEASE don't let the following turn you off it's why I hate categorised books. This book is really a YA book, but the lead story is a love story between two teenagers so it sort of fits into the m/m romance category. Yet I'm hesitant to put it there for turning people off the actual story which if the world were a better place full of more understanding would dump Edward/Bella/Jacob on their respective rumps. And having said that you also can guess that it fit's in the 'vampire' genre too.

I for one can NOT wait for book 2 to come out and have an expectation that this story will continue to grow. Thank you to Michael for his hard work.

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read using Kindle Unlimited)

This was an interesting vampire book, with a gay romance thrown in as well.

The characters in this were all very real, and I felt sorry for each of them at points. Michael had not had the easiest life, and although Ronan seemed to have had a privileged life, it soon turned out that he had his own skeletons in his closet too.

The storyline in this was quite good, and I can’t say I’ve really come across this sort of vampire book before. The vampires in this were a little bit different to other vampires in other books, and the fact that we got a boy-on-boy romance was a little different too.

The ending was okay, although there was a lot of things not wrapped up, and a lot of things still to focus on in the next book. The end did feel a long time coming though.
7.25 out of 10.

[Amara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book was truly amazing in every way possible. Some people say this is a Gay Twilight, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. It isn't in the least, it isn't like twilight except that the main character moves to a new place and that's it. The Romance between Michael and Ronan is so cute and adorable. I loved that this book is M/M Romance, and the fact that its rare to come across a book/series that is supernaturally based and its not all about sex. I thought that the 2 different Species of Vampires was very interesting, But the race that Ronan is like of like a mix between a Vampire and a Mermaid. It was very interesting and i couldn't put it down 5/5 Stars!

[Ptdog · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing and the story kept my attention. I felt the loss of good humans that were likable. In a story abundant with bad guys, one might think it would be useful to keep some good guys around. But, noooo! Anyway, I'm about to start the next chapter of Ronan and Michael's story.

[Alexis]

it was amazing!! loved Ronan and Micheal!! Such a cute and good book!! amazing!!

[Justin Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these reviews before buying it and was a little scared from t he bad reviews here but i bought it anyway and it was the best book ever!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first stumbled across Michael Griffo's Unnatural I admit I kinda rolled my eyes (well, not kinda, I did roll my eyes). In a market already saturated with teenage vampires full of angst, did we really need another one? What made this one so different from the others? Well, the one thing I noticed was that the main character, Michael Howard, is gay. Other than that, based on what I read, it didn't sound much different from Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, and any other romance-driven teen vampire series. But having suffered through Twilight, I figured it couldn't be any worse.

Michael Howard is just like any other gay teenager living in a small town. That sense of isolation and of not belonging weigh heavily on him, and he longs for the time when he can pack his bags and leave. To compound his feelings of isolation, he lives with a drug- and alcohol-dependent mother and his maternal grandparents, who have made it obvious they want nothing to do with him. Running away from home is not an option because he has nowhere to go. He never really knew his father, who lives somewhere in England. When his mother commits suicide, it seems his prayers have been answered: the father he has never known comes from England to take him home. Michael is elated at the idea of going to live in London and getting to know his father.

Arriving in England, Michael feels like he has finally come home. However, the dream of getting to know his father is short-lived. He spends one night with his father before being sent to a boarding school, Archangel Academy. And that's where his life changes forever. That's where he meets Ronan. These two were fated to meet; unbeknownst to either boy at the time of their meeting, they have been dreaming of each other. But their relationship is in trouble from the start. Ronan has a dark secret that he longs to tell Michael, but he's afraid of how he will react. That dark secret is that he is a vampire, as is Ronan's ex, Nakano, who refuses to accept the fact that their relationship is over. At the time of Michael and Ronan's meeting, only one other person on campus (besides Nakano) who knows Ronan's secret is Ciaran, Ronan's brother.

While this might seem like the typical love triangle, there's more going on below the surface at Archangel Academy. As in the human world, prejudices exist within the vampire world. We learn that while Nakano and Ronan are both vampires, they are two different breeds of vampires. Nakano's breed is of the more traditional variety; Ronan is a Water Vamp, a crossbreed between a vampire and a water-dwelling humanoid. The Water Vamps can walk in the sunlight, but they need to feed on blood and return to the sea of their birth once in awhile; Nakano's kind need to feed on blood on a regular basis, and while they can walk about in the daylight, they can only do so on the grounds of Archangel Academy, which right away informs the reader that there is something about the school, but what exactly it is is not revealed—at least not in this book. The Water Vamps are considered inferior among the vampire world. The conflict for the novel is set: vampire against vampire, and a seething jealousy of an ex toward his replacement. But there is something else at work here, some other power that seeks to protect Michael and guide him toward Ronan. And while this mystical power attempts to keep the young lovers together, Nakano and his kind try to break them apart and claim Michael for their own. Who wins? You'll just have to read and find out.

I've always been of the mindset that you don't mess with vampires. They are an iconic part of the horror genre, and if you are going to make changes that go against what is traditionally known about the race, you need to explain it in an manner that will be acceptable to the reader. L.J. Smith's vampires were able to walk in daylight because of bespelled rings given to them by the witches. Griffo's vampires can walk in the daylight because one breed has inherited the traits on the non-vampire ancestor, and the other breed can as long as they remain on the grounds of the school, for whatever reason that may be. I'm assuming Griffo has this planned out and it will be revealed in Book 2 of the series. Even Rice's Lestat was susceptible to the sun's killing rays until he partook of the blood of the ancient Akasha, the Mother of All Vampires. Griffo also doesn't attempt to sanitize the vampire's means of sustenance. They are killers, but he does soften it some by explaining that Water Vamps don't need to feed as often, and when Ronan does feed, he chooses an elderly individual who is already close to death. Nakano, on the other hand, is more feral, defying the orders of his superiors and feeds on one of his fellow students, which threatens to exposed them all. There is a little tweaking followed by an explanation that makes Griffo's vampires palatable.

All if the trappings of the vampire romance are present, vampire meets boy, vampire loses boy, but does vampire get boy, or is boy seduced by the dark side? It's predictable, and if the book wasn't well written, you could lump it in with another series that shall remain nameless (HINT: see the title of this review) that I can't stand.

The main character in Unnatural is someone anybody teenager can relate to, gay or straight. In fact, we aren't told of Michael's sexual orientation until after we get to know him. We only know that he feels different, that he feels he doesn't belong. Anybody who has gone through the coming to terms with their own sexual orientation knows the signs, but for those who don't they are actually given the chance to get to know Michael as a person and to feel sorry for him and the situation he finds himself in at the books opening. In fact, with the exception of Nakano, all of the characters we are introduced to come off as "human", full of life and emotion, we see them at their best and their worst. Nakano doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities; even when he is being tender with Ronan in an attempt to win him back, we know he is only doing so because he knows Michael can see them. Nakano is dark, as dark as they come, and Griffo seems to go out of his way to make certain we don't like him.

In addition to fully fleshing out his characters, Griffo also pays careful attention to detail, painting each scene with lavish descriptions so the reader can actually place themselves in the scene. When an writer pays that much attention to detail, there's always a chance to losing the reader, who just wants to get on with the story, but everything in Unnatural is well-balanced, and the novel doesn't slow it's pace at all. Griffo also has a talent for ending each chapter at a point that urges the reader onward.

My only problem with Unnatural (and 9 times out of 10, I always have a problem with a book) is the use of italics to indicate change in character. The chapter may start from Michael's point of view, but then there is some internalized thought from Ronan, which leads to a switch in POV that is sometimes confusing. There were times I actually had to go back and find out when exactly the POV changed and from whose POV I was reading from. It is possible that it's a formatting error as I did read the book on my Kindle. I want to get my hands on a print copy to see if the POV changes are a little more clear cut.

Starting Unnatural, I was going in with prejudice; I was so ready not to like it. In fact, I wanted not to like it, but I did like it, damn it. Archangel Academy is a series I will be following, and when I mentioned that I wanted to get my hands on a print copy, it isn't just to check the formatting; this is one series that will be taking a permanent place on my shelves, right next to Kelley Armstrong, Casey Daniels, Mark Del Franco, Kim Harrison, Anton Strout, and Carrie Vaughn.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2/22/2016 Before I begin, let me just say, this book was nothing like I was expecting. This is a clear case of "Don't judge a book by its cover."
Actually, I'm not even finished with the book yet. I'm only about halfway through. I'm just afraid the ending will be extreme, and flush away all my other opinions I was having while reading the beginning.

For the first five chapters, I wasn't even sure if I was reading the right book. I actually checked to make sure it wasn't a different book tucked away in a different cover. Somehow I was reading about a gloomy boy from Nebraska, who lived with his grandparents and mother, and was coming to terms with his sexuality.
Now take a moment to look at that cover, that title. Uh-uh. These were not the same thing.
I was expecting another love triangle, with the narrative coming from the girl in the center. The setting would be in some ancient school, similar to that of the Vampire Diaries or a redeemed Mythos Academy from Touch of Frost.
Instead I'm getting the narrative from the blonde boy on the right, who happens to love learning, literature, and boys. He fell into an insta-love with Ronan, who I'm guessing is the boy hidden on the left, although that isn't how I imagine him in my head. And I don't even remember the name of the girl in the center, because she was only just introduced, halfway through the book.
Actually, if some role reversing happened here, this book would be just like any other supernatural ya novel... Except the school. While its introduction shortly after Chapter 5 described it as all ancient and mysterious, with a big concentration on Archangels in its architecture, the teachers are not teaching their students how to fight monsters or brew potions.
In the end, I suppose, I only have myself to blame. I didn't read the blurb. I honestly thought it would be full of cliches that I have read a thousand times before but still, somehow, find enjoyable.

Regardless of my original misconceptions about the essence of the novel, I still have complaints about the writing. It's written like a high-school student wrote this in their free time. Don't get me wrong, I know many high-schoolers can write great pieces (I wasn't on the Literary Magazine staff for three years for nothing). But between them first writing the piece, and it actually getting published, there is a huge editing process. This novel feels like it was written, checked for grammar errors, and then sent out. I have read so many paragraphs that would just read so much better if they would just pull out one sentence and highlight it as its own paragraph to add drama. That's what this writing is missing! While the plot is somewhat interesting, the entire story would be so much better if the writing contained more drama and life in it.

And these are my opinions only half-way through. Hah! I knew I had too much to say for a simple status update!

2/25/2016 There are so many elements in this story that befuddled me. Strangely enough though, I found that none of those things really detracted from the story itself, because I did truly want to finish the novel. Not once did I think about not finishing it.

1- Okay, the author seemed to have so many ideas that weren't ever cemented into one cohesion. On page 355, we are introduced to a prophecy that was not once mentioned before. The girl on the cover, whose name I learned is Phaedra, reveals that she is a efermera , and I'm still not sure what that means.
A lot of it was introduced right at the end, and I think it would've been better if the author just kept his ideas simple. The two types of vampires and the politics between the two were enough to keep the story moving.

2- The author shares the same name as the main character, Michael. When I make up stories in my head, I do usually end up as the main character, and I'm not looking on the story from the outside. But I do think it's weird to keep the same name when you translate the story onto the page.

3- I've heard the general description of this book, a "gay Twilight." I've heard people supporting that description and I've heard people denying it.
I can definitely see the comparisons. While the plot is incredibly different, the overall feel of the words are similar to Twilight, especially the scenes with Ronan and Michael. Yeah... some of it is just labeling every vampire book as another Twilight, but here I can somewhat understand why people would label it as such. If you actually liked the book, then I think it would be easier to deny the comparisons.

4- I've also heard a lot of people complaining about the multiple POV jumps. There are some cases in which the point of view changes every paragraph. I, personally, never have a problem following this kind of writing, but I can understand why it may get confusing.
Michael Griffo was a screenplay-writer before writing Unnatural, and I think the habits from that kind of writing kind of transitioned over. If you think about it, a TV show, play, or movie would transition between multiple characters/scenes every few minutes. Just think of Unnatural as a televised soap opera.

5- I still don't get the significance of the Archangel Academy. Specifically the Archangel part. Ronan mentioned once (again, near the end) that vampires could only walk during the day on Archangel land, but where is the back story for that? I would have made that a bigger part of the plot if I was going to name the school Archangel Academy.
And the whole boarding school thing? Yeah, I don't think that worked at all. At times it felt like there was too much of an adult presence on the scenes, and then at other times it felt like the only reason they were at a boarding school was so that the author didn't have to bother including them in the story.

6- Overall, I don't think this Archangel Academy should be a trilogy. Had Griffo kept his ideas simple, this could easily be a great standalone. I really wish I was his editor so I could tear it all up and recreate it as a masterpiece. I actually just had a total mind-blank before I wrote that last sentence in which I imagined I was an editor/publisher that had just received his first copy of the story and sat down with Griffo in order to point out some changes he needed to make before I considered offering him a contract.

Overall, Unnatural was... interesting. It was definitely not what I was expecting. I'm not going to read the next book in the series, because while I think there were some loose threads that were intentionally left open, the main story, the romance between Michael and Ronan, was left at a good stopping point.

I wouldn't recommend this book to my friends because it was a great read. If anything, I would give them my complaints about it and then tell them to read it so we could discuss what they think should have been changed before the final publication.
Kind of like I've been complaining to you guys.

[Zizi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book lacked things I usually look for in novels: plot, consistent worldbuilding, character growth, etc. But the gay aspect made up for it. Ronan and Michael were so cute I can't even form proper words!I also liked Nakano (I may be in a minority here) and felt as if he needed more background. The other characters, Fritz and Co. just felt like they were put there out of necessity so Griffo could have more diversity. Which is fine but I just wished we spent more time developing the (practically non-existent) plot and the friendships he tried to build between these characters.

Overall, I felt Ronan and Michael's romance was well-done and somewhat believable even though I was cringing sometimes while reading Michael's thoughts. Truthfully, I picked this book up because of the gay. Oh, and the vampires. This is going to sound really random, but I really, truly, honestly ship Nakano and Ciaran together. I just feel like they'd be so cute together!

The three stars are for the gay, Nakano, and Brania. I have no idea what her motivations as an antagonist are but she was, at least to me, an enjoyable character to read about. Oh, and Penry's girlfriend, Imogene. She was awesome.

[Eternaldissident · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so bad I couldn't finish reading. The insta-love is puke inducing. The fake attempts at teenage drama are cringey. The author should be ashamed to have allowed this to be published in its current state. I was looking for more lgbtq fantasy and kept picking and kept picking up this book and thinking about reading it and sadly it never got any better. on and off I can't bring it over. Of weeks and basically had to force myself to pick it up and continue each time. there's definitely better books to read don't waste your time.