Lyla Evans just wants to be left alone; to fly under the radar and not attract attention. After seventeen years, she knows how the game is played. Her parents are hardly ever home, and when they do show up, they're quick to anger and even quicker with their fists. With foster care comes the threat of being separated from her two younger siblings, and Lyla would die before allowing that to happen. She's learned to keep her head down and depend on no one but herself and God to get by. When a strange man starts paying too much attention to her and her siblings, showing up to rescue them and then disappearing without a trace, Lyla begins to panic that everything she's been hiding is about to come out. But as she slowly becomes friends with this man and even trusts him with her deepest fears, Lyla learns he has secrets far bigger than her own that will turn everything in her world upside down. In this story of abuse and rescue, love and faith, angels and demons, an unlikely friendship grows into a fantastical love story.
Third person feels.... impersonal, so lezz just keep it real ;]
My name is Kassandra, one of the few rare gems who spell the name with a K. I like to read, write, and lay in the sun. Since I live in sunny Florida, I'm usually doing all three at once. I dream of returning to my hometown, Columbus, Ohio, but in the meantime I make do with placing most of my stories there. I come from a huge family dominated with girls and have a dopey, mostly-Black-Lab dog named Phineas. I tend to like fictional men better than real ones, and sometimes it's quite the hassle trying to keep up with all my book-relationships ;] Someday, though, I'm sure true love will strike me down, but until then, I'll share all my book boyfriends with you.
They can be found in all my novels, and I hope I speak the truth when I say I have a little something for everyone; mystery, romance, paranormal, real-life, drama and epicness. You can find information about my past, present, and forthcoming books in both my blog and Facebook links. I absolutely love to hear from readers, so be sure to drop me a line so I can thank you personally.
I'll leave you to read now, but welcome to my world; a place where true love exists, everyone gets a happy ending, magic is real, God is love, and it's perfectly acceptable to skip sleep, food, and company in order to finish that last chapter.
Despite this being a "religious" book, I really liked it
Lyla - she's definitely a strong and smart heroine, but I felt like she used God as a crutch the entire book. I find it difficult to believe that no one else knew what she (and her siblings) are going through. What kind of community is that? Anyhow, I understand that this is mostly realistic, as people are usually hesitant to step in the way. I also know that people attribute such things to God and are willing to suffer until something else happens...which was endlessly frustrating to me.
Rafael - mysterious, good looking...keeps a lot of secrets. All a recipe for the perfect 'hero' of the book, which of course he turns out to be. I liked him as a character, I just wish we had more insight to him. The romance is pretty much unexplained and makes me worry that Lyla has fallen for her guardian because for the first time in her life she feels like she's safe and can relax. Not exactly the only thing you need for love.
As for realism, I thought the author did a great job of portraying what it's like living in a troubled home (the thumb sucking, wetting the bed, etc).
My biggest problem (not counting the religious parts because that's not fair) is the villain was so easy to figure out. I knew what happened pages before anyone in the book figured it out. Also, for angels hundreds, if not thousands, of years old, you really couldn't figure it out? UGH.
Anyhow, I liked the book. I liked that there was minimal you-should-believe-what-I-believe-ness. Looking forward to seeing more from this author; I think it can only get better!
This was the first book I've read by Kassandra Kush, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At first the biblical passages at the beginning of each chapter made me wary; I wasn't aware that I had picked up a religious novel. However, about three chapters in, I began to admire Lyla and her strong faith. Could this poor girl go through much more? No wonder she relies on God; there's no adult figure in her life to support her. She does have some great friends, which I found myself wishing she would open up to; Natalie's mother sounds like a saint. And her own parents? I wanted to reach through my Kindle and smack them around myself.
Enter Rafael, the handsome, mysterious, brooding stranger. There were times when I wanted to smack him too (stop fighting your feelings already!), but overall I thought the pacing and obstacles in Lyla and Rafael's relationship was good. It completely matched the overall theme of the story; I didn't expect any wild make-out scenes :) The way he grew to care for Lyla and her siblings (more so her siblings, probably because I'm a mom) made me like him all the more. At the end of the story, I couldn't believe her parents actions, even though it shouldn't have surprised me. And when Lyla visits Colton and Grace, oh my heart! It hurt.
Overall, I really liked this story and the world the author created. Even though there is an epilogue, I wish it was longer so we could learn what Lyla felt physically and emotionally at the very end. It almost came across as a tiny cliffhanger; I wonder if the author is thinking about continuing the story?
Taking emotions to a whole new level ONCE AGAIN! WOW!! Talk about taking emotions to a whole new level ONCE AGAIN! To say this book moved me would be the understatement of the year. I love this story for many reasons, but mainly because of the extreme emotion it pulled out of me. I say this all the time & I will repeat it once again... I do not like overly emotional books, because I prefer to spend my minimal spare time reading those that transport me to a happy place BUT Kassandra Kush has proven on several occasions that she is an expert at taking us through a kaleidoscope of emotions that happens to also bring me to tears but is amazingly balanced with all of the joy, adventure, suspense, & romance constantly bouncing, mixing, & enriching the other. I am always moved by her work, & look forward to the next with great anticipation! BRAVO & THANK YOU for this wonderful story!! Lyla, Grace, & Colton had my heart from the beginning, but the addition of Raphael, Naomi, Rachel, & the others just flew us out of the park! Literally!! I can't wait to read Protector! I'm so glad it is already waiting on my Kindle! http://jenisbookshelf.blogspot.com/20...
This was a sweet and beautiful story. This past week I dove into a couple of books that weren't my normal kind of reads. Both times I was pleasantly surprised. This book is my first fallen angel type book and now I have to admit I may have a tiny crush on a fallen angel named Rafael. Okay that's a lie. I have a big crush. There, I admit it. I've actually been thinking about this book for a couple of days now. I loved it that much. I'm ready for my next fallen angel story now.
Fabulous! A paranormal with a wonderful message and a strong faith in God woven throughout. Wonderful YA message. Strong characters and a well written plot. Bible verses written throughout that related to the actions in the chapters. Can't wait to read the next one in this series!
Have to say this book, was very emotional, and Positive. The biblical passages, were good, but it also gives an understanding of what this story characters went through. Good Book, Might read another book of hers, will see.
Oh thank goodness I'm finally, mercifully done with this book. This book that is so, so full of fluff and the endless drone of day to day blah and multiple detailed shopping trips, repetitive inner dialogue that makes you want to take the character by the shoulders and shake some sense into them! Also, really? Do you honestly have to describe in minute detail every outfit this girl changes into? And why do we need to know that she changed her clothes and changed her hair and blah blah blah when she's going out for something minuscule? This is more fluff, and more filler, and makes the book draaaaaag and lag on unnecessarily. I had to force myself to finish this one, if only because I wanted to know first, what ends up happening to Grace and Cole, and second, if Raphael ends up turning her into a Fallen. Also, the heavy, HEAVY religion in this book bothered me a little. Not because it was heavily religious, but because there is one blurb in the synopsis stating that Lyla can only rely on God, then goes on to tell readers that this man shows up and the book is a fantastical love story, which it is not. It is a fantastical story about staying with God, which is a-ok. But I do feel like readers should have a little more warning about a book being heavily laden with all consuming religion, and less tricked into believing it is a romance/love story type. Was there a love story here? Yes. Was it well developed? No. Lyla falls head-over-heals in love with Raphael for reasons I simply do not see because the author spends more time telling us about the clothes Layla is wearing and her giddiness about loving him than she does actually developing the romance between these two and making readers fall in love with him as well. It would help, as well, if he wasn't always pushing Lyla away, if he was actually at least remotely tempted by her, or loving with her more-so than fleeting moments. And when I say fleeting I mean like, 1 paragraph. Make.Me.Believe.It.
That said, I did like the story. I had to trudge through the religious aspect being shoved at me because by the time it got preachy I was already hooked on the plot, which was a pretty good one, and wanted to know what happened. (I was raised Lutheran, so I'm not unfamiliar with the Christian religion, nor does religion bother me. So I hope no one thinks I'm bashing it.) Lyla, for the most part, was a likable character. I felt that she was a lot stronger than the author allowed her to be though. A girl who has been through what she has in 17 short years and is still holding herself AND two siblings together and is as street wise as she is, certainly is stronger than she was made out to be. I also felt that she wasn't as leary as she needed to be though and I wasn't convinced that really knew what was going on for most of the book in terms of her siblings and all of the options.
Raphael was a great character, but he was written as more of an under-developed secondary background character than main character. We never really got to know him or were given a chance to fall in love with him. He being the second part of the love story going on here, we should have known more about him. All I learned was that he's old, loyal, gorgeous, dark and brooding and fiercely protective of the people he loves. Boom, that's it. I know nothing else about Raphael and if I learned it, I forgot it because he had such little character development.
I don't know, i could keep going but, eh. Background characters held more potential than they were given, friends that plainly cannot see everything going on irritate the heck out of me because they are only there for the sake of filling space f they aren't going to have any kind of plot effect, and sooooo much filler ruined this book for me. I am giving it a solid 3 stars, because I think if it had been split up into two books, or given to someone unbiased to read that could have had a serious conversation about 100+ pages of filler and cutting out the mundane, it could have been good. It has a strong plot and is a god variance in the modern paranormal genre.
My impressions at 25%: I can’t decide exactly how I feel about this book just yet. It’s a little rough, but I think this is this author’s first book, so I can forgive that because the story has totally caught my attention. A little secret? I got caught up in the story enough to completely miss the 25% mark, and am writing this after realizing I’d hit 37%. These characters? Oh, my heart. My childhood looked so like some of the things in this book, so I can’t help but feel for Lyla and want to see good things happen to her. Mixed feelings about Rafael though … we’ll see what the rest of the story holds.
My impressions at 50%: Okay, I think I’m in love with Rafael!! This story is so sweet, with the perfect mix of innocence and romantic coming of age. I love it enough to not even care about the errors I’ve seen, which says something since errors in books generally make me twitchy.
*side note* If this book continues as it has been, I’m going to be super thrilled to be able to share it with my eleven year old – who also hates errors in books – with the assurance that the story is totally worth the risk.
My impressions at 75%: It’s official; Rafael is just … *swoon* I love the way he is with Lyla, the way he’s always just there, right when she needs him. I love that even when they disagree, there’s always something bringing them back together. I love them … I just love them.
I’m pretty sure I see a big plot twist coming though. I won’t say anything more because I don’t want to give anything away, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be awesome. I just can’t figure out how Lyla can’t see it coming!!!
Lasting impressions after reading (100%): I won’t deny that this book wasn’t the most professional book I’ve ever read. The editing left a lot to be desired in several places, and the book felt a little bit … Twilight … from time to time. That being said, I loved Lyla, I loved Rafael, and I loved watching them work together to figure things out. And if Twilight is was inspired Ms. Kush to sit down and write such an amazing story, then so be it. Truth be told, Twilight is one of my guilty pleasures anyway, and this story was nowhere near the level of suck to be found in 50 Shades.
All in all, this book was a satisfying and inspiring read. The story made me think, the characters made me feel, and the story made me hope. And I can tell you from experience that that’s all any author can really hope for. Four stars, despite the errors. With a proper re-edit, this would have been an easy five star read. (See more book reviews like this at thequarterlybookreview.blogspot.com)
While the book was religion based and had many quotes from the bible I still enjoyed the read. This story is about a girl, Lyla, and her struggle with her abusive parents and her journey of taking care of her young siblings. Lyla's faith plays very big into her story and is what pushes her through on a daily basis. No one knows of the abuse that she and her siblings suffer because Lyla doesn't want anyone to know or they may all be separated and put into foster care. Lyla one day meets a man, Rafael,outside of her church. The night after their first meeting Rafael saves Lyla's life, and many times after. The early part of the story takes you through their resulting friendship. Rafael keeps his true identity known while he knows all of Lyla's secrets. Soon he begins to lavish Lyla and her siblings with gifts, giving them things that they have never gotten even from their parents, such as new clothes and trips to the movies. Of course Lyla begins to fall in love with Rafael and he struggles to put aside any feelings he may be developing. Soon, however, Rafael is forced to reveal the secrets he's been hiding and bring Lyla into his world. If you are not religious I wouldn't let that keep you from giving this story a chance. After all it is fiction. The story could use a bit more editing though, it became a bit wordy in parts. Also, I feel like it has become a trend for an otherwise strong female character to become weakened by her love for a man in her life. In this case Lyla was steadfast in her plans for always taking care and keeping her siblings safe without hardly a complaint. After she met Rafael she became very whiny, dependent and needy on just his presence in her life. And at the end it seems she gave up a bit too easy as long as she had the man she loved. I feel like it didn't send the best message. I received this book free for my kindle app but will gladly pay for book 2 which is due out this winter.
Guardian is a great read. The characters are likeable and the plot had plenty of intensity. Lyla is a young woman with a lot of responsibility. Despite her trials, she is faithful and full of love for others. When she meets Rafael, she is both drawn to him and afraid of him because he is older, has a very forceful personality, but also stirs passionate feelings within her that she is not used to. Rafael is a great hero, aloof because he thinks he should be to protect the heroine, but unable to stay out of her life because of his need to care for her. And Lyla is a person who desperately needs someone to be strong for her, someone to lean on.
The history of angels and the war in heaven adds a nice element to the story and creates an interesting backdrop for the love story. The book is very clean with lots of religious references but is not preachy.
If I had any complaint, it would be that the book seemed really long and I think the timeline within the novel was confusing in the way it was referenced at times.
I really enjoyed the world the author created. So often in books about angels, they are portrayed to be not angelic as everyone thinks should be but yet not trying to be necessarily good either. It is refreshing to read a book about angels that made a bad choice and trying to be good and make it up to God. When I first started this book I did not realize how religious it was going to be and internally groaned when I realized that it was. BUT I stuck it out and am really grateful that I did. Even though, religion and faith are a theme throughout the book. The author did an excellent job of not cramming it down the readers throat. Also, the main character did not come off as religious zealots! I liked this book and look forward to reading what Kassandra Kush publishes next.
This book got me in. Its fiction but I enjoyed the way Raphael protected Lyla and how he took care of her and her siblings, the characters, the struggles and joys the main characters faced, the scriptures and faith of Lyla interwoven throughout the story. I underlined most of the scriptures because they spoke to me within the story and yet encouraged me in my own personal life. I let my imagination run and got lost in it enjoying the story as a story but I also loved the fact the angels were fallen and faced struggles too. I have thought about this book even when I'm not reading it and that is the magic of a good story. Can't wait for the second book in the series.
I was gifted this copy for my honest review. So thank you!!!
Oh my!!!! The ending!! Why that ending? This book was amazing.....Although the ending was a CLIFF-HANGER!! This book makes you feel so many things! Lyla is just a simple girl who has a huge heart, and when she meet's Raphael, well her world turns up side down. Can she handle it? You will have to read the book to find out! This is not your ordinary love story..lots of action too! Must read.
Kassandra Kush has gained a loyal fan. I couldn't put the book down. I loved all the characters, they were real to me and I felt their emotions. I didn't feel that Lyla used religion as a crutch but used her faith to convince Rafael of his worth and the promise of his eternity. I felt the torment within her when she lost her brother and sister. All in all this book is well worth the time I put into reading it. A great job to the author and I cant wait to read more from her.
Great supernatural Christian book.(if there is such a category)This is a great alternative to the True Blood series. Instead of werewolves and vampires you have Angels and Demons. I am not usually a fan of the supernatural type books but this was well written and intriguing. It centers around Christian principles. Highly recommend it to teens, young adults and those who like paranormal romance stories.
This book was incredible! I loved everything about it. I loved the chapters and the natural progression in the book. I loved the last few chapters...at that point I was so invested in the story I felt anxious right along with the characters. I would highly recommend this book to everyone I know!!! I cannot even wait for book 2, it cannot be released fast enough.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and do not consider it a "religious" one. It deals with religion as a part of the main character's life and upbringing. It's a part of who she is and her faith proves instrumental in the plot--which is amazing! I loved the entire book. The plot, characters and setting were vivid and relatable. I would recommend it to anyone as a good read!
Ok... A couple things here. I did not know that this was a "religious" book. What surprised me was that it was Catholic and not your typical "Christian" church. Yes, it had a religious theme but you could have placed any other deity instead. I really did like this book, though it did take me a bit to get into it.
I enjoyed the story and although angels were included, it was more realistic than I expected. However, it was a bit too religious for me. I wouldn't say that I refuse belief at all, but I can't indentify with praying. Therefore I kind of skipped the passages, in which she was praying. Due to this, I didn't buy the second book.
I liked this book. The author was able to really bring the characters and situations to life, enough so that my heart was breaking and near the end, I actually had tears slip out. Looking forward to more from this author!
Best angel book I've read in a long time. Whether you believe in God or not it's a great read. I completely fell in love with this book and could not put it down!! I can't wait to see where the story continues!!
Made it about halfway through and decided to abandon. It was a little too preachy for my taste and not very well developed. Like, her parents were so back and forth suddenly beating her for no reason, and then her mom would comfort her about a broken heart...I just didn't get it.
when i starting reading this book i serious cant put it down. i loved reading it. there`s never a dull moment. this book made me feel a roller coaster of emotions that i never believed i would when reading a book.
Yes, this book does have a rather strong religious tone to it, however, that just adds to the amazing story and builds stronger characters. I loved this book.
I'm not Catholic so I didn't agree with some of the theology, but I ended up liking it better than other books from the same genre. It got a little too "teenage angsty" at the end.