Review of Adorned (With Giveaway)

Synopsis

When seventeen-year-old Anya finds out she’s actually an angel being trained to protect humanity, she discovers that becoming an angel has nothing to do with wings and haloes. For Anya, becoming an angel has to do with death—her death.

Micah, the angelic soldier ordered to protect her until she transitions from human to angel, promises her death will be a glorious experience as long as she follows his rules. But getting Anya through this life and to the next isn’t as simple as Micah expects. His job becomes even more difficult after he unwittingly performs a miracle that exposes Anya’s hidden angelic light.

With her secret out, Hell’s legions begin targeting her. Unfortunately, Hell’s minions are the least of Micah’s worries. He’s more concerned about the forbidden human emotions he’s developed toward Anya. Even more troubling, is she seems to love him too. And giving in to those feelings, could mean dire consequences for them both.

Review

I enjoyed Adorned. The storyline sucked me in and I thought it was unique. I liked the idea of Angels starting as humans to learn about human nature and then dying to fully become Angels.

At times Anya seemed a little too childish and immature for a 17/18 year old and I didn’t love her character as much as I wanted to. I did find this book to be quite a slow read and it only picked up pace in the last quarter or so but then it really had me hooked.

There was a mish-mash of characters in this book; some I loved, some I didn’t. I liked Micah though his occasional acting like a jerk annoyed me. Overall I loved him though; I liked seeing his struggle between his angelic nature and what he has been taught and then what he feels for Anya. Sam I was unsure of, even when he started being nice I still had issues with him but he was starting to win me over by the end.

Celeste and Simon, well I just struggled with understanding these two. Some of the things they did made very little sense and I also didn’t think they seemed particularly angelic. Now Eli, I LOVED Eli. He was absolutely perfect and by far the most well-developed of them all despite being a secondary character.

With all these characters I wanted more. More character development, more feelings and a greater understanding of their motives so I can love them the way I want to. I even want to know more about Eli because honestly, I’m not really sure exactly who he is, what he does, or why he is there. Parts of this story definitely could have done with more explanation.

To me this book felt very much like an introduction; we got to meet the characters, their world and their situation but the main action didn’t really start to happen until close to the end. The ending left me totally shocked as I wasn’t expecting the events that occurred near the end nor the actual ending itself. The ending as me very hopeful for an exciting, thrilling, action packed sequel.

I do have one small issue with one of the things that happened towards the end. BIG SPOILER!

Ok so Simon, Celeste (and Micah though he isn’t there at this point) have put a lot of effort into protecting Anya and Sam at all costs going as far as to never let them out of their sight. Because of this I struggled to comprehend Simon and Celeste leaving them alone in house next door to people who are demonically possessed (or something along those lines) for something as trivial as getting spice for a pie. Really?! Because of this Sam then winds up being killed and I just couldn’t wrap my head around it as it seemed so unrealistic and out of character.

Adorned is yet another case of a book making me love it despite its flaws. This book could have been better but it was a great start to the series and I am looking forwards to reading book 2. I have a feeling that the sequel will be a lot more like I was hoping this book to be.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, this has not affected my opinions or rating in any way*

Try it for yourself! Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK

Laura

Excerpt

Micah sits in the chair at the head of the table. He lowers his head and mouths something under his breath before snatching the fork from the table.

“What happened to you?” I ask. “Did you change your mind about running away?”

“I didn’t run away.”

When he lifts meatloaf to his mouth, I pull his plate toward me. “I’m tired of waiting for you to tell me what’s going on.”

He swallows. “I’m from the Triad.”

“Is that a foster home?”

“What’s a foster home?” He tastes his mashed potatoes.. “Aren’t you going to eat anything?”

“I’m not hungry. Just tell me what’s going on.”

After he chugs his iced tea, he gets up and squats in front of me, balancing on his toes. No emotion crosses his face. The odd vibration in the room sends a tremor over my skin. Something’s off. When Micah finally speaks, his voice is flat and emotionless. “I am an angel of the Lord, and your new guardian, here to escort you into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

I stare at him until the truth dawns on me. Micah’s crazy. How did I not see it to begin with? No sane person would be running around naked in a thunderstorm. That old Simon guy was probably with some mental asylum. He should have put Micah in a straightjacket when he had the chance. Now I’m locked in the dining room with a big strong psycho.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” The scar in his Micah’s eyebrow deepens when he tilts his head to the side to study me. “When you enter the Kingdom you’ll become an angel.” He seems at ease, like a serial killer waiting to strike. “I intend to make your human death the most wonderful experience of your life.”

“My…human death?” Even though my voice cracks, I manage to force myself to smile. I glance at the locked doors and slowly scoot my chair away from the table.

He touches my knee. “I’m happy to tell you, you won’t be stuck here much longer.”

When I think enough distance is between us, I use all my strength to shove him down and run for the door.

When I look over my shoulder, Micah gets to his feet, glaring at me.

“Stay away from me!” My trembling hand can’t get the key to cooperate. I keep trying to get the key in the lock, but it slips out of my sweaty fingers and drops to the floor. I pound on the door. “Aunt Celeste!” I scream.

When I look back, Micah sits at the table, flicking his finger on the butter knife, making it spin it like an airplane propeller. His lips form a tight line. He slams his hand on the table, causing the butter knife to fall to the floor. “Sit. Down. Anya.”

“Aunt Celeste, help me!”

About the Author

Georgeann Swiger earned her degree in journalism from West Virginia University, and then spent five years as an anchor/reporter at WBOY-TV in Clarksburg, WV. After having children, she left television news to be a stay at home mom. During that time, she discovered creative writing was more fun than writing about real life tragedy. Imagining interesting characters and having them come to life on the page is now her passion. When she’s not writing, she works as a substitute teacher. She lives in Reedsville, West Virginia with her husband, two kids, a beagle dog and a temperamental cat who tries to rule the house.

Website: http://www.georgeannswiger.com/