Gabriel by Nikki Kelly – Review & Giveaway

***NOTE: This review is for the second book in a series and may contain spoilers for the first book. To read my review of Lailah, click on the link.***

Gabriel is the exciting second book in the Styclar Saga, the follow-up to Lailah. As the title of this one suggests, it expands on Gabriel’s character – the angel who is the other half of Lailah’s light – her soul mate, if you will. The book is still told through Lailah’s POV, as she discovers that the people (and angels and vampires) around her are willing to sacrifice everything for her – she just isn’t sure that her life is worth the sacrifice.

What fed my addiction:

• Lailah’s acceptance of her darker side. While the synopsis claims that this book is about Gabriel, I would contend that it’s actually more about Lailah accepting all of who she is, despite her love for Gabriel and her desire to please him. Now that Lailah knows that the dark woman from the first book is a part of her, she has to learn to tame that darkness and she sometimes has to learn to embrace it.
• Answers. We get quite a few new pieces to the puzzle in this book and learn more about Lailah’s abilities, her family and her purpose. I can’t wait to see where Kelly goes with the story next!
• Jonah. When Lailah wakes up from being brought back to life (in the first book) she has no memory of Jonah for some reason. So she struggles between feeling like she owes him in some way and sensing that he wants something more from her – something she’s not willing to give. Jonah responds much like Jonah does – he sacrifices for her, but also pushes her away, unwilling to accept less than her love and bitter about the fact that she doesn’t remember him. I loved any part of the story that focused on Jonah. Guess I’m rooting for the bad boy in this series – but it’s simply because he accepts Lailah for who she is – all of her – and he still puts Lailah first, just like Gabriel does. Jonah’s darker nature doesn’t make him seem like a dark character, and I’m pretty much always on his side.
• The ending. The book ends in a way that puts some things to rights (in my opinion) and also propels Lailah in a new and very interesting direction!

What left me wanting more:

• The focus on Gabriel. My problem with a book that focuses on Gabriel is that he’s just not all that likable. It really seems like the only reason he’s in love with Lailah is because he was born to love her, and while his willingness to do anything for her is commendable, it just never feels like he’s doing it for the absolute right reasons. And it seems a bit like he’s holding Lailah back because she just wants to please him so badly. Now, I will say that all of these things were completely by design – intentional decisions made by Kelly to drive the story forward – but that didn’t stop them from bugging me a little bit. I kind of wanted to get past the Gabriel parts and see Lailah’s personal journey or her story with Jonah.

This book is a fantastic follow-up to Lailah that leads us into even darker territory. I give it 4/5 stars.

***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

Don’t miss the first book in the series:

And read Gabriel and Jonah’s short stories:

About the Author

I was born and raised only minutes away from the chocolately scent of Cadbury World in Birmingham, England. So it will probably come as no surprise that when I’m not dreaming in Vampires & Angels, I dream in chocolate! For the past ten years I have lived in West London with my hubby and two dogs, Alfie – the Pug & Goose – the Chihuahua.
LAILAH is my debut novel, and first launched in serial form to wattpad, a readers & writers community. Within just 6months, LAILAH had over a million reads and thousands of comments and votes.

Since then, The Styclar Saga has gone on to pick up a traditional deal with Feiwel & Friends, and LAILAH, the first book in the series was released on October 7th 2014.

These days I spend my time balancing my amazing job of writing fantasy fiction, with my other, very important role of Chocolate Connoisseur. I like to multitask and do the two together. It makes me happy.

Author Links:
    

 

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