*Synopsis*
The girl knows she’s different. She doesn’t age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel.
On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand that Jonah belongs to a generation of Vampires that serve even darker forces. Jonah and the few like him, are fighting with help from an unlikely Allie – a rogue Angel, named Gabriel.
In the crossfire between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, the girl learns her name: Lailah. But when the lines between black and white begin to blur, where in the spectrum will she find her place? And with whom?
Gabriel and Jonah both want to protect her. But Lailah will have to fight her own battle to find out who she truly is.
*My Review*
Lailah is the story of a girl who apparently doesn't age but has died several times. She struggles to survive while moving around a lot and working whatever job that comes along. She has visions of places and events that happened in the past, and is strangely drawn to the face of a stranger who plagues her dreams. After stumbling across a vampire named Jonah, Lailah finds herself among a group of second generation vampires led by the Angel Gabriel, who is the mysterious face from her dreams.
Lailah is the story about good vs evil, and the question as to whether or not a person can actually be both at the same time and what that means in the long run. I totally dithered my way through writing this review because I don't like the way I'm feeling after finishing it and tried my best not to spoil anything. I don't believe the story is all that bad, it just leaves some important questions to be answered, and the ever present plague known as 3-way love triangle that infected a large portion of the storyline. I abhor triangles as much as I do rape scenes. Did I mention that there was nearly one of those as well? I also didn't much care for one of the characters because he was as creepy as Marilyn Manson on crack.
Whenever an author writes a Prologue, you know that eventually it will lead to secrets, revelations, and shocking surprises. Lailah is no different. While the characters, especially Lailah, are clueless as to what happened years before, readers start to draw their own conclusions before even meeting the central cast of villainous characters. While the characters are asking themselves why Lailah is wanted so badly, readers should not have any difficulty putting one and one together to get the answer.
I liked Kelly's differences between Angels and Vampires, where they are from, and how they are created. In most stories, readers are told that Angels are from Heaven and the Archangels were/are Gods soldiers created from light to fight against the devil and his minions. Vampires, on the other hand, were created by turning humans through blood transfusions, or a million other ways that writers have dreamed up since the beginning of time. But, what happens when you combine Angels with Vampires? You need to read the book in order to find out.
I think Lailah/Francesca/Cessie is an interesting character. Even though she has no idea how unique she really is, readers pretty much do thanks to a fairly creative Prologue. It takes a rather long journey of self discovery, and awareness until Lailah understands that she was created for a reason. She has a conflict of self doubt, of what the true meaning of good and evil is, and who the better man is for her even though she's known one of them for years.
Here's hoping that Kelly can focus more on Lailah's past with Gabriel and leave Jonah behind with one of the other vampirette's. Let's kick all other romance possibilities out the door, and allow Gabriel and Lailah to explore possibilities. Let's hope that we get more answers from Lailah's sperm donor father, and discover whether or not her mother survived or not. I definitely need to know more about the "Devil" and what his intentions are towards Lailah.
Author - Nikki Kelly
Title - Lailah (The Stylcar Saga # 1)
Published by Feiwel & Friends
Released: October 7, 2014
Genre: Paranormal, Angels, Vampires
Format: Paperback ARC 416 pages
vampirettes... I find this so funny!
ReplyDeleteThe author did as well! I like that I can make people laugh!
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