Illumine by Alivia Anders

Title: Illumine (Illumine, #1)
Author: Alivia Anders
Release Date: January 7, 2012
Edition: eBook

Synopsis:

For the past five months Essallie Hanley has been trying to forget about the frightening murder of her boyfriend. Haunted by vivid nightmares and hallucinations of the event she does anything she can to pretend she's like every other normal girl in High School.

Only Essallie is far from normal. Able to conjure blue fire and a shimmering silhouette of wings from her body, she seeks the only known solace left to her name; her first home in Belfast, Maine.

But she soon realizes that her return home is only the beginning of a long and twisted road taking her as far from her humanity as possible, with Kayden, the demon originally summoned to slaughter her, leading the way. Unable to touch her but oddly curious, he joins Essallie in her search to find out just what she is. But neither of them were prepared for the secrets they've begun to unravel, secrets that will change Essallie and everyone around her forever.

My Thoughts:
Essallie Hanley is trying to forget the sight of when her boyfriend was murdered. Now suffering from nightmares and hallucinations, she just trying to pretend to be a normal girl. But she is far from normal. She can conjure blue fire from her hands and a silhouette of wings from her body.When she returns home to Maine, she is struggling with her humanity. And Kayden, the demon who was summoned to kill her, now following her around. Unable to touch her and wanting to why, he joins Essallie in finding out who she is. But as secrets begin unraveling, it could change Essallie's and everyone else life around them forever.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a light and a quick read for me. I like how the beginning part of the story drew me in. Not the very beginning, but when Essallie goes to the party, that drew me in! Great action from the very beginning. I enjoyed the storyline and the characters.

My favorite character of the story is Kayden, of course! He was different. In the beginning he kind of creep me out. I thought he was weird, especially with what happened at the party. Disturbing! But as the book progressed, I really enjoyed his character. Essallie, I like her at times. Not so much in the beginning. She got on my nerves a tad bit, but not to the extreme. But that changed as I continued to read the story. I liked her a lot by the end of the story. And the little hint of a possible connection between Kayden and Essallie... Loved it!

The action in this book was great. I love action, especially with that final scene in the book when everything comes to light... I thought it was written out amazing and I enjoyed it so much!

But one thing I didn't like about this book was when the book switches and ends a scene, then go into the next one. Sometimes I felt like there could have been more to certain scenes in the book and that it skipped to the next scene to quickly. But that is one of the only flaws I really have about the book. I can't wait to see what happens in the sequel because that ending left me with too many unanswered questions!

Overall, it was a fun read. It was very fast paced, quick read. If you like YA books about a little bit of magic, angels, and demons, I think you should give this book I try! I really enjoyed it!