[ARC] Review: Ignite by Erica Crouch

Title: Ignite

Series: Ignite Book One

Author: Erica Crouch

Publication Date: June 5, 2013

Penemuel (Pen) fell from grace over a millennium ago, yet there are still times she questions her decision to follow her twin brother, Azael, to Hell. Now that the archangel Michael has returned, threatening Lucifer’s vie for the throne, she begins questioning everything she has always believed. 

As Hell prepares for war - spreading a demonic virus and pilfering innocent souls to build an army - the lines separating the worlds blur. Fates erase and the future is left unwritten. Azael is determined that he and his sister will continue to serve as demons together, but for the first time in her life, Pen is not ruled by destiny. She has the freedom of choice. 

With choice comes sacrifice, and Pen must decide which side she’s willing to risk everything fighting for: the light, or the dark.

 

***

My Thoughts

A copy was provided through NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review

I really wanted to like this book, but there were just too many things that didn't go with me. While the concept itself is definitely a bit different from the usual take on angels and demons the execution of the whole thing was just not to my liking.

First there are the characters. I actually didn't mind Pen and Michael till they started getting all mushy with their declarations of love. Thought it was all a too cheesy not to mention in came on entirely too fast. But my problem was when the Pen's assignment finally came to light. That's were they both lost any kind of respect I had for them. Their reactions were ridiculous to me. Not only how easily Michael could sweep away every little cheesy thing they had said to each other but Pen's reaction to Michael's rejection. I was expecting her to get all depressed and what not at first, of course, but then to realize that she could do it by herself, that she was strong enough in her convictions to stay in the path she had finally begun to walk on, one that she picked herself. But noooo, instead she gets all desperate and ends up being a very weak character. She turns her back on all her supposed revelations about herself and just decides to go back to with Azael. Really?! It wasn't even a decision based on anger or revenge, that I would have actually been fine with. It was a decision based on her own lack of any kind of backbone. She can't stick with a damn decision for herself. That was the last straw for me.

As I mentioned before the romance wasn't exactly insta-love but close enough for me to not like it at all. It just didn't feel quite real to me. Not with the kind of fervor they were declaring their love to each other with. It was all just too much in too short of a time.

Then there is the story-line itself. While the plot was definitely something I hadn't read about before. Angels turning back on their beloved Archangel Michael? Michael himself being so ambivalent toward the fight between Heaven and Hell. It was interesting to read. Unfortunately, the plot took a major step back and gave the limelight to the romance and seeing as the romance wasn't that great, it didn't do the book any favors. To be honest if it weren't for Azael's sarcasm, and constant mocking I would have stopped reading a long time ago. The brief and sporadic conversations between the siblings were really the highlight of the book for me. Azael may be a bad guy, but he at least owns up to it and it secure in what he believes and knows what he wants, something that can't be said for Pen.

So in short, this book had potential with it's original, at least to me, spin in the overdone battle between Heaven and Hell, but between the characters flimsiness and the turns the story took I just couldn't like it.

Would I Recommend it?

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