Exhausted by years of illness and chemotherapy, Britt plans to get washed over a waterfall and end her life. But as the river takes her she realises that she does want to live. Then unearthly intervention restores her to her distraught parents, and not only is she free of trauma from the river, the cancer seems to have vanished. Can it have been angels who touched her? And what comes next for an eighteen year old who has forgotten how to live?
The hospital can find only accelerated healing and Britt is released to go shopping for stylish clothes with her girl pals, to make a new family life in Grand Rapids. But she's experiencing vividly unpleasant dreams and she realises that whatever the angels did might not have gone entirely right. TAKING ANGELS gets us right under the skin of this unhappy girl from the start, so we want her new life to be joyous - but everything comes at a price. Persuaded to volunteer at the hospital where she had been treated, Britt finds that her touch helps to heal some patients... and that a sinister man is going around doing the reverse. Who would believe her?
CS Yelle has put together a young adult paranormal tale with touches of horror, mainly for girls. There are similarities with Twilight - a glamorous brother and sister arrive at school, who are wealthy and long-lived beings with extra abilities. Britt finds herself attracted to the young man who, like Edward Cullen, is rather older than he appears. However the fact that Britt herself is learning to handle her new abilities and problems does differentiate this work. Britt also shares her secrets with her girlfriends and involves them in her changed life. Yelle gives us several degrees and varieties of angels - Eternals, half-angels, guardians, avengers, soulless.... it can be hard to keep track. I also found it hard to balance the romantic element, as the characters were soon leading far from normal lives.
Yelle has been a school science teacher and industry accounts manager, and plans to extend his story to a series called The Angel Crusades. TAKING ANGELS will surely gain young adult fans.
Britt Anderson went along with everything the doctors said
for nearly four years, but she was still dying at eighteen.
The cancer had won leaving her without a future, without any
options, and without control. No control, except for how she
would leave this world. As Britt tries to end her life by
going into the frigid waters she realizes her mistake. She
struggles to get back to shore, to cry out for help, but her
atrophied muscles are useless and the frigid water steals
the breath from her chemo-scarred lungs. Despite her
father's attempts to reach her, she flies over the
waterfall.
When Allister Parks finds Britt's fragile body on the
riverbank something calls out to him. Ignoring the warnings
of his sister, Allister brings Britt back from the edge of
death. The only problem is that an Eternal like Allister
isn't allowed to touch those who have already passed from
this world. It is forbidden; an infraction punishable by
death.
As Britt relishes her new cancer-free life and senior year
of high school, her very existence threatens Allister's
place in this world. Allister struggles to keep Britt a
secret from the Eternal Council and out of the hands of the
only Eternal who already knows the truth: the one who stole
her guardian angel.
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