ARC Review: Lailah (The Syclar Saga #1) by Nikki Kelly

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 ally – 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.

Title: Lailah (The Syclar Saga #1)

Author: Nikki Kelly

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Publication Date: 10/7/2014

 

Review:

i want to thank NetGalley and Feiwel and Friends for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

I love me a good vampire story (though we get more than just vampires here: angels, demons). There is just something that draws me to them, as deadly as they can be. This book gave me an almost Supernatural show feel to it (one of my favorites) so of course I enjoyed the ride.

Let's start with the cover because even though we should not judge a book by this, let's face it, we all do. I loved it. It gave me a creepy vibe, which is a good draw. But also made me want to find out if there was any significance to it. that is a mark of a good cover!

The characters are great. They are well fleshed out and relatable. Especially Lailah, who has these visions but of course cannot figure out why. And then there is the love triangle: are you team Jonah and team Gabriel? Vampire or angel? Sometimes it's just so hard to choose! Honestly not a fan of insta-love, but it seemed to work here, even  if it was a bit creepy. And I do like a story that pits one guy against the other pulling the girl in both directions. Who will win in the end.

The pacing was good. I wasn't quickly pulled through the story but it gave me just enough push to keep wanting to turn the pages.

The plot, well, the hook took me a bit to get to. I wasn't sure if I would get there, actually, but once I did, it was hard to put it down since I really wanted to know what was going to happen.

The plot was similar to many in YA I've read, but the take on vampires was a bit more unique. 

I'm glad I dove into this one and hope to get to the next one soon because GABRIEL!

Nikki Kelly 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 She's not dreaming in Vampires & Angels, She dreams in chocolate! For the past ten years She has lived in West London with her hubby and two dogs, Alfie - the Pug & Goose - the Chihuahua.