Paranormal Review: Falling-Girl With Broken Wings

Falling: Girl With Broken Wings

by J Bennett

Published by Endeavor Writing

My Rating: 

The intellectual challenge of college and the warm embrace of a serious boyfriend have given Maya the wings she needs to break away from her bookish and shy reserve. Her ideal life comes crashing down when she and her boyfriend are accosted by a stranger. A stranger with glowing hands.Maya’s boyfriend is killed. She is kidnapped. Changed.A rescue comes, but not soon enough.Maya’s senses sharpen, her body becomes strong and agile, and she develops the ability to visually see the emotions of those around her as colorful auras…beautiful auras…tempting auras.And then there’s the song…

Now, Maya must struggle to control the murderous appetite that fuels her new abilities, accept her altered condition and learn to trust two vigilante half-brothers she never knew she had. As she joins the battle against a secret network of powerful and destructive beings that call themselves “Angels”, Maya vows to find and destroy the one who changed her.

On the bright side, at least Maya’s oldest half-brother has stopped trying to kill her.

My Review: 

Falling: Girl With Broken Wings is a decent debut novel for author J Bennett.  The paranormal beings in this book are scientifically altered to become vampire-like creatures.  These beings do not drink blood though, they live off of energy, the best energy coming from humans.  When they feed, they kill their victim.  The extra human strength and powers that these beings have makes them believe they are better than human and they call themselves angels.  Brothers Tarren and Gabe are on a mission to kill off all angels and destroy the beings their scientist father (now dead) helped create.  When the brothers discover their missing half sister about to be turned by the leader of the angels, they stop the transformation process.  However, Maya will never be the same again.

There are both positives and negatives to Falling.  On the positive side, the world building is creative and brings a unique twist to the paranormal world.  Vampires that aren’t really vampires and angels that aren’t really angels give this story an intriguing paranormal element.  The story itself was well developed and the plot was structured well.  The three main characters, Maya, Tarren, and Gabe have a very interesting dynamic going on.  They each have their own issues and beliefs and they are constantly clashing with each other.  By the end of the story, I liked the characters more and I was curious about what would come next for Maya, Tarren, and Gabe.

I did have some issues with Fallen.  The angel terminology is a bit misleading, the paranormal beings are more vampire-esque than angelic.  Also, the language was a bit off-putting at times throughout the book.  There were times when I felt the author was trying too hard for the language to be beautiful and creative.  I was often more confused by the language than I should have been.  This happens a lot when Maya is contemplating her status as a monster, or dreaming of her past boyfriend.  The language did not always fit the story, and it got confusing.

Perhaps the biggest issue for me was the immaturity of the characters.  The characters are supposed to be college, they live on their own, and the boys travel around the US killing the “angels” al by themselves.  I guess I was expecting them to act more mature than they do.  They act like whiny teenagers a good deal of the time.  There is a lot of whining, angst, and immature attitudes all around.  The only character who had much right to act badly was Maya, because the girl almost died, she had her entire life taken away, and she thought she was a monster.  The girl deserved a break, and the brothers were too obtuse to figure that out.

Falling-Girl with Broken Wings is an inventive and intriguing story, a decent debut novel for J Bennett.  While there were some literary concerns with the language, I think that the writing will only improve with time and I would read the next installment in the series.  I would categorize this book in as more of a YA Paranormal/urban fantasy novel.  Readers who enjoy young adult paranormal books will most likely enjoy reading Falling-A Girl With Broken Wings.

If you are curious about this book, or Author J Bennett, be sure to stop by tomorrow, Monday Feb 20.  J Bennet will be at Book Savvy Babe with a guest post about the self-publishing process.

If this sounds like a book you would like to read, you can find (only $2.99) it at: