I received this book for free from ARC in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Lailah by Nikki Kelly Series: The Styclar Saga #1
Published by Feiwel & Friends on October 7th, 2014
Genres: Paranormal
Goodreads
Over one million Wattpad readers have made Lailah a sensation!
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 Allie – 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.
Come here my loves I have a glorious story for you and you mustn’t miss it!
You see I had the amazing chance to go on a journey and I must tell you all the wonderful, dark, twisted and all around AMAZING bits and pieces of said journey! Like most amazing journey’s this one started with a book. A book with a beautiful cover of hands ripping from the ground reaching up towards this innocent and fragile looking young woman. See…
But unlike most stories about books with stunning covers this one has something many others lack. An amazing and twisting story within.
Lailah starts with a girl in a bar. I know it sounds like a joke but… well it isn’t a joke. Anyway it doesn’t take long for us to realize that Cessie (names are forever changing when it comes to this book) isn’t your run of the mill barmaid. In fact in just the first 20 pages (or so) you’re informed that Cessie isn’t human (we do have a vague idea of what she is though) there is an injured vampire who needs her help, a bloodbath of a fight and an angel who’s been known to Cessie (somewhere in her subconscious) for well over 200 years. I don’t know what’s more amazing. The fact I can say all of this and NOT give any spoilers, or that all of this is somehow eloquently placed within just the first few chapters.
I think this was one of my favorite things about Lailah. The story was paced beautifully and somehow there were all these THINGS happening but it never was overwhelming or felt rushed or half assed. It made the story full and crazy and awesome and UGH! Gosh I LOVED IT!!! The story itself was something that I felt was unique (to a point) but not something so out there you knew you were reading a book versus exploring a new and exciting world. And somehow Nikki kept me in suspense! There wasn’t a single page that didn’t have me on the edge of my seat, gripping the book devouring sentence after sentence! I wanted to know all the things I needed to see the whole picture and every time I thought I knew what was coming Nikki would toss a brick wall in front of me and laugh maniacally. It was a glorious sight to say the least.
But now I’m sure you’re wondering why, if it was so fantastic, did I give Lailah 4.5 stars instead of a full on 5. Well children, all beautiful stories have hiccups. And mine was the MC, Cessie. I liked her I promise! But there was a point in the book where she gave this long speech about making her own decisions and not just blindly following Gabriel and his beautiful band of misfits. It was a wondrous speech that filled me with pride and hope for the MC of tomorrow but no sooner than the words left her lips than she crushed my hope. Only 2 pages later Gabriel (whom I shall never ship!) did something that annoyed Cessie and her reply was to go out and do something stupid.
If you aren’t going to let your life be controlled or guided by someone else mean that! Letting his actions/mistakes/stupidity cause you to run off into the night for revenge is the same as allowing him/them/whoever to control and lead your life. And it’s not like it happened one time. Everytime Gabriel or Jonah (Team Jonah FOREVER!) did something to upset her it was this “well I’m going to run off to this dark part of wherever where anything can get me” Nevermind the fact I’m being hunted down by ruthless and gross pureblood vampires”. This probably would not have bothered me as much if she hadn’t given that epic speech that I so foolishly believed.
Anyway, all in all I truly enjoyed the story. The plot was suspenseful and full of action, but never felt rushed and the characters were like the darkest most twisted yet beautiful rainbows EVER! So yes. Pre-order. NOW!
