Release Date: April 01, 2011
Published by: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 384, paperback
Young Adult
Source: Netgalley
Overall: 4- Fabulous!
|Author Website|
Two years ago I did a terrible thing. I accused my best friend of being a killer after seeing him kneeling over a girl's body. That moment and that outcast boy still haunt me.Now my mom is forcing me back to Oklahoma and I can't get White Bird out of my mind. But when I find out he's not in juvie—that he's in a mental hospital, locked in his tormented brain at the worst moment of his life—I can't turn my back on him again.
No one wants me to see him. My mom doesn't trust me. The town sheriff still thinks I was involved in the murder. And the other kids who knew the dead girl are after me.
I'm as trapped as White Bird. And when I touch him, I get sucked into his living hell, a vision quest of horrifying demons and illusions of that night. Everything about him scares me now, but I have to do something. This time I can't be a coward. This time I have to be his friend.
Even if I get lost, as well…
My Thoughts:
In the Arms of Stone Angels was a surprising breath of fresh air. This was one book I did not read the synopsis for, so it was a complete surprise what the book held and I'm glad I went that route because hidden in the pages of this book was a story of coming of age, murder, mystery, love and spiritual belief was a brilliant writing style that drew me in while painting the world around me.
This book was more than a murder mystery of a town stuck in its own ways and about the loss of life. The prejudice and hate toward White Bird, other wise known as Issac Henry, one of our main characters, was so thick and disheartening it really took the book to a whole other level.
The other main character, the one we followed most, Brenna Nash, was a pretty simplistic main character who was portrayed as complex and out of control teen. Brenna was those things but she was something more then that, she was haunted by her past. She was the reason the one person she trusted and loved most, White Bird, was partly in the situation he was. The weight of her actions and his possible betrayal was enough to tip the scales with her already hectic and strained, gifted life. Brenna's issues didn't come solely from herself but from the hate of others that followed her around, those who thought she was as guilty as White Bird.
Told in first person narration by Brenna and varying points of third-person mixed through out, I found this slightly confusing with little to no transition, but it did bring together all sides of the story so we could see past the eyes of the emotionally strained and determined Brenna. The storyline followed a pretty straight forward path to solving the mystery and closing the case of the murdered teenage girl, proving White Bird's innocence (or possible guilt), and the connection between Brenna and White Bird.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was different (read: different in a positive light). There were no vampires or werewolves and it wasn't a fluffy romance between the beauty and the geek. There were deeper driving points that drove this story from start to finish. Vivid, emotional, and real. If Jordan Dane meant for me to get angry, frustrated, and slightly over whelmed she accomplished just that. I couldn't put it down. I had to know the outcome, I felt like I had to prove the innocence of someone I wasn't even so sure was innocent.
Believe me when I tell you there is more to this book, but at the fear of spoiling the journey of Brenna and White Bird I figured I'd leave out some of the smaller, yet equally as important details, so you can solve the mystery yourself.
What a great review!! The book seems "wild" and has sparked my attention.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the book but I think yours is the first review of it that I've read. This one does sound like a refreshingly different title and I just might hunt tit down.
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