The first thing you should know about this book is that it isn't your typical teenage paranormal romance. It takes place in Prague, so, so the characters' names and the places they visit are way different than here in America. The beginning started out pretty slow, but once Akiva showed up, it got a little bit more interesting. I've read plenty of paranormal teen romance books (although not too many about Angels), and this book was similar to those stories but also completely different. This book was a lot more gory and dark and didn't have that "and they lived happily ever after" ending. I was extremely confused (and bored) throughout most of this book, but the ending filled in a lot of those gaps. Anyways, I saw this book recommended in a magazine, and after reading mostly good reviews online, I decided to read it, although I wasn't sure if I would even like it. Overall, I wish I wouldn't have wasted my time reading this book, or at least just stopped reading it 50 pages in, when I already knew that I didn't like it very much. You might like this book if you like darker paranormal stories, but personally, I would not recommend this.

I have to preface this with a statement of my general dislike of romance novels and that I am adult reader. I don't care for the "love at first site" paradigm. I really don't care for it in principal in a book for young adults. In my opinion, there's enough unrealistic expectations of romance in many supernatural fantasy adult and YA books out there (sparkly what??). Yes, a mythical romance, filled with tragic overtones, is one of the themes at the core of this book. But the rest of it is powerful enough, and the writing lyrical and charming. This isn't the romance and heroine of sparkly vampires; it's the stuff of old mythology, where tragedy really was tragedy, and where things didn't come out in the least ok. We don't get "and they lived happily ever after." Taylor's writing invoked the feeling of reading folktales when I was a child. The scenes are lush, her characters do ring true, and aren't in the least perfect. I liked the pacing of the book and the way that the heart of the story (including the necessary flashbacks...and move forward) is told. The alternate universe she builds is suitably complicated, and is different than anything else I have encountered. All of these things make the book memorable. Hopefully, the next in the series won't be that far off.