Review: Angelfire (Angelfire #1)

Title: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
Published: February 15,  2011 by Harper Collins / Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Library


When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Review
What a debut!  This is the best book I have read so far this year.  It has romance, action, angels and reapers (sort of demons.)   Ellie is our kick-ass heroine.  Initially it takes her a while to believe what Will tells her, but I admire her make-lemonade-with-lemons attitude, even when she is scared witless.  I found infuriating that Ellie can't remember what she is, why she is that way, and most of her past.  I mean, how can anyone forget Will.  Another thing is that she is constantly trying to balance her school, and social life from what is really important (saving the world, duh!)  Since she can't remember what she did before, I honestly don't know why this 'awakening' can't happen when she is 18 and has more freedom and is out of high school.
Ah, Will (*sigh*) I love Will and I really understand and appreciate his pain, his struggle, his impossible love and his complete devotion to his beliefs, and to the cause .  All I can hope for is that Ms. Moulton is not cruel enough to make their love truly impossible.  I have my suspicions about Ellie's dad, but will see soon.
I can say that I didn't see this ending coming and that is is a bit of a cliffhanger.  I will eagerly (and not too patiently) await for 'Wings of the Wicked', sadly due next year.
About the cover:  I like the cover, although I am not in love with it.  There is something off-putting by the girl in the cover, but I can see Ellie's spirit of awesomeness too.  For a trully amazing art check Ms. Moulton's website  (see sample below :)