Review: Halflings by Heather Burch (Halflings #1)

Title: Halflings by Heather Burch

Published: February 1st 2012 by Zondervan Publishing

Source: Received ARC for review.  Thank you to NetGalley and Zondervan!

Grade rate: B

After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret—and the wings that come with.

A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in a scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.

My Review

I was so excited when I received approval to review Halflings, as I had already selected it for my “Waiting on Wednesday” post a while back.  I am glad to tell you that I was not disappointed.

Nikki is a great character, but a bit of a contradiction to me.  She has a strong personality, very independent and proud to be her own self and doesn’t pay too much attention to fashion or boys for that matter. Did I mention she is a black belt in karate AND rides a motorcycle?  The contradictions are in that most of the times she is content to be a damsel in distress, which seems very unlike her, and also the way she was so accepting of supernatural things happening around her.  Also, Nikki is a bit insecure around the “boys”.

The halflings: Mace, Raven, and Vine are all supernaturally gorgeous and assigned to take care of Nikki.  All three of them have very distinct personalities, but I love Mace the most (I don’t always go for the bad boy, Raven!) I did not enjoy the love triangle very much, especially since the halfllings perceive themselves as “brothers” and it just didn’t seem right.  Nikki’s parents don’t appear too much in the book, except for phone calls and the appearance of Damon Vessler.  By the way I didn’t trust Damon from the beginning and he seems to have weird influence over Nikki.  I liked Will and the other halflings as well, even though their purpose and their lot in life is so sad.

I found the plot to be very original, and I really enjoy this take on the angel lore.  The book is presented in first person, but from different points of views (Nikki, Vine, Raven, and Mace’s) which I like a lot as it let us know what is going on all the time.  I wish we would know more about the halflings (are there any loopholes?)  Why is Nikki being targeted?  What is going on with Omega Lab?  What is going on with Mr. Robinson?  What is going on?!  I am sure we will get a lot for insight in the sequel, Guardian, to be published in September.

Tip:  There is a prequel 11:15: The Making of a Halfling, currently free in Amazon in eBook format

About the cover:  Pretty gorgeous, right?  The wishful looking girl in the cover and the angel wings in the background hovering over her, very fitting.