Halflings by Heather Burch

Title: Halflings
Author: Heather Burch
Release Date: February 1st, 2012
Publisher: Zondervan
Pages: 288
Format: Electronic Copy
Acquired: ARC; Netgalley
Interest: Series
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 4 Stars

Seventeen-year-old Nikki must entrust her life to three half human, half angel young men; the Halflings are sworn to protect her at all costs, but when two fall for Nikki, it puts more than their lives in danger; their very eternal souls hang in the balance.

All I have to say is that when I first opened this book up, I was not expecting the beautiful writing that practically danced off the pages. I don't know how Burch did it, but the story took a life of it's own very quickly and had been gripped by the first pages.

In Burch's debut novel, she brings to life a fun and witty character, Nikki, along side Raven, Mace, and Vine, as the sexy supernatural beings that come to Nikki.

I don't have much to say about this book, but I did like how Burch was able not only to present some strong characters, but also she was able to give the fallen angel's some weaknesses of their own (which don't include falling in love with human girls), so that wide range of variety in the story really brought me in.

Some aspects of the story that I had issues with dealt with the language used and a lot of the back story. Character's like Will, whenever they spoke it was like everything was going right over my head and I would miss a lot. And, something else that just didn't fit with me had to do with the way that the supernatural beings were borderline cliche at some points. I don't understand the appeal to a dark and dangerous being that is extremely sexy on top of that. I guess it has more to do with the latter, which gives the former a reason to be overlooked.

Either way, some character flaws I noticed, but they were so minor a reader would have to pay a lot of attention in order to catch. I can't say that I have a favorite character that isn't the heroine, because Burch introduces a large ensemble that brings to life these otherworldly creatures.

A must read of 2012. Worth the buy? That's up to the reader and how much they love angels to decide.

What I can say is that of all the angel books that I have read, besides the writing style, there didn't seem to be a huge different between this novel and that of other books similar to it. But Burch is getting a good start.