Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens

Title: Heavenly
Author: Jennifer Laurens
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 280
My Rating: 4/5

Zoe's life is a mess. Her sister, Abria, has autism and never lets anyone in the family have some peace and quiet. Her brother, Luke, is an addict who is always high. With no attention from her loved ones, Zoe forgets all of her worries through drinking and partying.

But her life changes on one faithful day when she encounters Matthias. She first thinks he is a weirdo that might be after her baby sister. But then she discovers that he is an angelic guardian, sent to watch over Abria. It is hard to believe at first, but eventually she realizes that he is the real thing.

The more time Zoe spends with Matthias, the more she is drawn to him. It is not long before she falls head over heels for him. He is too perfect and wonderful for words. He is a heaven-sent gift. Except, they can never truly be together.

Written with great care, Laurens composed a bitter sweet story of forbidden love between a normal, troubled teen and a beautiful immortal.

Zoe is a strong girl but has feelings and problems that she is unable to face. Like most teenagers, she prefers the easy way out of things. People call her names because she parties and hooks up a lot. But if they get to know her, she is not just a pretty face. She is quite admirable and does a lot of growing up as she learns from her mistakes along with Matthias's guidance throughout the book.

I have to admit, I am getting tired of "the perfect male". But somehow, Matthias pulls it off without it being cliche. He once was a human and had flaws. And because of those flaws, he took from experience to be who he is now. If he existed, many girls, including myself, would be flocking him non-stop. Both him and Zoe have such great presence in the novel. And I love how he talks. It's just so cute when he uses old slang. (By the way, don't you love his name? It has such elegance to it.)

Heavenly is very well put-together. It has great consistency and realistic characters that the reader can relate to. It touches sad topics, like autism and drug addiction. This book can definitely help someone out there, I can tell.

So why is it not a 5/5 for me? I think it lacks the great build-up to the climax. I am disappointed that the turning point of the story did not last as long as I hoped for. Therefore it made the whole novel itself a little too normal, despite Matthias's existence. I am all about the action. With a non-human character, I expected more excitement and danger. Especially since there is the forbidden factor thrown in. The ending however is a surprising twist. I thought it wrapped up very nicely until I realized there was a sequel. Now I am most curious and can not wait to know what could possibly happen next. I hope that it will be even better with some great thrills.

Heavenly will definitely be a read for the total romantics. And I know I shouldn't compare, but this book is everything Twilight ever lacks. So if you are an Anti-Twilighter, wondering what Twilight would be like edited as a completely new story with actual explanations on the impossible, Heavenly is it. But it will also appeal a lot of Twilight fans too.

Go get yourself a copy of this inspirational story when it comes out on August 15, 2009.

Review ARC copy provided by Jennifer Laurens.