Title: Immortal City
Author: Scott Speer
Edition: ARC paperbackSeries: Immortal City #1Released Date: April 3rd, 2012Publisher: Razorbill
Goodreads / Amazon
Jackson Godspeed is the hottest young Angel in a city filled with them.
He's days away from becoming a full Guardian, and people around the world are already competing for the chance to be watched over by him. Everyone's obsessed with the Angels and the lucky people they protect - everyone except for Madison Montgomery.
Maddy's the one girl in Angel City who doesn't breathlessly follow the Angels on TV and gossip blogs. When she meets Jackson, she doesn't recognize him. But Jackson is instantly captivated by her, and against all odds the two fall in love.
Maddy is swiftly caught up in Jackson's scene, a world of glamour, paparazzi - and murder. A serial killer is on the loose, leaving dead Angels' wings for the police to find on the Walk of Fame. Even the Guardians are powerless to protect themselves in the face of this threat & and this time it's up to Maddy to save Jackson.
I really didn't think I would like this very much, to be honest. I actually didn't think I would like this one ounce, but I was pleasantly surprised! I thought this was going to be something where the characters were prissy and thought they were top notch. I mean, some of the characters were like that, but they actually gave some comic relief to some of the other serious parts in the second part of the novel. To be honest, this novel got AWESOME in the second half. The characters were growing, there were twists and turns after every page, and there were new revelations that had you gasping!
The characters in this annoyed me in the beginning. Like a lot. Jackson is a prick, but he's a celebrity so it's understandable. I really loved how much he grew in this novel and came to terms with himself. Maddy also grew out of her shell, as she used to be isolated and wanted to stay as far away from angels as possible. Towards the end, she became more comfortable with the idea of angels, and it wasn't just because she was falling in love with one - she had other reasons for it!
If you don't like pop culture references, then I wouldn't really recommend this book. If you hate the celebrity life, I wouldn't read this unless you really liked angels and wanted to read every young adult angel book out there. This book is filled with so many products, new designers and crazy things like that. In the beginning, every few pages makes a reference to some sort of celebrity angel blog, new types of clothing, or the latest in the angel life.
Personally, I liked the cover that I got with my ARC compared to this new cover. The shinyness and the bare-chested angel was really enticing! That original cover did mislead me though - I thought this was going to be a really intense romance and deep scenes type of book. Instead this was a bit more childish (not in a bad way!), and it didn't have the intensity I thought it would. After reading this, I now think that the new cover fits the book better.
I was just looking through a Seventeen magazine and saw a picture of Ashley Tisdale with a dude name Scott Speer, so I was like: "WAIT. I READ HIS BOOK." Of course I had to go do research, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the author is a producer and a director at such a young age! After learning that about him, it made me kind of appreciate this novel even more!
I wouldn't say that this is a favorite novel, no matter how much I'm gushing about it. The reason I'm only giving it a four stars is because of how it was in the beginning of the novel. There was too much stuff about the celebrities and I wanted to learn more about Maddy and her lifestyle.
