Scan barcode
lexee9's review
4.0
I enjoyed reading this story! It's an interesting world that Anna Santos has created here. It's different than anything I've read before. Aria is very excited to go to Paris but things go very differently than planned once she gets there. She is rejected by her vampire soul-mate and then has to escape afterwards. She is then rescued by Cedric, prince of the gargoyles and angels. They both get a second chance as Cedric and Aria become soul-mates because she was rejected. Aria had no idea about the paranormal world before all this went down so she has a hard time accepting everything. Especially the way that she was introduced. There are a lot of obstacles that Cedric and Aria have in trying to get to know each other and fall in love within their time frame. Things are complicated again, when Aria's first soul-mate decides he made a mistake. There is a lot going on in this story and the book is longer because of it. Things get fleshed out enough for you to have some guesses and to intrigue you into wanting to figure out the rest. Things book doesn't end on a cliff hanger but things are not fully resolved. There is a lot of kissing and some foreplay but no sex in this story. There is some action in this story but a lot more intrigue and twists and turns. I was drawn in and can't wait to see how Cedric and Aria's story ends up.
bookwormbunny's review
4.0
Captive by Anna Santos is her second book in The Angels of Paris Chronicles. In this book we are introduced to a new character, Aria, and some familiar characters from the previous book. Aria has just turned 18 and is going to Paris for a few weeks as a birthday gift from her parents. She'll be heading off to college and she has wanted to experience Paris all along. She wants to be a scientist but her parents are both musicians and hope that she will change her mind and follow in their footsteps. While in Paris and staying with her aunt and uncle, she attends a party with her cousin. She really didn't want to go but they insisted she go with her cousin. What Aria doesn't expect is to encounter a beautiful vampire and her reaction to him. She becomes fearful when he enthralls her and then says some pretty bizarre stuff to her. She's hurt and when he turns her over to his men, their intentions are less than pure. In her fear of them she jumps off the boat into the river, heartbroken and scared. She's rescued by the gargoyles and claimed. Now the time is ticking for all of them. Aria must now decide if she will give her heart totally to Cedric, who rescued her and claimed her or allow the vampire who nearly killed her back in.
I absolutely loved the first book, Save Me, and when I saw how this book followed the same form I was beyond thrilled. This book jumps between Cedric, Aria and Philippe. We read the story from each of their perspectives. I like that Aria is a bookworm and focused on her studies rather than boys. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders but then I find it annoying when she wants to over analyze situations and be so doubtful. I'm so happy that this story focuses on Cedric and how he is able to find his soul-mate. It's beautiful. I love that he is giving his all, but that he still has his flaws. The story flows really well between the characters and I like that there were no dull moments in this entire story.
The only things that I honestly didn't like was how Aria is fighting things between her and Cedric. She knows what he means to her and that he was the one who rescued and accepted her but yet she is allowing herself to be swayed by Philippe when he shows up. She is a naïve girl, because she's not worldly, but one would think that even common sense would step in at certain moments and guide in her making smarter choices. Philippe is supposed to be a centuries old vampire but even he acts like an immature teenager half the time. He's supposed to be smart and in control of the Paris region but he doesn't always act like he's really thinking things through. Some of the situations are obvious and it seems a bit ridiculous that the characters proceed into it so blindly. I just honestly got tired of the back and forth of Aria entertaining Philippe.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It has a good pace and kept me engaged while reading it. The ending leaves me wanting more and to know what happens with Aria, Cedric and the others. I'm curious to see what Philippe will do since it appears that he just might have a conscious but I guess I'll have to wait and read what happens next.
Definitely a book worth picking up and reading. Looking forward to the next book for sure. So, if you enjoyed Save Me then I recommend moving forward and picking up this book as well. I'm rating it 4 out of 5 stars.
I absolutely loved the first book, Save Me, and when I saw how this book followed the same form I was beyond thrilled. This book jumps between Cedric, Aria and Philippe. We read the story from each of their perspectives. I like that Aria is a bookworm and focused on her studies rather than boys. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders but then I find it annoying when she wants to over analyze situations and be so doubtful. I'm so happy that this story focuses on Cedric and how he is able to find his soul-mate. It's beautiful. I love that he is giving his all, but that he still has his flaws. The story flows really well between the characters and I like that there were no dull moments in this entire story.
The only things that I honestly didn't like was how Aria is fighting things between her and Cedric. She knows what he means to her and that he was the one who rescued and accepted her but yet she is allowing herself to be swayed by Philippe when he shows up. She is a naïve girl, because she's not worldly, but one would think that even common sense would step in at certain moments and guide in her making smarter choices. Philippe is supposed to be a centuries old vampire but even he acts like an immature teenager half the time. He's supposed to be smart and in control of the Paris region but he doesn't always act like he's really thinking things through. Some of the situations are obvious and it seems a bit ridiculous that the characters proceed into it so blindly. I just honestly got tired of the back and forth of Aria entertaining Philippe.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It has a good pace and kept me engaged while reading it. The ending leaves me wanting more and to know what happens with Aria, Cedric and the others. I'm curious to see what Philippe will do since it appears that he just might have a conscious but I guess I'll have to wait and read what happens next.
Definitely a book worth picking up and reading. Looking forward to the next book for sure. So, if you enjoyed Save Me then I recommend moving forward and picking up this book as well. I'm rating it 4 out of 5 stars.
slc333's review
1.0
Ok I am calling a halt at 20% because I can already tell this is not for me. Normally I wouldn’t rate a book unless I had read at least half but this was so bad. So, so bad with creepy stalker ‘love’.
Heroine is a super sweet, innocent and naive 18yr old which is kind of an annoying type but I could have got past that. What I can’t get past is the 2 completely horrid guys sides of our forthcoming love triangle. On one side we have creepy, cruel vampire guy who uses women for food & sex then wipes their minds who compels his soulmate (our heroine) to follow him so he can viciously reject her thus breaking the bond before passing her off to his creepy minions to be gotten rid of. Sure he didn’t actually mean for them to (attempt to) rape her before disposing of her but that is what he and his kind basically do every evening so he can hardly claim surprise at the attempt. Now this should be enough knock him out of the running completely but then we wouldn’t get the threatened love triangle from the blurb so I presume they will still be drawn to one another. Then we have guy number 2. He saves her from drowning, so he should be the good guy right? Well you would think so except that he saves her and flies her off to his lair where he plans to keep her for 31 days so he can make her love him. Because abduction and imprisonment are soo sexy (yes that was sarcasm in case you were wondering). Sure I get that he needs her to fall in love with him to break his curse so he wont be turned to stone. But while I understand wanting to woo her the way he goes about it is DEEPLY disturbing. He is super stalker creepy with the whole ‘Hello girl I have never met before. I am Cedric, the angels chose you as my mate so now we are married and you will love me. So creepy. Ugg, unless the heroine plans to reject both of them and lead a human rebellion to wreak bloody havoc on both vampires & gargoyles I am not interested in reading further. Then I decide to skim a bit further (I just can’t seem to help myself – it’s a sickness I know) and love interest no 2 - creepy stalker (as opposed to love interest no 1 - creepy abuser) thinks that this is an ok statement to make at their first meeting “I think you are more than suitable to bear my baby. You please me alot.”And do you know what our stupid heroine does in response to that delightful statement- is it kick him the junk? No. Is it run screaming? No. Does she smile placatingly at the crazy man while backing away slowly. No. She fucking giggles. That’s right, she giggles and asks him to take her site-seeing. I'm out.
Heroine is a super sweet, innocent and naive 18yr old which is kind of an annoying type but I could have got past that. What I can’t get past is the 2 completely horrid guys sides of our forthcoming love triangle. On one side we have creepy, cruel vampire guy who uses women for food & sex then wipes their minds who compels his soulmate (our heroine) to follow him so he can viciously reject her thus breaking the bond before passing her off to his creepy minions to be gotten rid of. Sure he didn’t actually mean for them to (attempt to) rape her before disposing of her but that is what he and his kind basically do every evening so he can hardly claim surprise at the attempt. Now this should be enough knock him out of the running completely but then we wouldn’t get the threatened love triangle from the blurb so I presume they will still be drawn to one another. Then we have guy number 2. He saves her from drowning, so he should be the good guy right? Well you would think so except that he saves her and flies her off to his lair where he plans to keep her for 31 days so he can make her love him. Because abduction and imprisonment are soo sexy (yes that was sarcasm in case you were wondering). Sure I get that he needs her to fall in love with him to break his curse so he wont be turned to stone. But while I understand wanting to woo her the way he goes about it is DEEPLY disturbing. He is super stalker creepy with the whole ‘Hello girl I have never met before. I am Cedric, the angels chose you as my mate so now we are married and you will love me. So creepy. Ugg, unless the heroine plans to reject both of them and lead a human rebellion to wreak bloody havoc on both vampires & gargoyles I am not interested in reading further. Then I decide to skim a bit further (I just can’t seem to help myself – it’s a sickness I know) and love interest no 2 - creepy stalker (as opposed to love interest no 1 - creepy abuser) thinks that this is an ok statement to make at their first meeting “I think you are more than suitable to bear my baby. You please me alot.”And do you know what our stupid heroine does in response to that delightful statement- is it kick him the junk? No. Is it run screaming? No. Does she smile placatingly at the crazy man while backing away slowly. No. She fucking giggles. That’s right, she giggles and asks him to take her site-seeing. I'm out.
More...