A review by asunnyreadingcorner
Temper the Flame by Jade Church
3.0
This book left me primarily confused. I didn't dislike it- but it was a strange read. The book has a lot of potential but just missed the mark on a few things for me.
This book is about Ivy, who has her life upended when some fallen angels pop into it and pretty much tell her that she has to go with them or she's going to die. It's a new adult urban fantasy.
I did enjoy the book, and there are some specific things I can point to that I think were well done. The premise was fun- I love fallen angels as much as the next girl. I also enjoyed getting both the guy and the girl's perspectives.
There was a lot about this book that had me massively confused, though. The pacing was wild. I love a fast-paced book, and I love stand-alone books; I rarely have the patience for anything else- this was too fast and tried to cram too much into one book even for me. This book went at a breakneck speed opting for telling rather than showing in a rush to get through the plot. There were plot points that felt utterly abandoned by the end of the book. (Mostly the curse and whatever happened with Gabe.) The book had a climax at about halfway through, and then for the second half of the book, jumped and went down a completely different path and felt like a different book. I think it might have made more sense to turn this into a duology and flesh out each of those storylines a bit more.
The romance in this book suffers from a severe case of insta-lust. I'm happy to say that despite that I still liked both of their characters, I just wish that their relationship had played out a little differently. The blurb makes it feel like there will be a love triangle, but if that isn't your thing, I wouldn't let that stop you from reading this because I didn't feel that actually pull through for a majority of the book.
While I had many criticisms for the book and spent a good chunk of time confused about what I just read, I did finish the book in one sitting and really enjoyed it. I probably won't be rereading this; it had so much potential; it just needed some work to be the right fit for me. I hope that the author keeps writing because I think I would absolutely love their work with some tweaking.
This book is about Ivy, who has her life upended when some fallen angels pop into it and pretty much tell her that she has to go with them or she's going to die. It's a new adult urban fantasy.
I did enjoy the book, and there are some specific things I can point to that I think were well done. The premise was fun- I love fallen angels as much as the next girl. I also enjoyed getting both the guy and the girl's perspectives.
There was a lot about this book that had me massively confused, though. The pacing was wild. I love a fast-paced book, and I love stand-alone books; I rarely have the patience for anything else- this was too fast and tried to cram too much into one book even for me. This book went at a breakneck speed opting for telling rather than showing in a rush to get through the plot. There were plot points that felt utterly abandoned by the end of the book. (Mostly the curse and whatever happened with Gabe.) The book had a climax at about halfway through, and then for the second half of the book, jumped and went down a completely different path and felt like a different book. I think it might have made more sense to turn this into a duology and flesh out each of those storylines a bit more.
The romance in this book suffers from a severe case of insta-lust. I'm happy to say that despite that I still liked both of their characters, I just wish that their relationship had played out a little differently. The blurb makes it feel like there will be a love triangle, but if that isn't your thing, I wouldn't let that stop you from reading this because I didn't feel that actually pull through for a majority of the book.
While I had many criticisms for the book and spent a good chunk of time confused about what I just read, I did finish the book in one sitting and really enjoyed it. I probably won't be rereading this; it had so much potential; it just needed some work to be the right fit for me. I hope that the author keeps writing because I think I would absolutely love their work with some tweaking.