Falling From Grace by S.L. Naeole

Falling From Grace (Grace, #1)When you wake up in the morning and your eyes take in the first hints of light that shine through your window, the dust motes catching and reflecting the sun’s rays like little diamonds, the shimmering hues of yellow and orangey gold breaking through into your room, the first thing you think about usually isn’t how you’re going to make it through the worst day of your life.

Unfortunately for Grace Shelley, that’s exactly what she’s facing as she ponders what to do now that she’s going to be starting out her last year in high school without her best friend. She’s not exactly the most popular girl in school - well, not the most popular girl in school to like, anyway - and everything seems to be hinting at another status quo year for her until she bumps into a stranger who leaves her stumbling for words and chasing after her heart.

The new guy in school is different. Robert doesn’t care about the rumors he’s heard about her or that no one else seems to see her the same way that he does; he only wants to be her friend. That’s when things get complicated. When Grace learns that he’s not your typical high school boy and that he’s actually a wingless angel who’s looking for someone to trust, she’s thrust into his world where not all angels are meant to protect human beings, and where the changes she brings into his life changes everything in hers.
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Pink highlighting are spoilers, just highlight over them to see them                    
                        Rating:  3 of 5 stars
                        Series book: Yes
                        Will I read the Next: Maybe
That book was too damn long. Honestly, the almost 500 pages came close to killing me. Being a paranormal romance, you would think there would be a focus on the paranormal and the romantic. But no. Those didn't become the focus until halfway through the book. I'm not saying it was an awful book, but it wasn't amazing either. Like Grace described herself over and over, it was average.
The writing was, in a word, boring. Too wordy, too detailed, too much in general. The whole damn book was like a giant metaphor. It's okay to have detail, but not so much that it becomes tiresome and makes the book far too long. And Grace is supposed to be 18. She talks like a bleeping 53 year old man who doesn't have any social life because all he needs is his cat and his divorce settlement. Does that sound like a main character you wanna read about? No? Didn't think so.
So it definitely was not well paced. It was slow. Way, way too slow. The climax wasn't worth the time and effort it took to get there. There was very little excitement, and other that the climax the only exciting thing was when the final showdown between Erica and Grace happened. And that was just them reading off scripts they made for eachother. And after the climax, nothing changed. There was no reason to keep reading. There was no cliff hanger at the end. I honestly cannot see where these books are going to go. 
So the majority of the guy characters were jerks in the beginning. Grace's best friend rejects her, and her dad tells her she deserves it. Well thanks dad. Way to boost the already pathetically low self-esteem. And Grace was absolutely awful. You wanna be able to connect to the main character. I'm sorry but Grace was just too self-conscious for me to connect to in any way. She was all "I don't deserve to be happy. I'm such a freak. I don't deserve your love. I'm so selfish" all the time. That is just to much. Her character arch was so small. She started to accept herself more towards the end, but still thinks she doesn't deserve Roberts love. I wanted to smack her. And if I were a fictional character or she was real, I would.
For the first half of the book the most romantic thing that happened was Robert kissing Grace on the forehead. And that's more brother material than boyfriend material. Grace refused tro admit to her feeling until halfway through the book and then Robert wouldn't admit his feelings until the end. But when the romance started, it was intense. Not rated R intense, but still intense. I just wish it had happened sooner. 
SUMMARY OF REVIEW(In case you don't actually feel like reading the review):
Writing:  3 out of 5
Plot: 3 out of 5
characters: 3 out of 5  
Romance: 3.5 out of 5
Overall: 3 out of 5

PG-13 Gruesome violence and kissing. 

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