By Keary Taylor
"Jessica's had the nightmares for as long as she can remember. Nightmares of being judged for people who have died, of being branded by the angels. Her friends and family think she's a crazy because of it all. Yet she carries the mark of the condemned, seared into the back of her neck, and hides it and herself away from the world.
But when two men she can't ignore enter her life everything changes, including the nightmares. The two of them couldn't be more different. She will do anything to be with one of them. Even tell him the truth about angels, why she never sleeps, and the scar on the back of her neck. But one of the two has set events into motion what will pull her toward her own judgment and turn her into the object of her greatest fear." This book starts out slow... and never really speeds up. Everything happens at a very leisurely pace, despite the dark subject matter within the story. However, the pace didn't really bother me. Taylor created a very mesmerising character in Jessica, who is very self-contained, but extremely strong and enduring and good. The role and motivation of Cole were elements I never fully grasped. Every story must have a villain, though, and Cole made a very sinister one. Alex on the other hand was a little too good to be true, a real knight in shining armor. The coupling of Alex and Jessica was just a little too idyllic, too perfect. Even the lack of your typical romance plot, in which the heroine and hero are tricked into a miscommunication that ultimately leads to either grave results or the final unveiling of the antagonist, was missing. Still, I like the story and it being devoid of common cliches made it surprising.
