Angelbound

Angelbound Origins, Book 1

By: Christina Bauer

Narrated by: Christina Bauer

Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Eighteen-year-old Myla Lewis is a girl who loves two things: kicking ass and kicking ass. She's not your everyday quasi-demon, half-demon, and half-human, girl. For the past five years, Myla has lived for the days she gets to fight in Purgatory's arena. When souls want a trial by combat for their right to enter heaven or hell, they go up against her, and she has not lost a battle yet.

But as she starts her senior year at Purgatory High, the arena fights are not enough to keep her spirits up anymore. When the demons start to act weird, even for demons, and the King of the Demons, Armageddon, shows up at Myla's school, she knows that things are changing and it is not looking good for the quasi-demons. Myla starts to question everything, and does not like the answers she finds. What happened 17 years ago that turned the quasi-demons into slave labor? Why was her mom always so sad? And why won't anyone tell her who her father is?

Things heat up when Myla meets Lincoln, the High Prince of the Thrax, a super sexy half-human and half-angel demon hunter. But what does a quasi-demon girl to do when she falls for a demon hunter? It's a good thing that Myla is not afraid of breaking a few rules. With a love worth fighting for, Myla is going to shake up Purgatory.

©2014 Monster House Books LLC (P)2016 Monster House Books LLC

I'm conflicted!

Ok, so this has been on my TBR list since it first came out and seeing all the positive reviews, I was eager to start. I think I nearly DNF this multiple times but as it was for a blog tour I kept going. I'm going to list my likes and dislikes for this review as I'm still conflicted on my thoughts.

What I liked:

The world: The world the author created was awesome. I loved reading about the demons, angels and quasi demons etc. It was intriguing and interesting and it was the only real reason this got 2 stars!

I kind of liked Myla. She was a competent fighter and was often called to the arena to fight souls. She was kick ass enough that it felt real, and had a fairly sassy attitude.

I sorta liked the overall story. (I'll explain in the negatives why)

What I didn't like.

Too. Much. Useless. Information!!! Oh god, this book could have been so much better had half the useless information been left out. The plot was interesting, it's just there was too much unnecessary things put in. This could have been a fast paced read, but by half way through not much had happened and I so wanted to put it down. It was extremely slow going and really disappointing.

The characters: Some of the characters really got on my nerves. I really didn't like her best friend Cissy. I mean, she stops talking to Myla for days just cause Myla has a thing for Lincoln. Cissy got jealous and acted like a complete b%&ch!!

I didn't like the love story. I don't like when a thing goes from an "I hate him, while secretly can't stop thinking about him" thing, to a "god I love you" thing,, in the space of a few days. It felt forced and not real.

What was a big factor in me not liking the overall story was the narrator. Now the author did OK reading it BUT her voices were so bad for Cissy and Zeke that it ruined the book. I can't even describe what kind of voice she used for Zeke, it was horrible and as for Cissy! She made her sound like an extra from Mean Girls, all nasally and like one of those girls who are like "What evs.... or..... Oh my gawwwwd." You know the type, right!! It got incredibly irritating very fast! Plus the narrator sometimes mixed up the voices or lost them completely. Example, once Cissy was talking to Myla and all of a sudden she started the nasally tone, as if the narrator realised she should have been talking like that all along. Some of her tones and cadences for other characters were hard to listen to to. I really don't think I would listen to book 2 if it was read by the author again.

In all, while this could have been such a great read, I found it equal parts intriguing as it was boring and annoying. It has some great reviews so remember, this is only my thoughts and I know a lot of people may enjoy it, I just didn't connect with it and won't be continuing on with the series.

I was voluntarily provided this free copy by the author, narrator, or publisher. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

A Fun book

Myla Lewis is pretty much your typical 18 year old girl except she fights Souls for the chance to go to Heaven or hell. Myla is a Quasi Demon she is 1/2 human and 1/2 demon. She lives in Purgatory. Her job is to go to school and fight the souls who ask for a trial for combat for their right to enter Heaven or Hell. Myla has never lost a battle yet.

Things start to get strange in Myla's life. She is invited to a Ball and meets Lincoln. She doesn't like him at all on their first meeting or does she. She can't stop thinking about kissing and touching him. Lincoln is a High Priest of the Thrax. He is half Human half Angel. Things heat up and he they fall for each other. Their love is pretty much forbidden, an Angel and a Demon are not supposed to be together. Myla isn't much on rules though.

All the demons around her start acting weird. She also wants to know who her father is, why her mom is sad and a whole lot more. In her dreams she starts seeing her mother's past. Mom was a powerful woman she used to be a Senator. Myla wants to know why she is now a weepy sad woman and so much more.

This was a pretty good book. There were a few F-bombs but not a whole lot of strong language and no sex just a few kisses. The book had some humor in it. I liked Myla's attitude. It is the typical teenaged snarky attitude. All in all it was a pretty good book.

I did listen to the audio book. The book was narrated by the author Christina Bauer. She done a great job with the different voices. She done real well of relaying the emotion of the story, you could hear all the emotions in her voice.

AMAZEBALLS I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVED IT FROM BEGINNING TO THE END, IT'S LIKE POTATO CHIPS YOU CANT JUST EAT 1....

A Good Narrator Makes the Difference

Would you try another book from Christina Bauer and/or Christina Bauer?

Maybe....if she will hire a different narrator. The narrator for this book ruined it for me. The voices were horrible.

What was most disappointing about Christina Bauer’s story?

The narration and voices were very disappointing, if not overly irritating.

How could the performance have been better?

Hire a good narrator.

die valley girl die

so I can put up with a lot of bad readers because of book is good but let me tell you what I can not put up with I cannot put up with Valley Girl accents I don't care if the Storyteller does a little bit of a different voice each time but every single time she reads from the same main character and her friend it's a different voice and sometimes she just oozes on the valley girl accent and they sound like retards and it makes me so frustrated I hate the way the boys sound cuz I just sound like Valley girls talking to the voice it's the worst

Teriffic Book

Would you listen to Angelbound again? Why?

Well Written and tremendous narration the author does both.

Have you listened to any of Christina Bauer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no this was the first but it was terrific. her personality comes thru and she does a great job.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

continue writing

Okay plot but awful narration

I'm kind of fifty fifty about this book. I liked the world the author built, with the various demons, angels, and other creatures. I liked when Myla fought and that she wasn't shy about saying how she felt. She could be irritating at times and didn't want any responsibility, but she's a teenager so not surprising. The pacing was way off, it was slow for two thirds, then hit us with everything in the last bit. I definitely felt these 500 pages and I think a lot of what happens in the beginning could be shortened.

The romance with Lincoln wasn't developed like I wanted. It seemed like Myla hated him, with good reason because he was an arrogant prick, then all the sudden did a 180 and loved him and he's magically nice now too. I wanted to see a bond form naturally, not be hit over the head with it.

Myla's friendship with Cissy was problematic too. I know Cissy is an envy demon, but the way she started treating Myla was not okay. Cissy was dating her dream guy Zeke, so why was she so jealous about Myla and Lincoln? I really didn't like her and even at the end I didn't want Myla being friends with her anymore.

My biggest issue was with the narration on the audiobook. The author does it herself, which probably wasn't the best idea. Her regular voice is fine, but some of the voices, like Cissy, I wanted to mute because they were so irritating.

Not a bad plot, but I won't be reading the next book. The ending on this wraps up okay and I can live with that.

solid story, but the narrator killed it

like some of the other reviews, i am conflicted because at its core i really liked the story, BUT and this is a big one for an audio book the narration was too much. i feel horrible for saying so, as the narrator is the author and these are clearly her intent for the characters, but it was bad. for example, the mom character always sounded exasperated even when the author makes a point to say she has returned to her confident younger self, there should have been a distinct change in her tone. and her voice for Cissy is just, painful, as others stated it’s bad valley and not in a cool ironic way.
there was also a sense in some of the dialogue that phrases were added because the author thought someone of that age would say something like that, ie, “you go girl” but no one actually ever says that - EVER, in the context that she references, and the only time phrases like that are used is by your mom/dad trying to be cool.
positives - i liked the world that was created and i like myla as a character.

Read by the author, enjoyed her voices

Good pace on story and character development. This story kept me I interested and smiling. Laughed out loud and grinned stupidly in public (flight from Nashville to Seattle) during most of the book. You get to hear some of the authors personality at the end when she tells you to stalk her. she was amusing and I will definitely listen to her other books.

How I love it

I love it can you make more audibles love love love love love it😍😍😀😀😀it so was funny it was scary it was so romantic I couldn't turn it off it was a really good book or read the book and I also listen to it I really like the audio book hopefully you can make more and I will surely by there

👍🏻

I really enjoyed this book, I love the fact the author herself narrated it. She narrates it really well ( which makes sense now I know she wrote it ) definitely worth a listen, on to the next one!

Pretty good start to a series

Generally good listen, some good but weird accents by the narrator, like one point there is a voice that is described as cockney that is most certainly not cockney.

I was enthralled by the Quasi Demon world!

What did you like most about Angelbound?

The world building,Great female character, Funny, and sad

What other book might you compare Angelbound to, and why?

It stands on it's own

What about Christina Bauer’s performance did you like?

I was pulled straight into the story.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Myla meets the King of Hell

Any additional comments?

Angelbound is the first in the series which included a lot of world building. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading the books so this is my first encounter with the world of Purgatory and the Quasi Demon. This was absolutely absorbing, one minute I was laughing, and other parts crying.Myla was a normal 18yr old, but is basically living under the rule of the Ghouls on behalf of Armageddon The King of Hell, who invaded 20 years ago. This has fighting in the Arena and elsewhere, teenage angst, boy meets girl. I loved it, I am hooked when is more coming out on Audio. I got to say I loved Lincoln, he was perfect for Myla. The story is narrated by Myla the main character who goes through an amazing transformation. I absolutely love this Audio book and when is Acca coming out?

Loved hearing this after reading it.

If you could sum up Angelbound in three words, what would they be?

Amazing, Gripping, Awesome.

What other book might you compare Angelbound to, and why?

N/A

Have you listened to any of Christina Bauer’s other performances? How does this one compare?

This is my first one, And i loved it, Will be trying more.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, I laughed a lot.

Any additional comments?

As this was my very first audio book i have to say i will be trying more from Christina and other authors. Christina did such a great job narrating this.