Review on Branded by Keary Taylor

 Author: Keary Taylor

Novel: Branded (Book 1 of the Fall of Angels Series)

I stumbled across Branded while looking over blogs. I wish I could remember whose blog I was looking at so I can thank them profusely for having the novel on their website. The cover art for the novel was sitting in a lovely corner of the blog and the first thing I saw was the scars, then the title. I was so drawn to it that I clicked on the picture to figure out what it was about. After I read the synopsis, I went on to Amazon to look into it. Turns out, it was only a dollar for kindle. (What an amazing deal!!)..I downloaded the kindle for Mac app and paid the dollar for it and I am pleased to say that I am completely satisfied. Now, on to the next part.

Synopsis: 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 angels. Her friends and family thinks 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, and the scar on the back of her neck. But one of the two has set events into motion that will pull her toward her own judgment and turn her into the object of her greatest fear.

My Take: After being exiled in her own home, Jessica escapes to another state entirely and tries to live her existence in peace, well as much peace as she can considering she is plagued each night with nightmares of beautiful angels doing cruel judgments on humans. She meets two men, Alex and Cole, and while one promises to bring her the love and understanding she's always wanted, the other promises to rip her life apart at the seams and bring her down to the terrible pits of hell.

The Review: Wow. I guess that's the best word to describe how I felt after finishing this novel. I was on edge the entire time I read it. (well on the edge of my bed holding my laptop with both hands, staring fiercely at the screen.) The plot of the novel was very strong and I was able to understand why each individual character acted the way they did. The dark twist Keary Taylor put on the angels was refreshing to say the least. Instead of the typical angels vs. demons, she changed to where the demons are angels, (which actually is correct in the biblical sense) but dark angels.

As I read the novel, I understood the pain Jessica suffered daily. She had a valid reason for not wanting to speak her pain to anyone because most people wouldn't understand and would judge her harshly. I found it commendable that all throughout her struggles she didn't think once to end her own life to stop the awful nightmares, but quietly endured it. I was happy to see that she opened herself up to Alex who genuinely cared for her.

Let's skip down to Alex. My only regret was that I wished I knew a bit more about Alex. Sure, his pop in was justified and explained, but I did want a little more detail in his background, but I was shocked that he wasn't who I thought he'd be. (no spoilers here)..If you read the novel, you'll know exactly what I mean. He was a character I easily fell in love with. He was kind and wasn't judgmental in the least. Maybe a bit too nice (BUT THAT'S JUST MY OPINION).

Colt scared me. Maybe it's just me, but I do think that extremely beautiful people are strange. Of course they're appealing to look at, but I don't want to look at someone and think that I'm not worthy. And for him to be the leader of the....(absolutely no spoilers), what had he done during his life?

Overall I truly enjoyed the novel and can't wait to start the next one in the series. Though the price for this novel is 13. 24 (rough estimate) I think it'd be well worth it. My rating: 8.4

Cheers!

    Lea