Book Review: Crossroads

By Mary Ting

Published by *review edition self published

Released on April 6th, 2011

Source- book from author to review

4 stars- It's A Great Debut

On the same night of her friend’s tragic death, Claudia Emerson encounters another world, Crossroads, through her dream. There, she learns about a mix breed of angels and humans, who possess supernatural powers. Among those with these powers, lies evil, known as the fallen. Mystified by her ability to enter this place called Crossroads, certain that the fallen will be after her, she is assigned a guardian angel named Michael. Aden, the fallen leader, is convinced that Claudia holds the key to help destroy Crossroads. Her dream becomes a nightmare as more secrets are revealed, about who she really is, and the true identities of the people she loves most.

Crossroads is an exciting debut book with a rich paranormal mythology, unique angel-lore, forbidden romance, action, suspense and plot twists. With her detailed writing and a plot that flow wells, Mary created a a world I enjoyed visiting, and a story that was hard to put down.

I liked the way Mary developed her characters and created their character chemistry. I enjoyed getting to know Claudia, the story's protagonist and Michael, her love interest. Claudia is a laid back, down to earth, likable character. When she first meets Michael it wasn't hard to not like him, but there was obviously a good reason why he treated her so coldly. Over the course of a series of events Michael quickly becomes another fictional character readers will enjoy getting to know. He's romantic, sexy, at times a little funny, and is very protective of the love of his existence, and for a good reason too.

Along with Michael and Claudia is a cast of fabulous characters I also enjoyed getting to know. Though some of their roles are minor, they all played a role in bringing Crossroads to life. Two of my favorite supporting characters are Michael's friends Davin and Claudia's Grandmother, Gamma. Michael and Devin have a great, strong, close friendship, where Claudia and Gamma's relationship is one that tugged at my heart strings. For anyone who's ever had a close relationship with their Grandmother will really enjoy the relationship between the two, and the inspiration behind Mary writing this story. The character that surprised me the most is Austin. I already have my suspicions about him, and I am really anxious to find out how big of a role he'll be playing in Gamma's life as the series progresses.

There are a lot of elements I enjoyed about the story. The setting is very vivid, the lore with angels, demons, guardian angels, and Mary's unique angel mythology was very refreshing. I liked the way she wrote and created her good vs battle and the role Claudia plays in it. There's some great character twists within the story that I didn't even see coming. With everything I liked about the book, there were some very minor things that bothered me with the writing. Like how many times Claudia mentions how hot Michael is, or how forgetful Claudia is after each time she experiences some bigger events in the story. As the story went on I felt these things were a little bit redundant, but they didn't take away from me enjoying the book and I think these are things that will be polished up a bit before Crossroads is released next month by a publishing house.

Crossroads is an enticing read with it's beautifully descriptive world, and in-depth characters. It's story of self discovery, love, loss, and friendship. If you're a fan of angel-lore, romance and paranormal reads I'd recommend picking it up. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in this series.