Ember by Carol Oates

Ember by Carol Oates
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Synopsis
Shortly after being pushed out of a window by a sexy redheaded woman in leather, Candra begins seeing things that can't possibly be real. Suddenly her life is inundated with overly attractive people that won't tell her the whole story. All she knows is that the ridiculously good looking and surly Sebastian is constantly following her and won't even leave her alone while she sleeps and that the redheaded woman is back. Candra is finding it harder and harder to figure out what the is really going on around her and who the good guys are. Can she figure it out in time to decide if she should sacrifice the one person she might love for the possible safety of the world around her?

Review
Once I started reading the book, the first theme that popped into my head was I don't know if I can deal with yet another fallen angel book. The tend to be overly romantical star-crossed lover type stories without much substance. Yes, this story falls into that category. Honestly, the read is a bit slow, and I found that I didn't really care about the characters. I finished this book only because I started it, not because I was invested and wanted to see what happened.
The one interesting factor in the book is that the take on angels was just a little bit different. The story was set in a fictional city, and humans are "protected" by watchers, angels who where denied reentry to heaven after doing some terrible deeds on earth. The book might have been a whole lot more interesting if the story had gone into more detail about the watchers, as opposed to occasional bits of backstory that may or may not be lies.
Then there was the ending. There was buildup that a few of the characters may actually be evil, or at least had some nice nefarious plots. The tension was mounting, Candra was being pulled in two directions; and then it fizzled out. I'm not sure what happened, but it almost felt like the author gave up and just said here's a random happy ending, I'm out. Who knows for sure, but I'm sure that we will find out in the inevitable sequel.

My Recommendation
While my review may be a bit harsh, I did like some facets of the story. I give it 3/5 - Rent it/Borrow it.