Unwelcome is the second book in the Archangel Academy series, written by Michael Griffo.
WARNING: If you have not read Unnatural, then you might be spoiled a bit.
Guys, I tried with this series. I really wanted to like it. There are very few LGBT books in the young adult section and this series was one I had my eye on because of the relationship between the main characters, Michael and Ronan. Plus, it’s paranormal, which is right up my alley as I’ll read just about any paranormal story that grabs my attention. And the set-up did grab my attention, even though it was set at a boarding school. (I’m so over boarding school books, but at least this one wasn’t in North America.)
But once I started reading, I knew this series and I weren’t going to be friends.
I made it through Unnatural fine. It took some coercing and the promise of a ‘treat’ to reach the end of the book, but I did finish it. However, it wasn’t a book that left me wanting more, so getting through Unwelcome was like fighting an uphill battle. I had to set daily page goals to read and offer myself even more incentives to stay motivated.
This sounds horrible, I know, but Mr Griffo’s writing style and I never saw eye-to-eye. For one, it was written in third-person omniscient narrative, which means the reader saw into almost everyone’s thoughts and feelings. These perspective changes happened suddenly and often, which left me feeling disconnected from everyone. Michael’s and Ronan’s POVs are experienced the most, but whatever tentative connection I start to form with them is cut off every time I have to read what three other people are thinking about before we get back to them.
That was my biggest problem with it. Everything else was fine — from the character development to the plot. At times some of the characters (*cough*Ciaran*cough*) got to be a bit whiny but I reminded myself that they were teenage boys and teenagers whine sometimes. I especially liked Michael and Ronan’s relationship because they had problems and arguments, but managed to work out whatever obstacle came between them.
I just couldn’t get past the abrupt and varied POVs. Most of them I didn’t care about in the least. This is the same problem I had with Black Dagger Brotherhood books by JR Ward, which eventually lead to me not reading them anymore.
So, basically, if you don’t mind slipping into everyone’s consciousness and getting a sense of everything that is happening rather then leaving some mystery surrounding the story, then you might like this series.
If you want to check out the other blogs covering this book blog t0ur, go to Teen Book Scene.