Review: Above the Flames by Cassandra Fear

Book: Above the Flames (The Flames Trilogy #1)
Author: Cassandra Fear
Published: April 19, 2016
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Number of Pages: 396
Format: ebook (.mobi)
Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Tags: 2016, YA, 2.5 Stars, Received for Review

Goodreads/Amazon

Synopsis: Jasmine’s sixteenth birthday was the worst ever…

All in one day, her dad died, she met a demon, and her mother rejected her existence forever. After all, the demon who killed her dad was there to take her, and all because of her stupid powers—the ability to conjure blue flames.

Two years later, she’s happy. But happy never lasts…

After moving to Idaho to live with her grandparents, Jasmine has a new life. Almost nobody knows about her powers, and she’s just a normal teenager with normal problems. Then comes her eighteenth birthday—and the earthquake that changes her world forever.

An army of demons rise from Hell. And Jasmine is right in the middle of the battle…

When demons claw their way to Earth, Jasmine is surrounded by hundreds of fire-eyed beasts. Worse, she is captured by a big-shot demon named Bael. He’s a tricky foe with a chip on his shoulder—and the desire to make Jasmine use her powers for evil.

Amon is a fallen angel with an attitude—and everything to lose.

Successfully escaping the underworld undetected, Amon is on a quest to regain God’s grace when he rescues Jasmine from the clutches of a particularly nasty demon he knows all too well. The attraction between him and the not-entirely-human captive is instantaneous. Heavenly sparks fly, but ideas of romance will have to wait. First they have to stop the demon race from wiping out the mortal realm. Humanity’s fate rests in their hands.

Can two troubled angels rise above the flames to ensure a future for mankind? Or will Jasmine and Amon’s souls be bound together—in hell?

-MY REVIEW-

 "And if you haven't realized this by now, I have my own mind. I won't be told what to do by a man, not ever. So if you think you are going to control me, think again."

I am obviously in the minority when it comes to rating this book. Am I upset that I didn't like this book as much as I wish that I had? Simply put, no I'm not. Everyone has different opinions, and not everybody is going to like the same book. So while I may not have loved this book, that doesn't mean that you won't.

In this book we follow Jasmine, who has had powers for as long as she can remember. Her powers are really brought forward though on her sixteenth birthday, when a demon came and killed her father. After that she goes to live with her grandparents, and lived a normal life for two years. All of that changes one day when demons start coming to Earth from hell, and she has to pair up with a group of fallen angles in order to save the world. 

If you know anything about my reading tastes, you might know that I love a good angle book. I don't read a ton of them, but when I do I want them to be really good. One of the things that I didn't like about this book was the plot, and the way the story progressed. I found that the story would focus a lot on the romance, and all I could think about were the people being killed by the demons. If demons start terrorizing my city, I would wish the Earth's one hope would be killing them, and not kissing someone other than her boyfriend. I thought that the relationship problems between Jasmine and Beau overpowered the story, and I wish that we got to read more about Jasmine's powers.

I did really like that Jasmine wasn't afraid to stand up for herself. It was nice to see Jasmine stand up and talk about how she wasn't owned by anybody. It didn't matter if you were her mother or boyfriend, she was her own person. That was my favorite part of the story.

Everything else I found to be okay, but not great. There wasn't really anything that stood out to me. The characters were okay, the writing was okay, there just seemed to be a lot of okays. I'm not saying that this is a bad book, because a lot of people really liked this book! There was just nothing that stood out to me.

So overall I thought that this was an okay book. I didn't like it, but I didn't dislike it. I can see those who like romance and those who are new to reading YA really enjoying this though.