Blog Tour: 42. Surrender the Dark by L.A. Banks...

Today, I'm participating in the blog tour for L.A. Banks' Surrender the Dark... Banks is a new-to-me author, and I was thrilled by the opportunity to check out her writing!

About L.A. Banks:
L.A. Banks is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty-five novels and twelve novellas in a wide range of genres, including her popular Vampire Huntress and Crimson Moon series. In 2008, she received Essence magazine's Storyteller of the Year Award. She lives in Philadelphia. Visit her online at www.leslieesdailebanks.com.

Title: Surrender the Dark (new series!)
Author: L.A. Banks
ISBN-13: 9781451607789
Paperback: 373 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2011
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Simon & Schuster

About the book:

Celeste Jackson’s life has been a series of tragic occurrences. Haunted, the thirty-three-year-old woman has bounced from therapists to group homes, to drug halfway houses. Plagued by nightmares and hallucinations and misdiagnosed as schizophrenic, she is found by the angel Azrael—her protector. But as Azrael helps her to unlock her powers, and they work to amass an army of those with powers like Celeste’s in order to fight the forces of darkness, Celeste has as much to teach Azrael as he has to teach her. She’s been down the path of temptation and addiction. Now she must help Azrael overcome the one temptation that could make him an eternal prisoner—his addiction to her.

drey's thoughts:
Surrender the Dark packs a lot of stuff into its 373 pages. The world is a battleground between the forces of good and evil, and the Mayan calendar was right--12/21/2012 is the end of the world as we know it, because that is when the forces of Light and Dark descend upon our world to fight it out once and for all. In preparation, angels are being sent into our world to protect the Remnants--those who have human and angel in their bloodlines.

Celeste is one of the Remnants. When we first meet her, she is strung out on dope and fear, along with a history of mental instability behind her. Then she meets her guardian angel Azriel, and pretty much goes through a miraculous transformation. I honestly don't know how she managed to hang onto what's left of her sanity. And Azriel. Well. Tall, dark, and handsome indeed. And completely confused as to how to function in earthly society.

Their adjustment to each other, getting Azriel put together, and meeting Celeste's aunt takes the first 140 or so pages. The remainder of the book covers their journey to find the rest of the good team, introducing the rest of the cast of characters, and fighting the bad guys. I so wanted to put "evil forces of the Destructicon" there! *grin* But that's beside the point. Surrender the Dark is an interesting new series I'll be adding to my to-check-out list.

drey's rating: 3/5 Good

Challenge: New Author

Have you read Surrender the Dark? What did you think?

UPDATE!!
Sorry this is late, hopefully it didn't get missed... BUT thanks to the publisher, I have two copies of Surrender the Dark for you, if you live in the US (no PO Boxes, please)!! *grin*

To enter, comment with your email address and share what L.A. Banks book(s) you've read & whether you liked 'em! Do it before 6pm CST April 13th! Good luck!