Friday, February 8, 2013

Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick

Will love conquer all?

Nora and Patch thought their troubles were behind them. Hank is gone and they should be able to put his ugly vendetta to rest. But in Hank's absence, Nora has become the unwitting head of the Nephilim and must finish what Hank began. Which ultimately means destroying the fallen angels - destroying Patch.

Nora will never let that happen, so she and Patch make a plan: lead everyone to believe they have broken up, and work the system from the inside. Nora will convince the Nephilim that they are making a mistake in fighting the fallen angels, and Patch will find out everything he can from the opposing side. They will end this war before it can even begin.

But the best-laid plans often go awry. Nora is put through the paces in her new role and finds herself drawn to an addictive power she never anticipated.

As the battle lines are drawn, Nora and Patch must confront the differences that have always been between them and either choose to ignore them or let them destroy the love they have always fought for.
Finale, by Becca Fitzpatrick is the final (what an original title) in the series.  I started reading this series when it came out, I wanted to move from vampires to something different but stay in the YA genre.  Hush Hush came on the heals of the Twilight Saga Craze and when I started the book it read so similarly to Twilight that I almost put it down.  While there are similarities in the books they could never be placed in the same categories.   
Becca's writing is much darker and more realistic (when it comes to the humans) than any other YA I've read. 
 
Nora lives with her mother, her father is dead.  Her mother does have a job that keeps her away a lot but her mother also has her thumb on Nora.  This motherly act keeps up when Nora is hurt badly by Patch (the angel/boyfriend) and Nora's mother shows open distrust of Patch, a very motherly thing to do.  However by the time I got to Finale Nora's mother had taken a back seat in order to finish up the story.  Needless to say I was disappointed in this change. 
The books take place in Coldwater Maine, a fictitious location, but I kept picturing a small town outside of Portland Maine, a place I've visited frequently.  I do find it interesting that so many YA paranormal books take place in cold wet locations (Twilight - Washington, Shiver - Minnesota).
I tried to get all the book trailers to load but for some reason I couldn't, probably technical issues on my side.  But you can view all 4 HERE
 
It is clear that Becca did a great deal of research for this series about the Fallen Angels, Nephilim, Cheshvan and the Books of Enoch and I love how she weaves all this seamlessly into the romance and mystery. 
Overall this series is about loyalty, finding one's place, dealing with loss and addiction (not touched on until Finale).  Many issues that teens and adults face on a day to day basis.  The great thing is that unless you were reading the book to do a review I don't think you would notice.  What you would notice is the good decisions verses the bad ones that were made. 
 
I could have done without the Epilogue, but I feel that way in most cases.  The series ended on a good note the Epilogue made it an ever happier ending but also a bit of an unbelievable one for the age of the characters. 
 
Overall I would recommend this series.  And you should read it fast because guess what...it has been picked up for a movie, you can read the details HERE
 
I'm linking up with
 

3 comments:

Ricki Treleaven said...

Super post, Caroline. I've only read Hush, Hush in this series, and I liked it. I need to read the rest of the series this year.

LOL the trailer is not how I would have pictured Nora's behavior based on book one~

And I agree that it bothers me when parents are completely absent in YA books (this phenomenon is even worse on The Disney Channel and Teen Nick).

Thanks for linking-up!

xo,
RJ

Maggie said...

Hi Caroline...so nice of you to stop by my blog today (and I agree, the packaging done by many Etsy sellers is awesome)!
Wow, the altered book in your previous post is so gorgeous!

-maggie

Plumrose Lane said...

Wow, how fascinating! I was scrolling through your blog and "Nephilim" and "Enoch" grabbed me as I once studied ancient religions. So cool to find out that an author used it all as a backdrop for a story ~ how wonderful!
♥Sharon