Summary:
After a bit of hell, Haven wants to get back to normal. So, she does what any normal teen would do, she heads off to New Orleans for a student volunteer program. Lance and Dante accompany her (because what else would teenagers do after graduation). Nothing could possibly be easy, so they run into new demons. These are shapeshifting bad guys. The three have to figure out the problems and solve them with the help of a ghost and angels in training who just happen to live nearby.
My thoughts:
The second book in a series is supposed to allow you to go deeper into the characters. Infatuate doesn't really do that. Haven and Lance have relationship quarrels that left me unsatisfied. She spends a good amount of time with Lucian, but their relationship status was clearly developed within book one. If Infatuate is supposed to rekindle something there, it fails. Dante is the only one that seems to have some depth. I think that we get to know him far more than the other characters, which is sad since Haven is clearly the focus.
The general plot is nearly identical to the first book; however, that isn't unheard of within the genre. It's a plot we all know and love, but are happy to be surprised with some twists and turns from time to time. A lot of the unexpectancy is taken out of the story because there are brief glimpses of omniscience that I don't think Haven needs to know. For instance, it would be more interesting for her to find things out on her own than have Lucian give her updates. Someone may ask how that would happen, since he is clearly in a different position than she is, but really part of the fun is finding things out and not being told.
The REALLY great thing that Agresti does is describe the setting. New Orleans really comes alive to the reader. This is a setting that has received more interest in recent literature and several books seem to believe all of us know what the streets of New Orleans look like. I have never been there and only seen pictures related to Mardi Gras, so I appreciated the detail that went into this book. Just as in Illuminate, some history of the place is mixed in with visuals that drop you straight into a scene. I wish her characters came alive just as the setting does.
After a bit of hell, Haven wants to get back to normal. So, she does what any normal teen would do, she heads off to New Orleans for a student volunteer program. Lance and Dante accompany her (because what else would teenagers do after graduation). Nothing could possibly be easy, so they run into new demons. These are shapeshifting bad guys. The three have to figure out the problems and solve them with the help of a ghost and angels in training who just happen to live nearby.
My thoughts:
The second book in a series is supposed to allow you to go deeper into the characters. Infatuate doesn't really do that. Haven and Lance have relationship quarrels that left me unsatisfied. She spends a good amount of time with Lucian, but their relationship status was clearly developed within book one. If Infatuate is supposed to rekindle something there, it fails. Dante is the only one that seems to have some depth. I think that we get to know him far more than the other characters, which is sad since Haven is clearly the focus.
The general plot is nearly identical to the first book; however, that isn't unheard of within the genre. It's a plot we all know and love, but are happy to be surprised with some twists and turns from time to time. A lot of the unexpectancy is taken out of the story because there are brief glimpses of omniscience that I don't think Haven needs to know. For instance, it would be more interesting for her to find things out on her own than have Lucian give her updates. Someone may ask how that would happen, since he is clearly in a different position than she is, but really part of the fun is finding things out and not being told.
The REALLY great thing that Agresti does is describe the setting. New Orleans really comes alive to the reader. This is a setting that has received more interest in recent literature and several books seem to believe all of us know what the streets of New Orleans look like. I have never been there and only seen pictures related to Mardi Gras, so I appreciated the detail that went into this book. Just as in Illuminate, some history of the place is mixed in with visuals that drop you straight into a scene. I wish her characters came alive just as the setting does.
