Exile by Rebecca Lim

Exile by Rebecca Lim

Pages: 294, paperback


Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Date Released: May 28th, 2011

Genre: YA / romance / paranormal /angels / mystery

Source: library

Premise:

Mercy’s search continues ...

Mercy is an angel with a shattered memory, exiled from heaven for a crime she can’t remember committing.

So when she ‘wakes’ inside the body and life of eighteen-year-old Lela Neill, Mercy has only limited recall of her past life. Her strongest memories are of Ryan, the mortal boy who’d begun to fall for her – and she for him.

Mercy soon discovers that circumstances have forced Lela into waitressing at the Green Lantern, a busy city café frequented by suits, cab drivers, strippers, backpackers and the homeless, while caring for her terminally ill mother.

Just as Mercy is adjusting to Lela’s life, her beloved, Luc, reappears in her dreams, and she begins to glimpse her true nature and true feelings for Ryan. What she does not know is that her attempts to contact Ryan may have explosive consequences for everyone around her.

Meanwhile, ‘the Eight’ — the angelic beings responsible for her banishment — remain determined to keep Mercy and Luc apart, forever …

 
Buy it From: The Book Depository / Amazon

I don't often read and enjoy angel books (see my last post), but after reading Mercy (my review can be found here), and really liking it, I was extremely excited for this book.

Let me brief you on why this book (and Mercy) is awesome: Mystery. Strong main character. Incredible likeable secondary characters. Something that isn't as it seems. No insta-love. Very awesome, spine-tingling plot. Fantastic writing. And that's just a few of the things I loved about this series.




It's very easy to like Mercy. Each time she enters a new body, she's like a newborn. She needs to learn about the body's life, find out about friends, family, jobs, and the process is often embarrassing and awkward, and it's done well.
In this book, Mercy finds herself in Lela Neill's body. Lela's mother has cancer, and it doesn't look very promising. It was this aspect that I loved the most. Mercy doesn't know Lela's mother. She doesn't have feelings of compassion like normal humans, but when she see's that thing's aren't looking too good for Lela's mother, that is when her character shines.

"I wonder how to properly mourn a woman I barely know. We've only been acquainted a few hours, not even a full day. I never had a mother myself; no soft, kindly background presence in my life. It might have done me good if I had." - pg 85

I think that passage describes Mercy's character really well. It shows her growth as a character, how she doesn't care for some dying stranger, but as the days go by, as she gets to know the situation, she changes. She starts to care. And for someone as cynical and devoid of compassion as her, I think it's a remarkable change.

What I couldn't seem to understand is how Mercy just randomly seems to know or remember stuff. It just seems far too convenient and unexplained.

This next bit is a bit of a spoiler, so skip to the end if you don't want to know the ending.
I think the thing that bothered me the most was the ending. Anything that happened at the end could have been avoided it Mercy hadn't used Ranald. I mean, she saw that he was a bit psychotic. And it's just terribly bitchy to say you'll go out on a date with someone, simply because you want something from them, and have no intention of actually going. Leaving with another guy on the same day of the date doesn't help things either. She should have just told she wasn't interested, like a normal person would.

I can't wait until the next book, Muse, comes out. (Just a couple of weeks! EEEeeee!!!). I'll definitely be reading and reviewing it. I NEED to know what happens next.

Cover Art: 4

Plot: 4

Characters: 4

Writing: 4

Level of Interest: 4

Total Rating:

A fun read with angels and mystery that will keep you guessing till the very last page.