Natural Born Angel (Immortal City, #2)

by Scott Speer

In a world where guardian angels are celebrities who save people
for money, comes the thrilling sequel to IMMORTAL CITY.

Maddy's life changed completely when she became the girlfriend of
the hottest Angel around. But she never imagined that she'd become
more famous than Jackson. Unfortunately for Maddy, she's an irresistible
PR opportunity - soon her popularity soars higher than
any Angel's. Her relationship cannot cope with the pressure.

And then the tension begins to mount between Angels and people, and
she finds herself the ambassador for humankind. With Jacks at
the helm of the Immortals, the two ex-lovers must become sworn enemies.
Until an evil force, bigger than anything on Earth, threatens
to destroy them both... Maddy and Jacks must stand united if
they want to survive.

• ISBN10: 1595145133
• ISBN13: 9781595145130
• Publish Date: 23 April 2013 (first published 1 April 2013)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 22 December 2016
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Razorbill
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 353
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rowena]

I’m not going to lie. I requested this book for review because I heard that Scott Speer was Ashley Tisdale’s boyfriend. I’m a fan of the High School Musical movies but I’m also a huge fan Ashley’s character, Maddy Fitz-something on Suite Life of Zack and Cody (from the Disney channel). So when I heard that her boyfriend was a YA author, I was curious.

I’m glad that I was curious because I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me of the X-Men movies with…angels. Now, I didn’t read the first book in this series (though it was my plan when I first requested the book) but I charged right into this book anyway.

And I’m glad that I did because this book was good.

So, Maddy Montgomery is a half human-half angel girl who is dating the Jackson Godspeed, the it Guardian angel. Angels in this world that Scott Speer has created are celebrities. They’re followed by the paparazzi and they’re idolized and loved by everyone around the world. Angels are guardian angels who save people’s lives…for those that can afford to pay for their services. I thought this was a really interesting way to portray angels and it made falling into this story so easy because angels are always portrayed as being holy people who are religious and who always choose the right.

But these angels are just like humans. They’re not perfect. They have their own struggles and their own problems and that made it so much easier to connect with all of the characters in this book. Maddie is only half-angel but when she makes the decision to train to become a Guardian and hopefully help save lives, she thought she’d be able to make a difference within the angel community. Help bring about change to help even more people than the angels help right now.

When the book first begins, Maddy and Jacks are so close and so in love. Maddy has made the decision to join Jacks as a Guardian and Jacks couldn’t be happier but over the course of the book, the trust they had in each other is tested and things start to unravel for the both of them. Maddy has her own issues to deal with, living in this new angel world that is slowly overwhelming her and then Jackson is dealing with his new reality, after the big bang of whatever happened on the library tower in the previous book. His angel wings haven’t healed and he can’t fly and if he can’t fly, he can’t save lives. You see the stress of all of that start taking over their lives and driving the two of them apart.

Even though I didn’t read the first book, I thought Speer captured their struggles in a way that was easy for newcomers to relate to and connect with. I will say that the way that this book ended, had me sitting up in bed cursing myself that I have such a long wait until the next book …and then I remembered that I still have to read the first book so I got all excited again and once payday gets here, my first purchase will be The Immortal City by Scott Speer.

So I think it’s safe to say that I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed getting to know Maddy, learning all about the world that Scott Speer brought to life within this book and even though the love triangle in this book felt like it was thrown in there without much thought, I still enjoyed this book. So yes, I definitely recommend this book.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Mysterious and compelling, Natural Born Angel is a fantastically written sequel to the first book in the Immortal City series by Scott Speer. Filled with suspense and intrigue, it is a fast read that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. It's the perfect blend of reality and paranormal aspects, written in such an original way that will definitely capture your attention. Speer writes his characters in such a realistic way that they are easy to connect with. They experience wonderful growth throughout this young adult novel.

There's danger and suspense, that will set your nerves on fire! The tension between the humans and the angels, sparks a chaotic war between the two. The inevitability of this, isn't lost on the story that Speer has been twisting together from the beginning of this series. Lives and love are stake, during this epic showdown of one versus the other, in an attempt to see who destroys what and whom faster. Wonderfully captivating, this novel is sure to get your blood pumping with high octane adrenaline.

There are some high and low points about this series, that are great shots and near misses. For the most part, it is enthralling, compelling, and full of originality that sparks intelligence and commands your attention. For anyone who wants to start reading an angel series and has felt the slightest bit of trepidation, this is the one that I would recommend to you right off the bat. It's easy to sink into this story and just become so absorbed in what's going on, that the world outside around you ceases to exist. Scott Speer does a superb job at capturing your attention with the mystery and intrigue that he so perfectly weaves into his story. You will NOT want to put this book down!

[Ashley]

BookNook — Young Adult book reviews

My enjoyment for Natural Born Angel is all over the map, and that's one of the reasons why I was so unsure about how to rate it (and I'm still kind of unsure). That means, it's time to whip out the ol' Enjoyment Graph so you can get a sense of how I felt while reading the book:

My Enjoyment Levels — Monitored



As you can see, things started out strong. I was really excited to dive into the book, and when Maddy decided to become a Guardian, I was pumped! But any time the book swerved away from Maddy and onto Detective Sylvester, I lost interest. I just couldn't bring myself to care about his investigations or the Angel politics. But then when we would go back to Maddy's (or Jackson's) chapters, my interest would spike again. But towards the end of the book, I started to even dislike Maddy's chapters.

One of the main reasons why I'm so unsure about this book is because Maddy and Jackson start to have relationship problems. Jackson has lost the ability to fly (possibly forever), so when Maddy decides to become a Guardian, Jackson is jealous. He's not only jealous because she can perform Guardian duties and he can't, but also because she is now the center of attention media-wise. I do think that these doubts and problems are realistic, but they still made me not enjoy the book as much. It completely makes sense that Jackson would be upset when his whole world changes, and would resent Maddy a little for stealing the spotlight from under him. But I hated that it had to come between them. Just because it's realistic doesn't mean I enjoy reading about it.

And with a wedge driven between Maddy and Jackson, we get.... a love triangle. See that huge drop off at the end? That was the love triangle (I don't really think that's a spoiler because it's pretty obvious that it's developing from early on). Honestly, it was just RIDICULOUS. I could sense the love triangle from the moment Tom was introduced, but it never actually went anywhere.. until the end. Then, suddenly, at the end, Tom was declaring his LOVE for Maddy? What the hell? Except for one kiss, they had zero romantic involvement or chemistry (even the kiss was super random). The book itself made it seem like they only met in person three or four times, but suddenly he LOVES her? It was ridiculous.

I think that the only problem writing-wise is how much Scott Speer relied on television news announcements to explain the politics and other big events. Because news is essentially "telling" or reporting, it felt like we were always being told what was happening in the world rather than being shown what was happening. A few news announcements now and then would be fine, but it seemed like every big event was given to us in the form of Maddy watching it on TV and the author writing out the television announcement. We never saw anything develop in the actual world around us.

But despite my annoyances, there were still some interesting points in the book. Once the investigations and all that jazz got "solved" I was actually really interested in it (see huge spike near the end of the graph). There were some extremely intense moments and things overall really got amped up a notch. Prior to this point, the book felt a little slow moving, but suddenly it was all a whirlwind, and I loved it! I feel like the series is headed in a very cool direction and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out. I particularly like the role that Jackson will play!

There is definitely a good vs. evil war coming, and people are picking sides. Maddy, in particular, is torn in the middle. As half-human, half-Angel, she doesn't know which side to give her allegiance to.

I do feel like this book shows how much of a grudge holder I am. The humans (specifically the president) decide to ban all Angel activity. They're not allowed to fly, use super strength, make saves, or use any other supernatural powers they have. Then, suddenly, the demons invade the earth and the humans are like, "Lol just kidding. Now that we're in trouble, please use your super powers to help us!"

Good people like Maddy believe that the Angels should help the humans, because otherwise they'll all die. I say: screw the humans. They basically banned Angels from existing... until it was convenient for them to have Angels around. What douchebags. They dug their own grave and now they can lay in it.

Yes, I hold grudges.

Natural Born Angel wasn't a perfect book, and I definitely enjoyed Immortal City more. But at the same time, I don't think Natural Born Angel was particularly a bad book. The problem was simply that it was riddled with problems and information that I personally did not care for. I'm one of those girls that hates it when relationship problems dominate a book. Have one or two fights—fine. But to have the whole book be one distanced relationship? That's not for me. I really fell in love with Maddy and Jackson in Immortal City and I just hate that they were so separated throughout Natural Born Angel.

But I am super curious to see how things play out. Assuming the horrible love triangle gets shot down fairly quickly, I am confident that the third book will be better than this one.