Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger Release Date: March 5, 2013 Publisher: Simon Pulse Source: Digital Copy Rating: Buy It: Amazon

A broken past and a divided future can’t stop the electric connection of two teens in this “charged and romantic” (Becca Fitzpatrick), lush novel. Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is. Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life. When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

Review
** I had this mostly written days ago but then this little thing called the NCAA Tournament happened and I got super distracted. Apologies for the delay.

I read this book in about 6 hours. And I gave it 5 stars. Does that tell you something? Generally I’m a pretty fast reader and I read this at the beginning of a 2-day bender where I read 5 books – YIKES! Anyway, I’ve been anticipating this book for agessssss. Not only is the cover gorgeous, the premise is fantastic and Shannon Messenger is a total sweetheart. You guys should totally follow her on Twitter if you don’t already. To the point, the combination of great writing, a fascinating plot put out by an awesome author was part of the reason I kept reading incessantly for the next 36 hours. (That also might have something to do with the fact that I actually had two days in a row off.) Anyway, Messenger dips into mythology some with Let the Sky Fall, but only to a certain degree, which I liked because so many times mythology-based novels can be bogged down in the mythos. This one was not — it had just the right amount, enough to get me super interested but not too much to get me confused.

The story begins with Vane bored on summer vacation. His best friend convinces him to go on a blind date, which is where he sees Audra — but not for the first time. Vane has been dreaming about Audra for as long as he can remember and he’s unconsciously been searching her out everywhere he goes. Now he’s finally seen her and he confronts her! But his blind date was going really well and when he takes the girl home he almost kisses her. A mysterious wind keeps them apart, however, and Vane still has yet to get his first kiss. We then learn that Audra is manipulating the wind so that nothing can happen. And that she has perhaps been doing similar things for much longer than Vane even suspects.

It turns out that Audra has been watching and protecting Vane for most of his life, without his knowledge of course, because he’s like her and he just doesn’t know it. They are wind manipulators called sylphs. It’s really very cool and something different that I haven’t seen from any novel that I’ve read. Obviously everyone has different affinities for different things, but the basis is the same – the ability to call on and control the wind. We quickly learn that Vane is so important because he’s the last of the Westerleys, the sylph line that can control the Westerlies [winds.] Pretty important in the sylph world.

I don’t want to ruin anything, but the plot is engaging and intriguing and is a great introduction to the series as a whole. When it was over, I knew there would be more, but I was also happy where it stopped (FOR NOW.) Not only are Vane and Audra battling the enemies they’re anticipating, they’re battling some internal conflicts they weren’t expecting either. And there’s the whole fact that Vane needs to deal with the fact that he’s a sylph and he needs to learn how to be a sylph. Plus there’s some stuff that Audra’s hiding from him that comes to light later — don’t worry the reader knows what it is long before Vane does. Overall the angst and the conflict were fantastic and I couldn’t put it down to save my life. This is just the first book since Pivot Point that I would highly recommend both because of originality and overall writing. This one isn’t one to be missed and I can’t wait for the next one!

Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger Release Date: March 5, 2013 Publisher: Simon Pulse Source: ARC provided by Messenger Rating: Buy It: Amazon

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life. When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

Review
I wasn’t going to post this. I was going to be a proper blogger and hoard it until the book is published but I can’t. I won this ARC copy from the author at a book signing she had, when I pushed my best friend out of the way and jumped out of my seat by knowing what Kiersten White wrote. (PARANORMALCY FTW!) I should point out that this pushing and throwing arms up in the air was in the front row in front of the author…yet not the most embarrassing thing I did in front of her (look to end of this review for that, please!) But back to the point, I needed to get this review out into the interwebz because I love this book THAT much. The last book I remember loving this much was this one (spoiler: same author wrote it.)

But this book, it’s completely different than Keeper of the Lost Cities, but it is still pure Messenger. Messenger’s writing makes you fall in love with her characters, her world, and her imagery. This world isn’t as science fiction as Keeper, yes two characters can control the wind, but this takes place in California. California, a place one can drive to and visit if they would like to. Actually if I drive from my house to Disneyland, I drive through this book’s location. Hi Coachella Valley! Yet Messenger was still able to build a world I know nothing about and need to know more about. I’m not sure I’ll be able to make that drive with the windmills ever again without thinking about Vane and Audra (who are beautifully placed on the cover.)

This is the story of Vane and Audra. Vane is a miracle baby. He survived a tornado that he has no true memories of, only blips and fuzzy memories and the knowledge that it killed his parents. His adoptive parents are pretty awesome though. They ‘get’ Vane, they try to let him be a teenager while still caring and loving him. It is quite nice to see in a Young Adult book.

Audra on the other hand remembers everything about the tornado, because she was there. She is Vane’s guardian. Vane, of course, doesn’t know that Audra is his guardian, or that he has one. What he does know is he has horrible luck with women and that this girl keeps appearing in his dreams. One day, Audra and Vane cross paths, mostly because he is going to make a horrible mistake and Audra is there to ‘fix’ the situation.

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