Book Review: Highborn by Yvonne Navarro

Book: HIGHBORN
Author: YVONNE NAVARRO
Genre: URBAN FANTASY/FANTASY
Published: October 2010, POCKET

Series: Dark Redemption #1 (upcoming series)
Source: Author, no other compensation given to me for an honest review

From Good Reads:
EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE. BRYNNA MALAK MIGHT BE THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE.

Brynna is a fallen angel trying to earn redemption. She’s escaped from Hell in search of a new life on Earth, but Lucifer’s deadliest hunters are hot on her trail. Police Detective Eran Redmond is after her for a different reason: he needs Brynna to help him find a serial killer who is terrifying Chicago . . . and the trail leads them right to Hellspawned demons of the most dangerous kind. She’s also got a very human problem: dealing with a stubborn, attractive cop who makes her long for everything she knows she can’t have.

Staying alive long enough to earn a shot at Heaven will mean breaking some major rules in the mortal world, as she learns just how complicated and wonderful being human can be. With so much stacked against her, even Brynna has to wonder if she’s crazy. But she’s not giving in without a fight.

Not a chance in Hell. . . .

My Review:
Wow. I'm not even sure that I can figure out what I expected from HIGHBORN before I opened up the book, but whatever it was, Yvonne Navarro delivered an awesome read that is still stuck in my head days later. Angels and demons aren't a new subject for urban fantasy fiction, but Navarro has turned the concept on its ear and shown that even an old idea can be made new and exciting and absorbing with the one-two punch of a great plot plus multi-faceted characters.

Brynna is a far from perfect woman, In fact, she wasn't even a woman before the start of the story. She escapes the clutches of Hell as a fallen angel to try to earn her redemption. Much of the book showcases Brynna's ability to heal any wound, and her ruthlessness at eliminating those that she knows to be demons. But what makes Navarro's writing stand out, is the fact that she gets inside Brynna's head and shows the reader that her character does feel pain and human emotions. They are something new that Brynna never had to deal with before, and Navarro explores the woman's confusion and actual gradual change that humanity has wrought unto this demon.

It's that dichotomy of this kick-ass from hell creature against the outer shell of human woman, along with the task that Brynna takes on - protecting a teenage girl that happens to be a Nephilim on the cusp of fulfilling her heavenly mission- that drives the novel and made, yes made, me devour the book. HIGHBORN is a straight-up, action-packed, fast-paced, urban fantasy that twisted my head into a pretzel with its awesomeness.

4.5/5 for plot
5/5 for characters
4.5/5 for language

My Rating: 14/15 (4.5 stars)

Must Read, if you liked:
Taken By the Others by Jess Haines
Dark Descendant by Jenna Black
Fever (series) by Karen Marie Moning
Signs of the Zodiac (series) by Vicki Pettersson

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Purchase book at:
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Available formats: Paperback (Mass Market), Kindle, NookBook

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