Lailah by Nikki Kelly

   

                                                                                       

Title: Lailah

Author: Nikki Kelly

Page count: 388

Date published: 2014

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

My rating: 1 out of 5 stars!

Blurb:

The girl knows she’s different. She doesn’t age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel.

On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand that Jonah belongs to a generation of Vampires that serve even darker forces. Jonah and the few like him, are fighting with help from an unlikely ally – a rogue Angel, named Gabriel.

In the crossfire between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, the girl learns her name: Lailah. But when the lines between black and white begin to blur, where in the spectrum will she find her place? And with whom?

Gabriel and Jonah both want to protect her. But Lailah will have to fight her own battle to find out who she truly is.

I DNF'd (did not finish) this at page 66. The first two chapters were already red flags for me - I will later talk about them - and I told myself that I would still give this book a shot. If I still disliked this book by page 100, I would quit reading it. The only problem was that this book got progressively worse as I delved deeper into the story, and I just couldn't take it anymore. 

The main problem with this book is the character, Francesca. Or Cessie. Or Lailah. Whatever the hell she calls herself. It's besides the point. She could have a name that I absolutely adore and still be the incompetent idiot that she was/is. The other problem was the torturous love triangle that she reader will be forced to experience as the story goes along. 

But first I have to talk about the main character. For my sake and your own, I'll call her Lailah considering that is this book's title after all. Lailah is the typical dumb blonde that is used over and over again in young adult literature. She acts like a Plain Jane with the how-could-any-guy-love-little-ole-me type of personality. But she's got special powers that make her sooo unique, right? She's plagued with visions of her past lives but doesn't know who she really is. She can also heal really fast. And, of course, there is a sexy man that haunts her dreams. Lailah conveniently knows his name. Gabriel. With no home and no one to care for her, Lailah lives practically homeless, never staying in one place for very long. One day, however, her life changes. This happens in chapter one.  

He was hunched over in a heap on the ground. My first instinct was to turn and run away as fast as I could, but he was hurt and in pain. I stopped myself from bolting, but kept my distance. Perhaps he could smell my fear.

And how, pray tell, would someone be able to smell fear? If they were a Vampire, of course. And that's just what this mysterious man, who will eventually be known as Jonas, is. Lailah knows all about Vampires (not sure why vampires is capitalized in this book but it is) and their predatory nature. She was even attacked by a Vampire before. She should be hauling ass away from this guy to save her life, but what does she do? She helps him into a car (which is not her own might I add) and takes him back to an abandoned home where she has been staying.

Hmm. Something about this feels off to me. Oh, maybe it's due to the fact that the main character just invited a complete stranger into her home. Not to mention that he is part of a species that caused her bodily harm! If I wanted to roll my eyes and scream at that moment, I was really going to explode when I continued reading.

The same as every other night, I set a fire in the ancient fireplace, but for the first time since I had taken up residence in this house, I had someone to share warmth with. Strange how suddenly, even in the most bizarre of situations, a house can feel like a home.

Okay. Cool. Lailah is a complete and total idiot. She met Jonas all but two seconds ago and now she's feeling sentimental enough towards him to compare his appearance into her life as a warm fuzzy feeling. She totally disregards the idea that he can sink his fangs into her neck and drain all of the blood right out of her.

Now this is where the story gets ridiculous. Keep in mind by this time I'd already told myself I would give this book a shot but these next quotes from pages 18 and 19 made me start to rethink that idea.

Page 18:

Everything about him looked as though he had been carefully carved by an expert craftsman and then breathed into life. I was sure this was how they survived. Jonah's extreme beauty had given him away instantly. Thanks to the Vampire I had once ignorantly befriended, I now knew what hid beneath features like that. I was angry for allowing myself to be sucked in by his looks; they were merely a mask, disguising what he truly was - a killer.

Page 19:

Running his lips close to my neck, his breath tickling my skin, I found my insides doing strange somersaults, and suddenly I wasn't afraid anymore. His bottom lip skimmed my earlobe, sending little shock waves through me. He lingered and then whispered, "I meant... thank you." His words were sincere and soft - I felt my heart flutter.

Well. That escalated quickly. *facepalm*

As you can probably tell, the romance (or whatever you'd like to call this) is not realistic, and I can't help but laugh at the idiocy of it all. I don't know what Nikki Kelly was thinking when she decided to introduce such a scene on PAGE 19. Lailah had just went on to say that Jonah was a killer and then she lets him get close enough to her to where his lips are at her neck. He's a Vampire, for God's sake! Can she be any more stupid? Oh, she can because then her heart sprouts wings and flies away at his touch.

Someone PLEASE put me out of my misery. Why did I waste my time on this book? I should have agreed with my instincts and gave this one up when I saw the warning signs. This book only gets worse when Gabriel (surprise surprise) appears a couple of chapters later. Lailah and Gabriel have a moment where Lailah learns that Gabriel is an Angel. Again, surprise surprise. They have a bunch of little moments from then on out, but Lailah is also feeling connected to Jonah as well.

Whatever. I'm not sticking around to see how this love triangle plays out.

I do not, in any way, recommend this. I wouldn't even make my worst enemy read this. I can't believe I wasted precious time on reading this when I could be reading my brand-new copy of Winter by Marissa Meyer. Shame on me. I've learned my lesson, folks.

                                                     Until next time,