Night World No.2: Dark Angel, The Chosen and Soulmate

L.J. Smith
Published 2008
662 pages
Rating: A

Well obviously this book was amazing just like the first one. Actually this one just might be even better. I loved all three books but my favorite was by far The Chosen. It was absolutely fantastic. L.J. Smith just cannot write a boring book. She is amazing. This book was full of romance and action. Full of everything you would want in a book! I know I repeat the same thing about every book of L.J. Smith's but it's true. All her books are full of suspense, betrayal, forbidden love, jealousy and so much more. The girl on the cover is Rashel from The Chosen.

Synopsis (as seen on back of book)

Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters — they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.

In Dark Angel, Gillian is saved from drowning by her guardian angel. Only visible to Gillian, Angel will fulfill her heart's every desire. But when Angel starts making strange and sinister requests, Gillian must question who he truly is and where he came from.

Armed with a wooden stake, martial arts, and the will to resist a vampire's mind control, Rashel struggles to avenge her mother's death in The Chosen. Then she meets Quinn, her soulmate, who is part of the world she has vowed to destroy.

Hannah receives notes warning her of incredible danger in Soulmate. But if death is her destiny, is the Lord of the Night World's love strong enough to save her?

My Synopsis

In Dark Angel, Gillian is a social outcast. She has childlike features and clothes. She just wishes she could have real friends, that she could hang out with the popular kids. One day, as she is walking home, Gillian hears a cry in the woods. Thinking it is somebody in trouble, Gillian trudges into the wintry forest searching for the person. After a while Gillian happens upon a strong river/stream in the woods. Gillian falls in and gets caught by the current. The water is freezing and is trapping her underwater. Gillian knows she will die. But she manages to survive, waking on the river bank. She's soaking wet, covered in snow and freezing to death. What had saved Gillian from death was her "guardian angel". He leads her through the woods to the road where Gillian gets picked up by her crush from school.

From then on Gillian has her angel with her everywhere, guiding her and helping her gain respect and popularity at school. He isn't visible to anybody but Gillian and can speak to her through her mind but he can still do physical things. Soon Gillian falls in love with her angel but she also loves her crush from school, David. Which should she stick to? She especially is unsure when her angel starts asking her to do weird things and does things that are unacceptable. Gillian doesn't know if she should trust Angel anymore and has to figure who or what he really is before he asks her to do something really terrible. And Gillian must decide... David or Angel? This book was very interesting and different. It's a very good read but not the best.

In The Chosen, Rashel is a trained vampire hunter. She's one of the best. She has no pity for vampires and despises them more than anything. She's a vampire hunter because she seeks revenge against a vampire that killed her mother and cousin at a carnival one day when she was just a little girl. Rashel was lucky to get away but the vampire who murdered her family threatened to find her and kill her too. Rashel decided to find him and kill him instead to avenge her mother and cousin.

When Rashel goes on a vampire hunt with a few other vampire hunters, they capture Quinn, who is known for being cruel, powerful, dangerous and most of all hates all humans. He also happens to be Rashel's soul mate. They both feel the powerful connection that sparks between them when they touch but they are both repulsed by the thought of each other. Still, Rashel sets Quinn free but they both promise to kill each other the next time they meet. When Rashel returns to their initial meeting place, she stumbles upon a girl who was captured by vampires. She spoke of a secret club where vampires lure girls to meet them somewhere, put them to sleep and then put them in a warehouse to be shipped off somewhere like captives. Rashel investigates and realizes that Quinn is a part of everything. She pretends to be like any other girl so she can be caught and shipped off with the other girls in hopes of finding tons of vampires to kill. Which puts Rashel in grave danger. Will Rashel succeed and survive the captivation? Will Quinn and Rashel keep ignoring their love for each other or will they rejoice? Will Quinn save Rashel from her disastrous fate or will he let her get hurt or worse.. killed? This book was so engrossing! I loved every part of it. Absolutely amazing.

In Soulmate, Hannah writes down warnings about herself and finds them later without remembering that she wrote them herself. She goes to a shrink but while there gets attacked by a werewolf. Another werewolf comes to save her under the order of Lord Thierry, who is a Lord of the Night World, one of the first vampires. He's lived for a looooong time. But so has Hannah, his soul mate. Hannah gets reincarnated after everytime she dies but she never remembers how she loved Lord Thierry in all of her past lives. Lord Thierry keeps coming back to her, trying to make her fall in love with him over and over again, not wanting to give up on their love for each other. But someone just doesn't want the couple to live together happily and just keeps murdering Hannah, making it seem as though it was Lord Thierry killing her. Will Lord Thierry and Hannah be able to live together in this lifetime or will Hannah die again? Will Lord Thierry finally kill Hannah's murderer or will the person live on? This book was breathtaking. It was so sad but so wonderful too. It's definitely romantic and I loved everything about it.

-M