First Impression:Another good vs evil... I want your soul type read. Despite Illuminate's gorgeous cover, I was really on the fence with this one. Had the potential to be super amazing or super disappointing.While Reading: Angel books and I do not have the greatest history. Find one that I like, then the next thing I know, five other books are coming out with a similar premise. To a certain point, the angel aspect has been beaten to death. But something about this blurb gave me a ray of hope. Illuminate begins with Haven Terra and a group of classmates all discovering that their school year is no longer their own. Instead, they have been selected to work at an internship for an up and coming hotel. Right away, I was a little put off by this premise. Three high school students. Full-time internship in place of school. No actual school like work to speak of. Does any one else see the problem with this? Maybe it would have been better if it was set during Summer Break, but as it was, I had a hard time buying into the idea that the parents, the school, even the kids were all okay with this situation.Not wanting this specific detail to hinder my whole reading experience of Illuminate, I decided to put this in the back of my mind. Once I did and got past the first half of the book, Illuminate really started coming to life. Unfortunately, there are a few other details that I almost forced myself to buy into, but the later half of Illuminate was so much more captivating than the first half. Haven really began to shine here. All the pieces Dante, Lance, and Lucian fall into place. The second half of the book really made Illuminate into a fantastic read. Yes, this is one of those books that you have to stick with for a bit for things to get going. I know I was happy I did. Verdict:Illuminate is one of those book where less would have been more. The story and premise as a whole were completely captivating. Offering something a bit different to the whole Angel premise. Yet, Illuminate suffers by adding in more than what the reader really needs. Take away the countless pointless tasks that our MCs are forced to do, and a good chunk of the book would have disappeared and made the pacing so much better. Bottomline, Illuminate is not a bad read. Actually, it is quite the opposite. By the end of the book, I was completely invested and glue to its pages. Yes, it took me a while to get to that point, but in the end, I did and really enjoyed what Agresti had to offer.
