Tuesday Tales: Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith

So I'm a little slow on the uptake, because this book came out in February 2009 and I'm just now reading it. Here's the premise:

At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight.

Meanwhile, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as the princess’s personal assistant, has his work cut out for him trying to save his girl’s soul and plan the Master’s fast-approaching Death Day gala.  

The book trailer (below) is pretty awesome.
Eternal Trailer

OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS | MySpace Video

So, any vampire or angel lover has to read this book, cause wow - cool premise, huh? I enjoyed the way this book was told from alternating points of view - first Miranda, then Zachary and back again. Smith handled this seamlessly and without overlap. I have to admit to loving the start more than the ending. I don't want to give away too many spoilers in case you haven't read it yet, but it ends the way it "should," and not the way we romance lovers would hope.

Throughout the book, we see a glimpse of the gruesome side of vampires (or eternals) as they refer to themselves, that's been lacking in YA. They're vicious, unforgiving, cruel. They keep prisoners (food) locked away in a dungeon and treat their human servants little better than slaves. The royalty shows no mercy even to others of their kind, regularly executing them for even minor offenses. Something about this darkness was inviting and stood in stark opposition to the light of the angels. And it truly made Zachary's mission "impossible."

 

I didn't fly through the pages, per se, but I did stay up reading too late on a couple of nights, if that tells you anything. Overall, I give it 3 out of 4 Greek Coins: a URA* rating.

And the author gets extra brownie points because I DM-ed her on twitter to tell her I enjoyed the book and she responded that same day with her thanks. Got to love the accessible author. You can find out more about Cynthia Leitich Smith on her webpage, or you too can follow her on twitter.  Smith is also the author of TANTALIZE (2007) and the forthcoming sequel to ETERNAL, called BLESSED (2011).


Question: has anyone read TANTALIZE? It, too, sounds "tantalizing," but was wondering about the general consensus on it. There's so much good stuff out there!