Customer Reviews

Breathless: Book One of the Jason and Azazel Trilogy

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

BELOW IS MY REVIEW FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES!

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, BUT IT ALSO GIVES LIGHT TO THE TRUE SUBJECT OF THIS TRILOGY...I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN WHAT THIS TRILOGY WAS REALLY ABOUT BEFORE I STARTED IT...SO CONTINUE PAST THIS POINT WITH CAUTION!!****

A crazy town full of Satanists who want to rape and kill innocent people, the "Messiah" who happens to be killing machine and satanic "hippies" who conceive the child of the Devil...this trilogy wasn't for me!!

Breathless, Trembling & Tortured by V.J. Chambers missed the mark in my book. Breathless, the first in the trilogy, is the best of the three books (and that's not saying much). By the beginning of the second book in the series, Trembling, I desperately wanted to turn off my Kindle and be done with it, but I stuck it out until the end (partly because I am sort of OCD and I HATE to leave things unfinished). I wish I could say that after concluding this series everything came together and I saw the light, but that wasn't that case. Frankly, I didn't like what I read.

The biggest disappointment, in my opinion, was how misleading I found the book descriptions. I understand you don't want to give too much away, but based on these descriptions I expected: a love triangle, a mysterious bad boy, romance and suspense. Don't get me wrong, this trilogy contains almost all of that, but it is more strongly based on Satanism, a secret society who have, literally, created the "Messiah" and parents who try to force their daughter (the reincarnation of the devil, of course) to participate in a satanic ritual. During this ritual, she is expected to be raped and to commit murder. Oh, those parents I mentioned ...yeah, those same parents are foster parents who have taken in numerous children over the years. What a horrible message!

I gave the Jason & Azazel trilogy 1 STAR. I think some people might get a kick out of this story; I was not one of them. If after reading my review you are still interested in this trilogy then I highly recommend you read it, but if my review created any doubt for you then I wouldn't think twice about reading this series.

-XOXO

READING, EATING & DREAMING

TO READ MORE YA REVIEWS CHECK OUT MY BLOG ON BLOGSPOT: READING, EATING & DREAMING I WAS BLAIR WALDORF

I will say overall this book was a great read. Just not for me. It was not at all what I thought it would be. The book is about a secret society and a crazy town thats into satanism! They really don't even go together. I really enjoyed Jason and Azazel connection... it is interesting. The good parts were when they are on the run together. I not sure if I am going to read the next book? I read this because I loved the Da Vinci Code and I wanted something different but this book is nothing like that.

Holy #$%^! Where has this book been in my indie author wanderings? V.J. Chambers pushes YA to the absolute edge. The sweet, delicious edge. This is one of those books that crosses over- paranormal, urban fantasy, thriller, YA, adult, romance, horror, apocalypse, conspiracy, adventure, and more. Wow. I don't even know how to categorize this. Other than brilliant. It's definitely that. Brilliant. Tell your friends. Tell total strangers. This book rocks.


What begins as a sweet but compelling YA romance morphs, midway through, into something dark but even more romantic and, at the same time, sickly humorous. I cannot count the times I found myself laughing out loud then looking over my shoulder a little nervously because Chambers manages to make the inappropriate and the forbidden approachable and even funny. If it shouldn't and can't be happening, it will and does. This is not a book for the faint of heart. Chambers tackles teenage sexuality in plain language. Characters make disturbing, sometimes even illegal, life choices, but Chambers follows through by showing the consequences of their actions. High school is well-rendered in all its insular pettiness. However, she also lets moments of greatness we can all relate to poke through and shine, like the one teacher who encourages free-thinking or the maddening, magical moment when you realize you would throw it all away because of one single electric kiss.


Azazel and Jason both make compelling leads. Both are strong, intriguing, and have great chemistry. Jason is spot-on as the strong, mysterious, but oddly vulnerable boy who defends Azazel from bullies and even mild insults with militaristic fervor. His intelligence and logical arguments are refreshing in a YA romance. Azazel is bewitching as the center of her offbeat hurricane of a family. A little hitch here for me: Jason's longing for normality is understandable, but Azazel? Hmm. Beyond that, though, they are brilliantly polymoral characters. They aren't meant to be entirely likeable. They are... complex, and therein lies their charm. Azazel and Jason do not move in a good v. evil, black v. white world, although everyone around them behaves as if they do. They are continuously forced to make black and white choices in a shades of gray world.


Chambers hits some pretty deep themes hard and heavy almost from page one: the nature of good and evil, and how young people can best construct their own moral identities in a world that constantly lies, fails, and uses them. Jason and Azazel are both blessed and cursed in this regard. They are at the center of relentless, pervasive violence and betrayal, but Chambers gives them the gift of each other: their deepening love becomes an unwavering moral compass that guides them through the madness of their worlds turned upside down and shaken sideways. This drives them closer together, but it also forces them into choices that mark and scar them. Chambers leaves us with the hope that together, there is not only healing, but destiny as well. However, she leaves us hanging as to whether that destiny will be a happy one, or a further descent into chaos and destruction.


Thank goodness for book two. And no waiting, either.

I gave this book three stars instead of two because it has a lot of potential, but doesn't deliver. It starts off light-hearted enough, with a teenage girl and her teenage problems and, of course, there's a secret being kept from her. Chambers does well, dropping enough hints at the secret to keep us interested without giving away what it is until the very last second. The plot movement was simple, yet believable, and the premise hooks you in pretty much immediately. I really thought I had a winner here.

However, the book does a complete flip-flop. The whole first half of the book suggests something fairly innocent and fun to read; but, when the secret is revealed and everything is laid out on the table, you realize it's something much darker and more sinister than that. Then, after everything goes to hell, we are thrust into a whole new story with new people and new circumstances. Everyone from the first half of the book is either killed or forgotten about within a chapter or two of the secret's exposure. The second half of the book was so different from the first half that I couldn't even attempt to reconcile it. It all went downhill so fast. The worst part was how morbid everything became. Jason and Azazel's circumstances turn into something so tormented and sad that I felt like there was no hope for them, like they had no way out. Not to mention their characters have a polar shift in personality, too. Anyway, I began to feel like the only way this book would end was with Jason and Azazel's suicides; it was that depressing. They didn't end up killing themselves; however, the real ending was so contrived, ridiculous, and unbelievable that I almost wished they had. Which by the way, this book is supposed to be part one in a trilogy, but the way Breathless ends seems like it should just be the one book. It turned out so bad that I'm not going to read the next book anyway.

In short, it had a lot of potential, but turned out to be something way more dark and depressing than I expected. Proceed with caution.

I might also mention that the sample will not give you a good idea of what the book is really like. Since the first half of the book - and the portion of which the sample is taken - is completely different than the second half, there is no way you would be able to get a good feel for the book by reading the sample. Especially since the first part of the book deceives you into thinking it's a good book.

P.S.- If you're at all religious, this book will probably offend you.

I was very excited to read this book after reading all reviews,but disappointment came after reading just couple of chapters. I understand that anything that written for teenagers or "young adults" is usually done in a "simpler language" but should it be at least proofread? I liked the main idea of the book, but the fact that characters were poorly developed and action scenes were ended to quickly killed any desire to finish it.

I'm so tired of reading the same story over and over full of cheesy dialogue. But this book was something new and the writing was refreshingly good. The characters and setting are believable yet unique, and from the beginning I was hooked.

My only problem was that the story kind of lost its steam at about 75%. For some reason the suspense was not there for me after the biggest 'reveal.' I will read the next one, but I wish I was more compelled to since I really like the characters and the story.

If Santanism offends you, then choose another book. The book is well written and draws you along, but then out of the blue you are hit with a Santanic ritual. It is a small part of the book, but it ruined my sleep and I think a reader should know when something so particularly offensive to many is going to be thrust upon them.

I love the book and am currently on the second installment. The characters are very much alive and you just experience the emotions they go through, which are the elements I enjoy the most in a book. I'm quite satisfied with the plots and twists as well, although they are sometimes, a little bit predictable.

I would have given the book 5 stars, only because the Kindle version is quite awful. Someone needs to proof read the thing before putting it out on the market. There're quite a lot of typos and misspelled words. Some run-on sentences and missing phrases, which the author had no intention of doing, I'm sure.

Overall, the book is remarkable. Something to add to your collection.

Azazel has a funny name, but the rest of her life is pretty normal. She's been dating her football player boyfriend, Toby, since Freshman year, she has a fun BFF named Lilith, and she gets good grades in school. Her only real problem is that she wants to lose her virginity to Toby like, yesterday, but he keeps telling her he wants to wait. During one of their frustratingly chaste make out sessions, Azazel spots a boy running through the woods toward their truck, looking like he is being chased. She immediately goes to help him and get him in the truck. Toby helps too, if not reluctantly.

The boy's name is Jason and as is the way with YA, he's a hottie. A mysterious hottie. Because Azazel has adopted brothers and a few foster brothers living at her house, she takes Jason home with her. Her parents are totally cool with this and try to become Jason's guardians. The only problem is, Jason doesn't exist.

After this point there is a lot of good build up. You know Jason is "something" but not exactly what and Ms. Chambers teases us with lots of meaningful looks between Azazel and Jason to the point where I was like, "Can somebody kill Toby please, he's getting in the way of true love." At the Homecoming dance, Jason admits to Azazel that he has feelings for her and they kiss...and then things get super freaky in a way I was not expecting at all. The stakes are suddenly ratcheted up ten levels and much craziness ensues. I can't tell you what because I am so not a twist ruiner.

The next book, Trembling, picks up a few months later and is an equally fun ride. If you enjoy stories about secret societies, you will really find these books interesting. They're like the Da Vinci Code, but with 17-year-old hotties and lots more making out. They're also pretty violent, which I like, but if you're looking for something strictly romantic, just be warned.

I read this book in one night and I am hooked on this series. I have a new author and I love her! I can't wait to read all that V.J. Chambers has written.