Review: Surrender the Sky by Meradeth Houston

Surrender the Sky

Author: Meradeth Houston

Series: Sary Society

Pages: 296

Publisher/Source: MuseIt Up Publishing via Netgalley

Release date: 2^nd May 2014

Synopsis. (Goodreads) Young Adult Paranormal 

Gabby lives by two unbreakable rules: don’t expose her kind, the Sary, and don’t fall in love—too bad some rules are made to be broken. 

When Gabby’s most difficult charge accidently shoots her in front of a class full of students, the event exposes her carefully hidden identity. She shifts from looking like a normal teen to her secret Sary form, revealing her wings and the existence of her kind—immortals who try to keep people from committing suicide. Her incident attracts the attention of the next leader of the Sary, Jassen, who offers her an impossible bargain: she can keep her wings if she makes amends with those who know the truth. Things get more complicated when a rebel Sary, intent on exposing them to the world, starts interfering with Gabby’s work. And there’s no denying her attraction to Jassen, who is torn between his duties and his heart. With threats at every turn and her immortality on the line, Gabby has to find a way to save the Sary or surrender the sky forever.

Review: 3 ½ out of 5 star

I am such a sucker for a pretty cover and a unique sounding synopsis so I was eager to read Surrender the Sky by Meradeth Houston and thankfully it didn’t fail to disappoint and kept me interested from the very first page.

A Sary is a form of immortal angel who are charged with helping humans that are contemplating suicide; Our MC Is a Sary named Gabby who at the beginning of the book failed to stop the boy she was in charge of from causing chaos in class which inadvertently caused her to expose her true identity – her wings, after being accidentally shot, something forbidden for her kind.

When punishment is to be dealt, the future Sary leader, Jassen arrives and offers her an opportunity to make up for her mistake and deal with the people who saw what she really was. The premise was quite interesting and I found myself enjoying the authors’ creativity and endearing characters. Jassen was enigmatic and a great love interest, the forbidden aspect made things all the more exciting and Bea was the most wonderful best friend, I adored her forthright attitude, the interactions between the characters was great. The villain, a rogue Sary named Leon was also written well and I enjoyed learning about why he was the way he was but I would have loved a few more background details, I felt he lacked the angst and evil vibe needed to make him truly terrifying.

The plot was detailed and filled with many surprising moments,the writing was entertaining and the details vivid; I had no idea this book was a part of a series; I don’t feel I missed anything from not reading the other books as the main characters aren’t continued from the previous books.

Thank you to MuseIt Up Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Surrender the Sky.

 

About the author: I've never been a big fan of talking about myself, but if you really want to know, here are some random tidbits about me:

>I'm a California girl. This generally means I talk too fast and use "like" a lot.

>I have my doctorate in molecular anthropology. Translation: I sequence dead people's DNA and spend a whole lot of time in a lab, which I love.

>I've been writing since I was 11 years old. It's my hobby, my passion, and I'm so happy to get to share my work!

>My other passion is teaching. There's nothing more fun than getting a classroom of college kids fired up about anthropology!

>If I could have a super-power, it would totally be flying. Which is a little strange, because I'm terrified of heights