Meridian By: Amber Kizer

Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate’s tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home—and Meridian’s body explodes in pain. Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos.

Another book that I really liked...  Meridian is an unusual girl.  Dead things seem to find her wherever she goes.  It started out small like insects and rodents.  As she aged she came to understand the warning signs of death.   When she turns sixteen her parents send her to live with her great aunt in Colorado to learn about what she is.  It turns out that she is half angel and half human and it is her job to help souls to heaven after they die.  She also learns that there are dark angels as well and they are trying to capture souls and kill her kind. 

At her aunts house she meets Tens.  He is her age and has been living with her aunt for a while learning how to be a protector for Meridian.  They have a cute relationship in my mind.  He is adorably cute and he is always trying to do things to help Meridian but at the same time he seems out of his element and kind of awkward.  Who doesn't love a cute/awkward teenage boy as the love interest?  :-) 

Meridian's character has already done a lot of growing up before she turned sixteen.  Dealing with death and pain all the time and trying to not let "normal" people know what she is going through.  She starts out the book very isolated and alone and she has to learn how to deal with people 24/7.   She also has to deal with the personal loss of her family.  For their protection she is unable to speak with her parents or her little brother.  I liked watching her learn to love trust and interact with her aunt and Tens.

This book also has a little bit of action in dealing with the dark angels and town-people.  This book also has a great example of how people react with the unknown and how easily good people can change when fear and faith are brought into their life.  This was a fun book that is a first in what looks like a four part series.