IMMORTAL CITY

A world that worships not angelic Hollywood stars but actual angels proves familiar.

Guardian Angels exist, but they only help people with enough money to pay for their exorbitantly expensive contracts. They lead the lives of the glitterati in Angel City, the Hollywood of this celestial-infested world. Jackson Godspeed is Angel City's favorite, a hunky 18-year-old A-lister whose every date is featured on the celebrity programming of both A! and the Angel News Network. When Jacks and his Ferrari wind up in hiding (from the cops, from his ex-girlfriend, from the media) in a scruffy diner in a bad part of town, he meets Maddy, a gruff, high-school student and waitress. The connection between Maddy and Jacks is electric and inevitable. Through the rest of their adventure—running from serial killers, fighting demons, posing for cameras, discovering corruption among the ranks of the Guardian Angels, learning the truth about old murders—they dance around each other, admitting then denying their sexual tension. Maddy's early commentary on the classist structures making up her world are entirely subsumed in the sensual reveling in celebrity: brand names and sports cars; powerful male Angel leaders and sexy female Angel models. The necessary revelation of Maddy's deep, dark secret (no everyday girl, she) will surprise no one.

An overfull crossover between paranormal romances, hard-boiled–detective stories and Gossip Girl novels.