Eternal

This was the first book I read by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I was amazed by the story, the characters and the world creation. This book was so good that I bought and read Tantalize immediately upon finishing this story. Set in the same world as Tantalize but with a new set of characters, this story is fast-paced, riveting and extremely addictive. It is a story of love, but a love that can never be. It is the story about falling and possibly about redemption.

The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Zachary a guardian angel and Miranda his 17 year-old charge. But maybe Zachary loves Miranda too much; in an attempt to save her life he reveals himself in full radiance. Miranda is kidnapped by a vampire and is being trained to be Vampire Royalty, a Princess. Zachary is stripped of most of his powers and spirals down until a former colleague appears and tells him he has a new mission and gives him a start and an address. When Zachary gets there it is Miranda's new home and he becomes her personal assistant. He tries to assert his influence and save her soul.

Can an angel who is out of grace redeem himself and more importantly complete his initial mission guarding the soul of Miranda? As the story goes back and forth between their two views, we see both sides of this story. Yet both of them will need to learn who they really are at the core of their being and through that what sacrifices they must be willing to make to live up to who the are.

This story was incredibly addictive. I did not want to put it down. It was hard to go back to work from breaks reading it. Cynthia Leitich Smith has done an amazing job creating a world, and populating it with characters you cheer for, root for and a few who you hope get what is coming to them. She wrote a previous book in this world called Tantalize and has a third book coming out in 2011 called Blessed.

~(Possible Spoiler Alerts!)~
Second in an "unjoined" series (Tantalize being the first, but comprised of different characters), Eternal tells the story of a normal teenage American girl-Miranda- who ends up becoming a vampire princess. It also tells the story of Zachary, a guardian angel who ends up falling from grace when he falls in love with his human, Miranda. The only way for Zachary to become a true angel again is to stop an evil vampire. But when Miranda gets in the way, trouble starts brewing, and an ancient evil may choose to destroy them both.
Most people don't seem to give this book a chance, and I personally do not understand why. At times the changing viewpoints of the two main characters is slightly annoying, but the plot and characters are fleshed out well. This book is a must for people who not only like vampire novels, but a double-edged sword: both fun and flirty and deep and dark at the same time. Cynthia Leitich Smith has started writing the third book, Blessed, which will be coming soon, and she promises that the characters from both books will meet in it. If you like angels and vampires, pick this book up. You will be glad you did. I know I certainly was!
~Note: attached are the two books related to this one. Blessed is coming soon; Tantalize is the first in the set.

I loved the idea. The concept was amazing. It could have gone in any direction. The characters, though, fell flat. I think the author could have done more with the story. The author mentionned that she wanted to discover the castle of Dracula. There was a bit of that like the dungeon, the ball room and the office (More was emphasized on the dungeon, though).

I think the best part of the book was when Dracula returns. That was about it. Everything else, the imagery didn't do much justice to the story.

This is a borrow type of book, not one you can keep in your collection.

I had high hopes for this book, it sounded very interesting, but I had a hard time liking one of the main characters Miranda, I found her very selfish.While the writing was good and had a good plot, the story just fell a little flat.

Ok, when I first saw this book, it looked really interesting and good, therefore I decided to buy it. First off; this book had a lot of potential, but it didn't reach it.
Basically, Zachary is Miranda's guardian angel. One day, he makes a mistake and she by accident gets bitten and becomes a vampire princess. Zachary applies for a job to help the princess and he gets it. During the story, they both have crushes on each other and it later becomes a cute romance. I was sort of disappointed by the ending, though.
This book is told by both Zachary and Miranda's points of view. (It is also written in present tense - a bit different than most authors these days). It had good characters, a good story line, but it lacked in the writing. It was an OK read. It's not one of the top recommended books on my list, but its not a terrible read, either.
Overall, just an OK book. It has some horror, romance, suspense and action. It is a stand-alone book.

I love the idea of guardian angels, so when I read what 'Eternal' was about, I really couldn't resist... The story involves a guardian angel and the girl he loves and has sworn to protect, but who has unfortunately become a vampire.

The love story is very sweet, with both humorous and dramatic moments, for obviously the two main characters have a lot of obstacles to overcome. The characters were very likeable, especially Zachary, the guardian angel. I love the way angels are portrayed in this novel; they're not perfect, not even close, but that's what makes Zach so relatable. I also liked how there were a few other supernatural creatures involved in the story besides angels and vampires, though not a whole lot of information was given about them.

The writing itself wasn't bad, though I found the story to be slightly boring during most of the first half of the book. However, it got better towards the middle and the ending was action-packed and very good. Overall, it was enjoyable, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for something fun to read that holds a moral theme

was this supposed to be the 2nd book for tantalized because i found it was not related.the book itself was slow and the change between Zachary and Meranda's perspective got confusing. personally i wish i waited for it to be in the library.

I don't see what you people are going on about. To me, this book was amazing.
Did you know about the next book? It's called "Blessed" and the characters from "Tantalize" and "Eternal" cross over. It says so in the authors note at the back (I had nothing better to do than read an author's note) and also, Tantalize takes place after Eternal, I think.

I picked this book up recently, because i mostly enjoyed the author's previous book so I decided to give this one a chance, that and the plot was interesting, an angel and vampire, not something that you read everyday. The characters Zach the angel and Miranda the vampire were great as well as the story, but i found it to be a slow read, finally picking up towards the end. This book was good but could have been better.

It was a good general idea and once the pace and plot picked up near the end it was really good, but I found the rest of it pretty boring. I had to make myself get through it, and that's never a good sign.

Miranda kind of reminds me of Lindsay Lohan's character in MeanGirls and Drew Barrymore's character in Never Been Kissed and every other Teen movie I've ever seen. The main message seems to be the same. No matter how mean people are to you or how invisible you may feel, you are special and someone likes you.
Miranda has a Guardian Angel named Zachary. She's never seen him but he's been watching over her forever. No one knows her like he does!
One night in a misguided attempt to protect her, he mistakenly causes her to be taken by a vampire. Just like that he goes from guardian to fallen angel. Eventually he is given a chance to redeem himself.
Menwhile Miranda is being groomed to forget her old life so that she may become princess of Dracul. Basically this is the Vampire reign in North America.
Will Zach find Miranda? If he does can he save her? Who is the King of Dracul and why did he take Miranda? These and so many more questions will be answered for you if you choose to read this fun and interesting tale of teen angst, love and so much more.