Review: ‘Haze’ (The Rephaim #2) by Paula Weston

Gaby Winters’ nightmares have stopped but she still can’t remember her old life. Still can’t quite believe she is one of the Rephaim—the wingless half-angels who can shift from place to place, country to country, in the blink of an eye. That she was once the Rephaim’s best fighter. That demons exist. That Rafa has stayed.

But most of all, she can’t quite believe that her twin brother, Jude, might be alive.

And Gaby can’t explain the hesitancy that sidetracks the search for him, infuriates Rafa, and sends them, again, into the darkest danger

I’m struggling with how to review this book, given it’s the second in the series and a lot of people reading this probably won’t have read the first (which is Shadows). I could just write IT’S AWESOME GO BUY IT RIGHT NOW in all caps and then put in some animated gifs of people squeeing all over the place, but that’s not particularly coherent.

At the start of Shadows, Gaby is miserable. She lost her twin brother, Jude, in a car accident a year before. Her sleep is tormented by nightmares of his death and of a strange vision of demons rampaging through a nightclub—and when she has good dreams of their time backpacking together they tear her up just as much, because he’s no longer with her.

Then Rafa shows up, defiant, sexy and disbelieving Gaby’s claim that she doesn’t remember who he is.

Rafa tells Gaby she and Jude are the half-angel offspring of Fallen angels who broke out of hell. A year ago, the pair disappeared together. Gaby woke up in hospital believing she was human. Now, both Rephaim and demons are very interested in finding out what she and Jude did, and will go to all kinds of lengths to get hold of her.

I love Gaby as a main character. She’s sassy and confident. Although Jude’s loss—because regardless of who they really are, he’s still gone—has left her broken, she lifts her chin and soldiers on as best she can.

The chemistry between her and Rafa is volatile. He can be an asshole, but it’s a blustery front to hide his own pain: pain over events from Gaby’s past that she no longer remembers. And when he lets his guard down, showing his compassion and tenderness…woo. *fans self* Haze has the exact right blend of romance and plot that I love in a good urban fantasy. The romance is present, and the slow burn is sexy as anything, but it’s not the main focus of the story.

The two books are set over about a two-week period. That’s how fast the pace is. There were times reading Haze that Weston would throw in a reference to something that happened “this morning”, for example, and I’d be like, WHAT THOSE CHAPTERS WERE ALL ONE DAY? So much was packed into them it seemed impossible—but it really gives you a sense for how exhausted the characters must be, the urgency of the storyline. When they had a chance to pause for food or a sleep I was relieved on their behalf!

I gather there’s at least one more book in the series, maybe two. Like Shadows, Haze has an ending that has equal parts closure and setup for the next book. I MUST HAVE IT NOW!

Paula Weston is an Aussie writer, so that’s another plus—although I gather a deal has been signed for them to come out in the UK and US so you guys don’t have to miss out on this particular slice of awesome. Yay you!

This is a five star read.