An emotion driven dark fantasy.Katie’s friends, family, and loving boyfriend have kept her from drowning in a sea of crippling anxiety. Now, a handful of medications help her through the stressful college life.Until Matthew.Katie becomes inexplicably and unnaturally drawn to him. Her decisions no longer feel like her own. Thrust into his world of secrets, manipulations, and betrayals, she is … betrayals, she is swept up in a torrent of emotions she can’t control. When the ties with her loved ones are severed, her world closes in. She can only see one way of escape.
Death.
But instead of finding peace in the afterlife, Katie is caught in the midst of an ancient supernatural war. When the angels have the power to control her, Katie must fight back or risk corruption and become Matthew’s sacrificial lamb.
Trigger Warning for self harm and suicide
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This is such an interesting concept and well written! The ending does leave me wanting, but that is why there is a second book! I cannot wait to read it!
I read this book in 4 days and I’m not a fast reader at all but that’s how addictive it is. There descriptions are very details and vivid. I can play out each scene in my head. It’s very emotional I was getting choked up on quite a few occasions and I have conflicts with my own feelings about each of the characters’ decisions. There are a few word typos but you can still understand the point that the author is trying to make. I’m a huge fan of this book and this new author. I can’t wait to see what other amazing adventures she takes us on.
(Actual rating: 4.5)
Everyone always says don’t judge a book by its cover but to be completely honest I mostly bought this book because I loved the cover so much.
Sacrificial Lamb has everything I want in a YA fantasy: a realistic main character, a supernatural world (in this case “Heaven”) and likable love interests that left me torn between who was my favorite character!
This book started out in an urban setting, focusing on Katie, a college student struggling with anxiety and the urge to self harm. Although triggering, I thought the topics were dealt with very well and there was no romanticizing of them which I truly appreciated.
In order to avoid spoilers I won’t say much more but the book sped up considerably once the plot left Earth. I loved the settings and descriptions of Heaven, and the twisting plot had me devouring the second half of the book in days.
My only small complaint was that I felt things were tied up too quickly, leaving me wanting more even though the major conflict was finished. I eagerly await the next books in the series, I want to see what happens with these characters.
This is an author to watch for sure! I’m certain this series will go down in history as one of the more famous YA fantasies!
Sacrificial Lamb by Ashley Nicole provides a dark take on the Biblical tale of Cain and Abel, bringing their battle not only into the afterlife, but into modern day and bleeding into our world.
With a harsh look at how difficult day to day life can be for young adults and teenagers, Sacrificial Lamb begins following Katie, a college student studying to be a Veterinarian, who finds herself unable to resist the company of Matty, her childhood best friend. Matty shows up at her school and works his way into her life again, in ways that drive a wedge between Katie and her long term boyfriend, Scotty. She gives into various temptations, and as her life begins to spiral, unhelped by Matty’s advances and aggravating, she begins to self-harm and ultimately takes her own life.
Feeling guilt over her death, Scotty finds himself unable to contain his emotions and follows in Katie’s footsteps, then finds himself at the Gates to The Kingdom, where not all is as heavenly as it appears.
A turbulent and heartwrenching story with echoes of The Good Place and Cabin in the Woods, Sacrificial Lamb will keep you guessing about the motives of the “Angels” and Matty, about the sinister plot behind their actions, and about the nature of The Kingdom and Katie’s role in all of it.
The loss of innocence as we see Katie fall to temptation before she dies is well-crafted and leaves the reader feeling as helpless as the character. The sharp turns her life- and afterlife- take throughout the book will leave you guessing and hungry for more!