Marked: Soul Guardians Book 1 Paperback – March 18, 2011

Kara Nightingale is a sixteen year-old artist struggling to find her place in the world. As she tries to cope with her mom "seeing" demons at every turn and the strange sense she is being followed, she enters an art competition for a scholarship so she can attend college.On her way to the presentation, tragedy strikes. After seeing a strange man with black eyes, Kara drops her cell phone in the road and gets killed by an oncoming bus.Startled into awakening by an aggravating chimp, Kara realizes that she is dead. In Horizon, a kind of afterlife, she discovers that she has been chosen by The Chief to become a guardian angel.Kara is thrust into her new "life" with her handsome boss, Petty Officer David, saving mortals from death, or their souls after death from demons. Unfortunately the demons seem one step ahead of the duo and are dogging every mission, not allowing the pair to save the mortals from their demise. Their first mission led to the complete destruction of a soul, as the demons consumed the soul before the pair could rescue it.Marked follows Kara as she adjusts to her new life as a rookie guardian angel and her forbidden attraction to her petty officer David.I enjoyed Marked. It was very unique with the concept of being chosen to be a guardian angel and the reincarnation aspects of the soul. I also liked the indestructibility of the souls in Horizon as they trained to battle demons. I did find that the beginning was really abrupt. Before the end of the first chapter, Kara has died. There isn't really any character development in the beginning as you simply meet Kara, learn her mom has issues, and that she has a best friend and all of a sudden she is dead. It is also a little violent. The author has the mortals who the GAs (Guardian Angels) are supposed to save dying in grotesque freak accidents that don't neccessarily enhance the story, with the exception that you feel bad that those people died.Overall I would give this book around 3.5 stars because it was a little abrupt in the beginning, the relationships with Kara and the other characters do develope more towards the end of the story. I found that the ending was very interesting and made up for the lack of developement at the beginning. Teen readers will find this book to be a good cheap read to spend a day on.Check out my profile and blog!

In Marked: Soul Guardians Book One by Kim Richardson, the 16-year-old Kara Nightingale is rushing to get to an art competition. Of course, Murphy's Law is in full effect and her alarm clock did not go off . Kara's late! In her haste, she drops her phone while crossing the street. In the process of picking it up she is killed by a city bus. That's where all the adventure of this YA novel begins!This page-turner creates tension immediately -- how can the protagonist expire within the first few paragraphs?? Because she's a guardian angel -- yeah, that kind, except without the wings, halo or the long white toga...Kara, in her Guardian Angel role (GA for short), has a hunky mentor named David that shows her the ropes and engages all of her other senses as well (which did not turn off when she died!). In heaven, (this novel calls it Horizon), there's a rule that GAs are not to have intimate relationships but Kara is sorely tested as she gets closer to Petty Officer David McGowan. They even share a sizzling kiss!But their grueling work of saving mortal lives and their souls from horrific shape-shifting demons is a great distraction. The work keeps Kara and David on the straight and narrow. But when Kara gets the opportunity to go on a life-quest in order to earn the right to go back to her mortal life, will she go back and leave David in Horizon? More importantly, will she survive the ordeal that is the life-quest?The only way to know is to get this great read and explore the upper reaches of Horizon for yourself!(Pssst!! - Parent/Adults: You'll enjoy this fun read yourself!)

I love this book it's an awesome read. It was really hard for me to take a break and put it down. The author Kim Richardson did a wonderful job creating a story full a good and evil. I agree with some of the other reviews. The beginning took off a little fast. I would have really loved to find out more about Kara before she dies, but you discover more facts about her as the book continues. I also agree that this book isn't for older teens, but for young teens. This book is very very very well written exept for the beginning, but there's nothing wrong with the way the author wrote it, she might have wanted you to get to know Kara as a GA (guardian angle) than a normal teenage girl. After all this book is mainly about her life as a GA. I love the relationship between Kara and David. Kara is a very insecure teen and David is very cocky, but it seems he makes her feel important. Except for after he finds out Kara is Marked. Then he runs away from her because he thinks she is a traitor, and that she is working for Asmodeus. The demon lord. I loved this book from start to finish it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Kim is a great author. I want to read all of the books in the Soul Guardian Series. Although I have a bad habit of reading the book in one sitting, so my dad told me I should probably read a chapter or two the take a break. So I did...for most of the book that is. Overall I LOVED this book. I highly recommend it for kids around the ages 12-14 after that the book might seem a little childish. I loved it though.

I have just read the Horizon series (4 books) and found this book for free so thought I would try it sadly I think I should of started with these books as on the last page of the other series the two main characters make a appearance and I think the angels are more advanced so clearly time has passed.but saying that I enjoyed the other series more, this one was not so good David is a little to childish and thickal to me when he is ment to be charming but saying that I loved the monkeys at the end very funny.I don't think for the first book in the series that Kim Richardson have enough for you to want to keep reading. But saying that after reading Horizon series that I did enjoy the main characters and the storyline this is also based on the same Angel stories just different people in place before Alexa and milo. I know that this will get better so will go on two read book 2 as they are reasonably priced and just maybe the characters will get more likeable in book two

I bought all 8 books for 78P but am reviewing them separatelyFirstly I loved the setting of this book, the monkeys and descriptions of different heavenly levels were amazing. The most amazing imagination. However I did find the character interactions a bit rough, sometimes indepth and at other times too understated. Oh look he hates me now, anyway... When we had been given no scene or dialogue to show this. Couple of plot flaws in that she said she couldn't blush but later on he does. How come her body suit wears out but another angel on earth had been there years.All this said the story was good. I enjoyed it and as a young adult book it works. They traditionally move at a faster pace than an adult novel. I am going to read the rest of the series so it's getting a four stars so far and I'm going to see if the plot discrepancies are ironed out later on.

I couldn't put this book down and from page one I knew this would be a book I would finish within a day. I hated putting my kindle down for more than a few minutes to make a drink.The action starts immediately. Kara, our protagonist, is racing towards her dream of becoming an artist...but she is late for the presentation. Running across a road she is splattered by a bus...and when she wakes in Horizon (Heaven-like place) we learn she was chosen to become a Guardian Angel. Her petty officer David soon becomes her friend and the not-quite-there romance between them is fun to read. At one point I did think the whole insta-love was going to happen and was pleasantly surprised when it didn't. Their relationship gradually builds....and then is thrown in to complications by a Demon Mark that appears on Kara's ankle, labeling her a traitor to angels, she must fight to prove her innocence and regain David's trust.I enjoyed the pace of the story, how it all unravels piece at a time, and the extra surprises thrown in for fun. I wont say it was the most complicated plotline and some of it was predicable but with the fantastic standard of writing, the character voices clinging to your brain and begging to be read and the amazing descriptions and imagination you can easily forgive the straight forward plot.I enjoyed Kara as a character. She was brave and not as whiny as the average teenage 'voice' in YA books and had a sense of independence that I really respected. Recently there have been a spate of books and writers that have created very weak female protagonists who cling to the male love interests and lose themselves. I am glad Kara is capable of looking after herself in times of battle. David was fun, flirty, with the typical young lad ego and it was fun listening to his jokes and care free attitude.I enjoyed Marked and will soon be buying and reading the rest of the series. I hope they are all as good as this one.(

Potential counts for nothing unless it is realisedThe author has created a very interesting after-life known as Horizon with Guardian Angels tasked with saving the souls of humans who die. There are some clever ideas and this is a nice little story but oh, it could have been so very much more.Perhaps the author is aiming at the YA market and thinks that such an audience cannot deal with descriptive passages? Clearly the popularity of Philip Pullman and JKR would prove that is not the case.The story in Marked races along on the back of short lines of dialogue. There are countless opportunities for description, elaboration ..... but it's not there. It is almost as if Richardson was so desperate to get a great concept onto paper that she threw all her ideas out in a hurry before she lost them. This book could easily have been twice the length and would have been much more enjoyable for it.I see from the author's biography that she has a background in the movie industry - perhaps that explains the way this was written, it's a bit like a stripped down script, all dialogue and very little else. I realise that I will be in the minority here, the book has many 5* reviews but if you're looking for a satisfying read you can get immersed in, this is not it.

I tried, I really did. I've read a lot of books by rookie authors and I don't know if this one is or not but the read was simply.... aggravating. No sufficient description of the surroundings (or characters for that matter - hello to her bangs that appeared in chapter 6); I keep on having to pause, go back and re-adjust my minds' image of the space and character action and movement because first its a vast red desert then all of a sudden there are salt pyramids, then "thousands" of tents just pop out of nowhere (thousands!), an Archangel sitting on a chair but who knows whether it's inside or outside or--no. No, no, no, no.Trying to get through the first 7 chapters of this book was more difficult than attempting to understand and appreciate 681 pages of Raymond Feist at age 13. In painfully tiny font. I actually enjoyed the latter! 'Marked' just needlessly worked my imagination in circles and NOT in an inspiring way.I was really disappointed - I liked the summary and the reviews. I've read books that I paid for that had, like, 4 reviews that didn't average to 4 stars and I loved them, even with their editing mistakes. This was just a joke. And a waste of time. My advice - in the event that you are going to delve into a series, download a sample or a free 1st book and make sure you are comfortable with the writing style, don't rely solely on reviews - bad or good - it only takes a few pages and you'll know for yourself. I'm relieved I did not do with the 'Soul Guardians' series what I usually do - read 1st book summary, like it and then purchase the whole collection in one go. If I had, I would've been livid.