Gates of Paradise by Melissa De La Cruz

Goodreads
368 pages, YA Paranormal (vampires)
Blue Bloods #7 (and final book)
My rating: 4 stars

Synopsis

Schuyler Van Alen is running out of time. The Dark Prince of Hell is storming the Gates of Paradise, intent on winning the heavenly throne for good. This time he has his greatest angels by his side, Abbadon and Azrael—Jack and Mimi Force, as they are known in the Coven.

Or so he thinks. Even as Lucifer assigns Jack and Mimi the tasks of killing their true loves, the Force twins secretly vow to defeat the Dark Prince once and for all. But how far will Mimi and Jack go to conceal their real loyalties?

Meanwhile, former vampire Bliss Llewellyn has joined forces with Lawson, the greatest wolf of the underworld, to free his people from their imprisonment in Hell. As they struggle against impossible odds, an ancient message, woven into the very fabric of time, reveals just how much depends on the success of their mission.

Lucifer seeks the key to the Gate of Promise, and when Schuyler is taken captive and delivered straight to Hell, she must make an unthinkable choice—the same one the archangel Michael was forced to make during the Crisis in Rome. Will Schuyler find the strength to do what he could not?

The epic, heartbreaking Blue Bloods series comes to a close with this final novel about staggering courage, unbearable sacrifice, and the immortality of true love.

My 2 cents

I have been on a lot of ups and downs with this series.  Everyone I know told me to read it.  The first book left me kind of wanting, but everyone assured me it gets better.  Which it did!  I loved books 2-4 a lot!  Things were exciting, and there were lots of unexpected twists!  Book #5, Misguided Angel was where the series started to lose it for me.  But I knew I wanted to finish this series.  The sixth book, Lost In Time, was just meh.  I can hardly remember what happened!

I almost reread all of the books before I read this one.  I think I still should go back and reread them, because it might make more sense to me!  But in the end, this wasn't a bad finale!  It felt a little more like the beginning of the series, which was fine with me!  I would say though, if you haven't read the ebooks called Wolf Pact, you may be a little lost.  I haven't read them yet, and I'm guessing that I would have enjoyed the wolf aspect more if I had!  So I've decided I will go back and reread this whole series when I have time!  It may be awhile!

On to the book review!  The book is divided into several chapters.  It flip flops between all the different characters, who are all over the world at this point.  It goes between Schuyler, Oliver, and Kingsley (Schuyler's POV), Mimi and Jack (Mimi's POV), and Bliss and the wolves (Bliss's POV).  Kingsley is calling all of the covens to London to open the gates.  Lucifer has Mimi and Jack on a mission to steal the Holy Grail.  And Bliss and the wolves are trying to fix the fabric of time.  

A lot happens in this book (if you can't already tell!), so this is only the starting point.  I don't want to give away spoilers, so there is more action to look forward to!  But it basically ends in THE WAR we've been expecting the whole series!

Mimi was definitely my favorite character in this book, with Bliss coming up second.  I never thought I would like Mimi!  She is amazing in this story.  She makes Schuyler, Jack and Oliver look just plain boring!  And of course, I'm still in love with Kingsley!

Like I said, there was a ton of stuff going on in the story, so I really expected the battle at the end to feel more epic.  It felt kind of cut short, although everything did get tied up nicely.  THE ENDING!  I can't say anymore, I'll give it all away!

If you've been a follower of the series, its worth the read!  You'll want to see what happens to all your favorite characters!