A priceless mystical treasure, a dark secret order, and a vengeful fallen angel forces collide as the battle for Middleburg continues . . .
For gang members Raphael and Ignacio, plans for the homecoming dance are almost as harrowing as their recent victory against the demonic forces that threaten their town. Despite their tentative alliance, a fight breaks out between the preppie Toppers and the goth Flatliners when Topper girl Aimee shows up at the dance with Raphael, the rival gang's leader. In the midst of an all-out rumble, the homecoming queen discovers a supernatural power that causes a potentially deadly catastrophe. Meanwhile, a charismatic half-angel, half-human arrives in Middleburg with plans to steal Aimee from Raphael.
To add to the bizarre circumstances surrounding the town, real-estate moguls begin buying up most of the Flats and evicting the tenants. These mysterious men seek a priceless treasure prophesied in ancient Chinese writings and will stop at nothing to find it. But Raphael and his friends vow to get to it first and use it to reclaim their homes.
As Raphael and the Flatliners and Zhai and the Toppers hone their supernatural abilities and search for the treasure, Aimee begins kung fu training, intent on using her new skills to locate and rescue her mother. When she discovers that the elusive treasure may be the key, the race to find it intensifies.
But there are others who seek the treasure too, and they have the power to reduce all of Middleburg, and perhaps the world, to ashes. . .
Goodreads Summary
The reader will reconnect with his/her favorite characters with this next book in the Tracks series. Though this is the second book in the series, the reader does not necessarily need to read the first. The authors did a wonderful job of informing the reader of what had transpired earlier in the first novel.
The rival gangs still exist and are a problem for Aimee and Raphael. Will the young boy/girlfriend's relationship make it in a harsh environment? In this story, it seems like there is more focus on romance in general. There is plenty of romance for many of the people in the gangs. The reader will get to know many much better thanks to this new focus on romance. There is more action than the first novel; for a full summary take a look at the Goodreads summary above. The best qualities this novel contained centered around the increased amount of romance (for us romance junkies), getting to know the characters better, and added action scenes (the ending fit the description "ended with a bang" perfectly). Aimee is still determined to make her relationship with Raphael work, but a charismatic Orias is making that desire difficult to achieve. Orias is a character the reader may first be suspicious of, but will likely come to appreciate. He will test the strength of Aimee's relationship. Dalton, Nass, Zhai, etc... return and remain ever funny and kind. The only negative to having so many characters are that sometimes it is hard to keep them all straight-who's dating who? Who hates who?
This is one long book (480 pages) and may seem like too much to sift through; however, the length of this book gave the reader much more time to realize the depth of the characters and connect the dots as far as the plot is concerned. There are surprises, hints of mystery, tender/shy/weird/etc romance, action-packed scenes, and realistic young adult characters. This book is recommended to teen/young adult readers.
4 Stars
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This book sounds really interesting! Definitely putting it on my to read list :)