Grace and Glory: The Harbinger Series, Book 3

Huge spoilers ahead, so beware.I’ve waited a very long time to say this. You have always been undervalued and underrated, but that has changed.” Her gaze roamed over Zayne. “You’re magnificent.”“Damn, angel boy, look at how far you’ve fallen. Literally.”I always get emotional after finishing a series I liked. With Dark Elements/Harbinger I had to take a day to clear my head, because it really feels like saying goodbye to a friend. I loved the books so much, Harbinger takes a seat right next to Lux on the crown of my favorite JLA work and one of my all time favorite books. I love every single character and their journey, I love the universe created and the way it was left by the end of the series.FALLEN“That thing was going to kill you.” Zayne tilted his head. “I couldn’t allow that. If you are to die, then it seems only fitting that it should be by my hands.”This was such an unexpected turn, seeing his magnificent self returning at the end of R&R I was expecting this star-flecked tear-inducing toothache-sweet reunion between them, and this was not at ALL that. I was caught by surprise by the amount of rage and violence mixed with pain and loss, and while the result was obvious (I mean, we knew he'll be back. Come on), I still found myself holding my breath to find out how and when things turn out. Zayne's struggle as a fallen was so well described, and his return was perfect, touching and romantic while mostly avoiding clichés.THE NEW ZAYNE“It is...different seeing you standing there. So, if I’m staring at you a little too long, that’s why.”“You sure it’s not my amazing hair?” Zayne asked, closing the fridge door. Of course he’d gone for the OJ and not the soda. “I know you’ve always been jealous of my luscious locks.”“Yeah.” Dez drew the word out. “That’s exactly it.”“You’re still hung up on the water thing? You’re a fallen angel now. Drink some carbonated, tasty goodness. Live a little.”Angel Zayne is the same, but slightly different. Having no soul seems like being more wholesome than his previous state of having a part of one, and while remaining his old health-freak car-geek nice-guy self, we see a whole lot of confidence, cockiness and smugness emerge and I love every moment of it. The familiarity of his and Trin's bickering about healthy food and drinking water, the excitement he shows about being reunited with his Impala (which was almost as grand as the reunion with Trin), of him being the nicest guy that ever existed, being too kind and patient and always saying the right thing just feels like home. In G&G we get to see my dear boy finally thriving, appreciated and even managing to put his past behind and restore old broken friendships - and it's clear that Trin is not the only one mesmerized by him. This is the perfect salvation for him, and it fills my heart with such joy, being #TeamZayne through and through, to see him get to this place after experiencing his painful journey with him.THE COUPLE“So, we’ve covered my dad, what it was like to get pumped full of grace, Lucifer, my crap vision, the fact I will grow old and you won’t, your dismay over what happened between us in the pool and the possibility of me being pregnant.” I grinned. “What a reunion, huh?”“I’m going to punch you,” I warned. “Later, when we’re not in front of people, so they don’t think I have an anger problem.”“Looking forward to it,” he replied, thick lashes lowering halfway. “Later, when we’re alone, so no one thinks I’m perverse when I get turned on by you attempting to kick my ass.”New Zayne and everchanging Trin finally manage to let go of fear of breaking the rules and make their own instead. Their relationship did not start easily, their past and fear of their future being a huge wall between them- but, somehow, after losing each other and rebuilding themselves from the ashes, this couple turned to be the best kind of brain candy. The feeling of balance finally reached, their bickering and general intelligence, their love of each other and need to protect while not holding each other back- we are finally able to sit back, grab a bucket of popcorn and just enjoy the show (and hell it's really enjoyable).“You know I’m always going to be here. Remember? I’ll always be here to make sure you can see the stars. I’m just your Guide...Fallen Angel.”HELL ON EARTH“I think there is a legion of actual demons out here, playing...badminton? With a...” She took a step back from the window. “They’re playing with that dude’s head. The dude Lucifer de-skinned.”All hell broke lose is an understatement with the pure chaos that is this book. I've been looking forward to reading Jen's take on the whole good vs evil thing, and I think she's done a phenomenal job. Nothing is black and white, in good there is always evil, and sometimes even the darkest thing can contain a spark of the brightest light. Unexpectedly, this one was a thinker, and I think it even managed to change my perspective on some level. JLA clearly matured since DE, and was totally ready to present us to the full blown prospect of bad wardens and good demons, and of portraying how it's like to receive a helping hand from the baddest of them all. This was illustrated perfectly, and being a pedantic bitch overall I don't have a single bad thing to say (maybe except from the plot hole created by meeting Lucifer in Every Last Breath and then presenting him topside as the beginning of the apocalypse..).LUCIFERThe chorus picked up in a very recognizable lyric. “Is that...?”“‘Highway to Hell’?” Zayne finished for me as he looked over his shoulder. “Please tell me he doesn’t have his own entrance song?”“You can’t peel the skin off people just because they bore you.”Arriving with a very literal bang, the ADHD, Netflix loving, pop-tart eating being of pure chaos that is Jen's Lucifer is just perfect. She managed to create the perfect balance between him remaining believably evil, yet not causing too much problems to shift the plot - while still being a very significant part of it. Confused? So am I. This is a very complicated character to include in a convincing way and she did a wonderful job of it.“It’s full of goodness,” Lucifer spat. “It’s pure, and it’s getting all over me. I’m going to need to shower this crap off.”“I bet you’re up there laughing, aren’t you?” Lucifer shouted. “Dusting me with the equivalent of a heavenly glitter bomb? Really?”MICHAEL - THE DAD“Until then, live your life as bravely and tenaciously as you have so far. Live your life with purpose, my daughter.”PEANUT. IS. MICHAEL. Luke-I-am-your-fater style. I'm proud to be one of the very small crowd that managed to crack this mystery and see it coming, yet the reveal and their reunion had me teared up. The relationship between Trin and Michael is so complex I get a migraine even thinking about it, but Jen managed to find a way to fix the wrongs between them while staying loyal to what and who they are. Being there to support her from the start, being there for Zayne when he died and even reaching out before they even started to realize what was happening, Michael is defying his stereotype and manages to become one of the bravest and kindest characters of the series. Aaaand I'm getting choked up again.“He said, ‘My daughter will one day give you grace and restore you to your Glory.’ Then he said he hoped I’d learned to know when to follow the rules and when not to.”GABRIEL AND THEIR FINAL BATTLE“You’re not looking very well, Gabriel,” Zayne said, disgust creeping into his voice. “And is it you that smells like decay?”“You smell that, too?” I asked. “Because I was wondering if Gabriel crapped himself or something.”Oozing corrupted energy and losing himself to madness, Gabriel is just an amazing villain. Clever and cunning, yet completely retarded where everything modern is concerned, overpowering Lucifer and a legion of demons, causing such disruption even after death that only god himself manages to stop him - Gabriel dances through this battlefield and OWNS it all. A lot of times, an expected climax of a story finally arrives and it's not what people were waiting for, sometimes even disappointing - this was not the case. I'm really happy we got to see Roth's familiars in action again, and the overall fighting was epic.Harbinger. This series is going to stay with me for a long long time, and maybe one day I will come back to reread it like meeting an old friend. Such a weird concept to enter your heart with such force, but this one definitely did. If you like fantasy, paranormal, dark yet funny romantic book this should definitely be considered as one of the must-read classics of the genre. Thank you for the memories, I will miss you <3“I would love you broken hips and all. I would love you as much as I do now when you were eighty. There was no way I was going to let any of that get in the way of the time I had with you, but there was going to be nothing easy about watching you slowly leave me, day by day, year by year. And when that day came, I would’ve found my way to you. I would’ve followed. Nothing would have stopped me.”

While I loved the read I am not one hundred and ten percent satisfied with Grace and Glory that I usually am with JLA book. I mean her trademark humor is there (albeit a bit over the top at times), as well as the romance (yum!) and an amazing fictional world. That being said I had some issues with the plot.Rage and Ruin left of with such a high and heartbreak my expectations and excitement was through the roof with this conclusion. A bit unfair of me perhaps but those sky high expectations was not met as well as I would have liked. Yes, there was drama and a heartbreakingly beautiful romance. Between that tough, the story kind of stood still for me. It was more of chasing Zayne around and hatching a plan to find and defeat the Harbringer. That is good and all that, but I couldn’t find any interest in it since it felt kind of repetitive. As soon as Zayne “came” back for real though and the romance actually started to bloom out I was fully reeled into the story. If there’s one thing JLA never fails at it’s the romance.I liked Zayne from the beginning and Trinity with her sight issue and charming awkwardness was a perfect match for him if you ask me. The issues and arguments from previous book made their reunion in Grace and Glory all the more sweeter and had me anticipating every cutsie little moment between them, even when it was such a small thing as holding hands. If there was one thing that could have made it even better, it would have been them finally having a heart to heart about their previous arguments since I feel like they never actually acknowledged or mentioned it ever again. I am still a bit pissed at Zayne for that to be honest so them talking it out would have made it a more satisfying romance for me. It was near perfect as it was though.While I obviously loved the romance, it didn’t fully save or compensate for the plot. For having kind of a slow poke start the plot in whole and the ending was rushed, or at least that how it came across to me. Mainly because of plot holes and mistakes that I noticed, for example Thierry being Jada’s father instead of her uncle all of a sudden, or Roth having horns when I’m 95% sure he didn’t in the previous series (of course, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). And the whole “can trueborns reproduce” issue just didn’t make any sense to me, because isn’t that something we already know they can? From book one we learned that people who can see ghosts has an angel somewhere in their bloodline, so why is this suddenly all a mystery? Angel + human = trueborn. Trueborn + human = human with the sight. Where is my math incorrect?The end fight was also rushed. They quickly knew where Gabriel was and had Wardens and demons along with Lucifer fighting side by side, no issues, no questions asked. The fight even became kind of underwhelming when a certain someone became involved. That along with Lucifer and some other aspects the plot almost became a bit ridiculous for my taste. Not so that it necessary ruined the story, but I certainly cringed a bit at sone parts. To its credit though, it did lead to a pretty intense and beautiful ending of the story with a HEA I was hoping for, almost to the point of it becoming a bit unrealistic, but the bittersweetness of a certain unknown aspect saved it. The only thing that could have med the ending better would have been some information about the spirit Trinity saw in book one, if it was Abbott which I suspect it was. That was kind of left open ended. That issue aside Grace and Glory is a clear four stars.

I loved this triology, Zane I thought we had lost! Wonderful roller coaster, highly recommend.

Grace and Glory fue el cierre perfecto de esta increíble trilogía. El libro comienza justo donde terminó R&R y, si pensábamos que todo iba a mejorar desde ahí, solo fue el inicio de una montaña rusa de emociones.Realmente no puedo decir mucho sin soltar spoilers, pero puedo decir que el libro es increíble de principio a fin. Me encantó ver a personajes que ya conocíamos, aunque definitivamente mi corazón es de Zayne y Trinity, que si individualmente son una bomba, como pareja están en el siguiente nivel.¿Y ese plot twist? ¡Me dejó sin palabras! Jennifer, tú siempre sabes cómo hacer un buen libro.A pesar de que fue un cierre precioso y bien merecido para todos ellos me sabe agridulce por tener que despedirme de tan increíbles personajes y tan increíble mundo.

Have you ever loved a book series so much that you weren't ready to say goodbye?Even though I preordered this book long before it was released, I wasn't ready to read it until now.This was such a wonderful and amazing and exhilarating conclusion to Trinity and Zayne's story ❤️I absolutely adored it and loved being surprised by the last major plot twist. I did not see it coming.It was an incredible and fitting end for this series. And you never know, the back door has been left open for another spin-off in the future. Having this tiny piece of hope made saying goodbye a little easier.

Stupendo , appassionante, coinvolgente

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 starsGrace and Glory is the last book in The Harbinger series. It continues the scene after that cliffhanger in Rage and Ruin.With the way Rage and Ruin ended, how could anyone possibly wait long to start reading the next book! I pity those who had to wait for the third book to come to finally know how that cliffhanger ended! I wanted to read The Dark Elements series first, but that was just impossible!The way this whole series is written, this book wasn’t any different. Addicting, unable to put it down I read this book in one day! This book has everything the other two had and a bit more. The banter, cultural references, humor, jokes, but at the same time nobody loses track of the very important job they all have aka saving the world!I loved how the story started right off where the second book ended. I just knew something mayor was going to happen right at the beginning, otherwise the second book wouldn’t have ended like that. I just wasn’t prepared for what did happen! It was just such a clever twist that really elevated the whole book right from the beginning. The twists and reveals throughout the book also didn’t disappoint! Especially the ones in the last couple of chapters! I believe that was one of the most amazing and unexpected twists that was just really clever.I loved meeting new characters, especially Lucifer. His entrance into the story, when we first meet him, was just the best! I laughed so loudly at that. He was not what I had expected and that made it much more amazing!The one thing I hoped wouldn’t happen didn’t! Trinity wasn’t magically cured of her RP. How she learned to live with it throughout the whole series was empowering and really strong and I loved reading it. That made Trinity just that much more real. You can be an absolute badass with a genetic disease you have, that message is just *chef’s kiss*The relationship and romance between Trinity and Zayne were just the best! They experienced it all, from the really cute moments, to heart-stopping moments, to heartbreaking moments and of course a bit of YA level spice. Sometimes I kind of wished this series would’ve been NA hihiOverall, it was an epic conclusion to an amazing trilogy! I am very sad this series is over because I loved it so much!