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I'd like to give this more than 2 stars, but I can't see it when I compare this book to some of the other "angel" books I've read.

Basic premise is that Jessica has been haunted by terrible nightmares since a young age. Her nightmares are really more than that, however. In them she stands trial before a panel of angels on the behalf of others, and upon their decision, she suffers the pain of these souls' ascension or worse, damnation. Oh, and she wakes up with proof of it. Enter Alex, the perfect guy, and Cole, the perfect yet creepy guy, and voila, life begins to change for Jessica, in both wonderful ways and terrifying ones.

What I liked:
- Overall premise isn't bad at all. It's fairly original in a genre inundated with copy cats. I was very curious what the author would do with it. More below.
- I liked Alex from the start. From the descriptions of him and his behavior, I speculated that he was one of the "good" angels. More below.
- Cole is a pretty good bad guy. Don't judge but for some reason, I kept picturing him as Ian Somerhalder - hot, a little too perfect, dark, and a little creepy.
- There was a scene between Alex and Jessica where I actually teared up a little because I felt her fear of telling him the truth. I really liked that scene. I put this as a positive because it was really well done. And it stands out because of well... read below. :/

What I felt needed work / didn't like:
- The plot needs a lot of tightening up. To be frank, not much appened in this book. It's a little too simple. There's just not enough complexity here. This book could have probably been told as a novella.
- I just didn't buy Alex's and Jessica's initial attraction. It happened too fast, which were he an angel, I could toss off as some supernatural effect of that. And I didn't understand / believe that he could so easily accept Jessica's "issues". And I just didn't get why he was so drawn to Jessica to begin with. She didn't exhibit any characteristics that would make me think she's this overly desirable creature that both Alex and Cole want so much.
- More on Alex. While I liked him, he was *too* good. It was almost as if the author had drawn up a character "perfect boyfriend".
- More on Jessica. Where I don't think she's a "terrible" lead, it's mostly because I couldn't figure out her personality at all. She's a blank slate, almost devoid of personality. She's awkward, ugly/rough looking (her own admission due to lack of sleep), distant, and just... not very cheerful. Why do these men love her????
- Need a lot more background. Questions were left too open. I get building mystery in series, but some things needed to be answered. Like WHY someone has to stand trial on behalf of these souls. That makes no sesne to me. To me that's a huge question that should have been addressed. I get that that's the way it is in this universe, but WHY?
- The ending. Yeah, again, more background was needed. I didn't understand why/how Alex could just volunteer in her place to save her. I don't know the rules in this world and it makes for a puzzling reading experience.
- Needs an editor badly.

I'll probably give the second book a shot just to see if some of the issues I had are rectified later on in the story. This was a quick read for me. I think I knocked it back in around 2 hours or so.