Breath of Angel

Finished March 24
Breath of Angel by Karyn Henley
I received this as a prepublication copy from Library Journal and had never read anything by this author before. This is the first book in The Angeleon Circle series, and from the series and book titles you can see that angels are the theme here.
The main character is Melaia, a young priestess/chantress, who witnesses the murder of a messenger in her temple courtyard. Shortly after this event, the murderer shows up there, but while he did the act as a hawk, he now appears in his human form. He asks for a tale to be told. As Melaia discovers, the tale she tells is not complete and the version she tells has elements missing. As Melaia travels to the royal court, she ends up caught up in the feud between the two brothers of the tale, and takes refuge with a group of angels who are trying to set things right. There she finds that order can only be restored by one who has "the breath of angel, blood of man," and Melaia herself has a large role to fill in the story.
I found the story interesting and engaging, and would be interested in reading the rest of the series. I could see this appealing to teen readers based on Melaia's age and her growing awareness.