For fans of Crescent City and Zodiac Academy - Celestial Academy-Essence is a binge-worthy delightful first book in a series of a dystopian world in a setting two decades since the apocalypse.  In an afterworld that has Hell and Heaven on Earth, humans are now the lowest beings who are sold as slaves to other races to use them however they wish.  

 

Wen (Gwendolyn) White is human, orphaned between 1-2 years old, and then sold as a slave to a Demon at four years old, or five...she isn't quite sure how old she was when she was dumped at the orphanage as a toddler with no one to tell her about her parents or her birth and her caretakers guessed how old she was since they didn't have any information about her. The only thing she had from her mother was a locket with an iridescent stone, Gwendolyn inscribed inside along with a photo of her mother holding her as an infant but it was lost in a fire. Being human, it didn't matter to the supernatural beings who had taken over as humans were not worthy to give a second thought. Her life has been hard with constant abuse by her Demon owner, who is in danger daily, and her main goal is to save enough money to buy out her and her best friend Sarah from slavery.  The only thing that has saved her from being killed is the demon slave mark she was given when she was sold. 

 

Clever and street-smart, Wen endured this harsh world for 20 years and lives in a modest apartment with her best friend Sarah. Surprisingly she's lived that long with her snarky attitude which flies from her lips like a whip before her brain can stop her. When faced with a dangerous foe, it's beyond her control spewing out insults disregarding the inevitable punishment of her brash attitude.  One day by pure accident she found that she could take an angel's essence and turn it into a powerful drug she could sell.  Being able to see an angel's essence seemed to be something only she could see.  Not even the angels could see it. Since she was the only one who could see and harvest it from them and make it into a drug, people are willing to pay a lot of money to experience the euphoric effect it gives the consumer.  The cost of buying out their slave indentures is high so she needs to sell more often to try and get out of slavery as soon as possible.  While doing this, the angels caught on and Wen was arrested in a sting operation selling to the most powerful Nephilim in history. 

 

Godric, is a breathtakingly handsome but a ruthless soldier for Heaven, and an assassin working for the angels. He drags her to the Celestial Court to stand trial for her crime and find out how she is making the drug since no one else has been able to harvest an angel's essence and transform it into something people could consume. Wen thought she would be sentenced to death. To her and Godric's surprise, her punishment was to be sent to Celestial Academy where Nephilim, Demons, Vampires, and Fae are sorted by their powers.  The chosen are tested in the divining to ensure they are angel-blessed and see where they should be placed. They are then put into groups to train for a deadly trial to be worthy of being enlisted in Heaven's army. Not only was Godric her captor, but now she is his charge to train her for the next four years while the angels try to figure out her abilities since she is an anomaly.  

 

Wen loves to get under Godric's skin and try to break down his stern resting bitchface attitude which is his default demeanor towards everyone.  Their constant bickering doesn't dampen their electric attraction to each other since it's as thick as their mutual annoyance. His mission is to figure out what exactly she is because she is not just a simple human that she believes to be, but even the angels cannot determine what she is. Being her personal trainer which he has never done before, he prepares her to endure and complete the trial that thousands before her have failed. Failure = Death and to Godric, that is not acceptable.  Although he shows constant disdain for her, he has a "touch her and die" attitude to anyone who goes near her. 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wouldn't be surprised if an adaptation was made into a TV series or movie. It has supernatural beings, mystery, a slow-burn blooming romance, danger, and fun banter. Other than some overuse of derogatory nicknames, this was extremely entertaining.