Black Wings

This paranormal mystery/romance was a winning book for me. I thought it was a book that had a pretty steady pace to it, to make the reader want to keep reading and not put the book down. The plot was a pretty decent one too and I loved the paranormal edge of it all. Demons, Fallen Angels, Gargoyles, and more....how could you not be drawn in if you are a lover of any or all of those?! The idea of a soul escort reminded me of the old TV show "Dead Like Me" in a way, which was fine by me considering I LOVED that show. The idea of soul collectors and the dead having help to pick the Door to the other side always amazes me and makes me want to read on. Characters in this book are AMAZING, they are so full of details, emotions, personality and charisma! I felt myself wanting to meat them or at least talk to them to hear all of the stories they much have doing what they do for a living. I think my favorite character had to be Beezle, the Gargoyle. I just loved his attitude and how he put on this "hard" exterior, but really was a good friend and guardian to Maddy. Beezle was also such a funny character to me. Next up in my favorite line would have to be Maddy. She just wants to know what happened to her Mother and her best friend Patrick and why they aren't recorded as ever having made a choice of where their soul would go. To figure all this out and why some dark creature seems to be after her life, she has to have the help of Beezle, a crabby boss (J.B.), and her new "tenant" from downstairs (Gabriel). Maddy soon finds there is much more to Gabriel than just a guy looking for a new place to rent and he has stronger ties to her than simply her tenant. Will she find out the answers to the questions she has? Will she be able to fight off the dark creature? Should she have wanted to find out about her past? Does it even all really matter? Will she live long enough to find out any of the things she wishes to?

I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to anyone with a love of the paranormal. I liked too that there is more of mystery than romance in this book. I think there are so many paranormal books that focus only on the romance of it all and lose the mystery of the story, this book focuses more on the mystery with a touch of romance which seemed perfect to me. I was a bit puzzled by the back and forth of the story of Evangeline at first, but it did all make sense later on. I must admit though, I am not one for back and forth in any book. I prefer to pick up a book and read one story or if there is a "past" I like to read that first and then go to the "now" of it all and watch how the past fits in as I go, not be brought to past then present then past then present while reading. The plot itself was well thought out however, and written and the characters and their personalities just sealed the deal of a good book for me. All in all I am very glad I picked up this book!

4/5 Stars! ( )

I picked up this book for a number of reasons, one I do like books about angels, and two, the whole agent of death concept brings me back to one of my favorite shows, Dead Like Me, so I figured I would give it a try. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting, but by the end of the book I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the book.

I like the character of Maddy, she has a pretty good head on her shoulders, and to her credit she doesn't back down. I think part of the reason I really liked Maddy in this book is that while she is powerful, she is just coming in to her power and so she doesn't really know how use it, which leads to the action in this book being unpredictable I also like that Maddy is the type of girl who runs into the fire to help people.

Another thing that makes Maddy all the more enjoyable to read is her cast of sidekicks. Well, technically she only has the one sidekick, her gargoyle, who is pretty hilarious with his antics and eating habits. Gabriel is kind of a big question mark throughout the book, he knows a lot more than he is telling, and the rules regarding Maddy and Gabriel's interactions are rigid to say the least.

And speaking of rules, the world Maddy was born into is more than complex. The rules are rigid and disobeying the rules almost always seem to end in beheading, so talk about incentive to "behave". Unfortunately for Maddy, she has no idea what the rules are, and she ends up putting her foot in her mouth on more than one occasion To say Maddy has a complex and some crazed family situation would be an understatement.

I would recommend this book. The descriptions are pretty good, the characters a pretty good, and once the action takes of it doesn't really ever stop. I read this book pretty quickly and enjoyed it from beginning to end. I look forward to reading the sequel. This book isn't heavy on the romance, so if you are looking for that I have a feeling you will find it in book two. But if you are an urban fantasy lover who wants serious action then you will probably enjoy this book. ( )

Abigail's review is the reason I want to read this one, you can see it at All Things Urban Fantasy.

7/11 - Interesting mythology, cute sidekick, and perhaps an overly complex social life. It's been a long time since a UF heroine was a virgin, I'm a little afraid to find out why that's important, plot-wise. ( )

Great premise and there was lots of action but he heroine flu d herself unconscious and her head injured way too many times. I like Gabriel and I knew right away who her later second love interest would be and I didn't mind him. I was mad that they created a fun character at the beginning who is almost immediately killed and she barely even ack owl edges his death.

My biggest problem though, and I appear to be the only reviewer to mind this is that Maddie is morally ambiguous at best. She is confronted by fallen angels and her biggest problem with them is how controlling they are. She even refers to them just as "Angels" and differentiates between them and demons who are evil. Hunh? She mentions the archangel Michael as being good and that heaven really exists but she has little fear around lucifer and is brethren and keeps losing her temper. (Again not because they are unspeakably evil. It because of all their stupid laws.) this is clearly the Judeo-Christian mythos and if she's just annoyed with it then something is terribly wrong.

I did enjoy it and plan to read the next one but I need a little more emotion around the evil beings in her life. ( )

Great premise and there was lots of action but he heroine flu d herself unconscious and her head injured way too many times. I like Gabriel and I knew right away who her later second love interest would be and I didn't mind him. I was mad that they created a fun character at the beginning who is almost immediately killed and she barely even ack owl edges his death.

My biggest problem though, and I appear to be the only reviewer to mind this is that Maddie is morally ambiguous at best. She is confronted by fallen angels and her biggest problem with them is how controlling they are. She even refers to them just as "Angels" and differentiates between them and demons who are evil. Hunh? She mentions the archangel Michael as being good and that heaven really exists but she has little fear around lucifer and is brethren and keeps losing her temper. (Again not because they are unspeakably evil. It because of all their stupid laws.) this is clearly the Judeo-Christian mythos and if she's just annoyed with it then something is terribly wrong.

I did enjoy it and plan to read the next one but I need a little more emotion around the evil beings in her life. ( )