A Touch of Crimson: A Renegade Angels Novel (edition 2011)

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Elite heavenly warrior in love with Shadoe that has been reincarnated into the body of Lyndsay Gibson.

Opening Sentence: “Phineas is dead.”

The Review:

Let me first say with no spoilers, I hate the way that this book ends. My recommendation is that you ensure you have book 2, A Hunger So Wild, on hand so you can continue this epic tale. Unfortunately, I don’t have that luxury but I will add it to my list of must read in the near future.

Now to what you really want to know, does this book live up to Sylvia Day’s name or does it fall a feather short? This is world I was sucked into from the very first line and every time I had to put the book down I was itching to pick it back up. This sort of story telling is a true gift. Many authors have wonderful sense of timing and flow but Ms. Day grips you in a special way and doesn’t let go until her story has been told.

Adrian Mitchell is our Captain of the Elite squadron of seraphim whose mission is to ensure that all Fallen angels live with the knowledge that they will never ascend back to heaven. Throughout the span of time, Adrian has weathered this responsibility with only one flaw. He fell in love with Shadoe, who is the daughter of the highest ranking Fallen. Her life is threatened and Adrian turns to her father to heal her but instead her father starts to change her into a vampire. Adrian has no choice but to kill her before she is turned completely.

Because Shadoe was on the verge of being changed her soul becomes immortal and has been reincarnated in various times through out the centuries. This time her soul has joined up with Lindsey Gibson, who has her own special giftedness.

We are thrown quite forcefully into the path of Adrian and meet him when he is being informed of the death of his second in command and brother. The insight we get into his psych is an interesting one. This man is full of complexity. He bears the weight of his rank and stature but isn’t afraid to use it when necessary. The way his emotions are mirrored in the weather is an inspiring touch.

Lindsay’s arrival on the scene is the typical boy meets girl but all of that is thrown into chaos when she takes down a dragon demon. All of my preconceptions about her character were thrown out with the bath water and in its place comes an amazing woman of depth, selflessness and drive. This is my favorite type of female character in part because many times woman are seen as dependent in some way. Lindsay is so independent it is scary but with a heart of gold.

The thread that is woven into this story is seamless and is one that I am looking forward to returning to in A Hunger So Wild. Overall, this is a masterful touch of writing by Ms. Day.

Notable Scene:

He touched the back of her hand where it rested lightly on the armrest, relishing the charge he got from the simple contact. He heard the elevated beat of her heart as if his ear were pressed to her chest. Over the paging of flight information, boarding calls, and gate changes, the strong and steady rhythm of her heartbeat was crystal clear and deeply beloved. “Some women are unforgettable.”

“You sound like a romantic.”

“Does that surprise you?”

Her lips curved gently. “Nothing surprises me.”

FTC Advisory: Signet/Penguin provided me with a copy of A Touch of Crimson. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

An enjoyable story of reincarnation, angels and vampires. This is for people who enjoy a bit of a dark edge to their paranormal romances as well as fans of the series. ( )

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book since I hadn't read any of Sylvia's work before, but I had heard good things about her so my expectations were high. I'm happy to say that she didn't disappoint! I found A Touch of Crimson to be very easy to read, with good characters who were easy to like for the most part. There was a lot going on in this book, and thus a lot to remember while you were reading it, and I felt that the Glossary at the beginning of the book was a big help. You have the angels, including the Sentinels and their subgroups, the vampires, and the lycans (not to be confused with werewolves - they're more like shape shifters who change into wolves), among others. Each group is explained in detail - how they were made, what their job is, etc., so it didn't get too confusing while reading it. I did find that I had to go back and double check the glossary for a while, but it didn't take too long before I could figure it out without help. I thought the relationships and interactions between the groups were very interesting, and added a lot to the story.

I enjoyed the pairing of Adrian and Lindsay, especially when you consider their whole back story (Adrian is the head honcho angel in charge of policing the Fallen angels, and is supposed to be above reproach, but he was seduced by the head vampire's daughter, Shadoe, a long, long time ago, and is now facing the possibility of being turned into one of the Fallen himself, and Lindsay is the reincarnated soul of Shadoe, who feels inexplicably drawn to Adrian but doesn't know why). The only problem that I had with the story was the fact that Adrian is totally consumed with thoughts of sex and even though he knows it could lead to an eternity of suffering and the very real possibility that he would lose his soul, I didn't feel that he really wrestled with himself as much as I would have expected him to. I realize that he's had thousands of years and many reincarnations of Shadoe to come to terms with it, but something just didn't gel for me there. I was glad that Lindsay really tried to be the moral compass with regards to Adrian's soul, though. I also liked that Lindsay's reincarnation of Shadoe was different from all of her previous incarnations, and that that threw Adrian for a loop!

One other area I had trouble with was all of the major cursing that the angels, especially Adrian, did! I mean, come on! They're angels for Pete's sake! You'd think they would be worried about getting struck by a lightning bolt or something the way they talked! Sailors on shore leave have nothing on these guys!

Other than those two small things, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series. One of my favorite characters in this book was Elijah, the alpha lycan, and I hear that the next book is going to be his, so I'm definitely looking forward to that! I had read that nobody does a sex scene like Sylvia Day and I can tell you that that is 100% true! Steamy doesn't even begin to describe it! I give this book an enthusiastic 4 stars :D ( )

I liked the start of the book but started to lose interest. This whole book is about a head Angel warrior Adrian Mitchell, who is hunting and killing angels that have done the same thing that he did - fall in love and mate with a human. He is doing all this while he chases his human Shadoe's soul all across the ages. I don't like the double standard and maybe It's that I don't like stories about Angels. I do like Elijah and will most likely read his book. ( )

I received this book for review in December. I have tried to read it a couple of times, but I was not pulled into this story. The story line was interesting and I liked the sexual tension between Adrian and LIndsey, but I didn't feel that there was enough character development to make me care about them. I like the glossary at the beginning of the book, but I found myself getting confused and when I am reading I don't want to have to refer back to a glossary to figure things out. The story got better after slogging through several chapters but I did have to make an effort to get through those chapters to make sense of things. I am not a big fan of mixing angels, vampires and romance so maybe that is why I was not a big fan. ( )