Non è male, l’ho letto anche con un certo piacere ma non mi ha entusiasmato e, in più, mi ha lasciato diversi interrogativi che non hanno trovato nel libro alcuna logica spiegazione o giustificazione.
Per cominciare si parte con un assunto del tutto maschilista dove la figura femminile riveste unicamente il ruolo di oggetto ad uso e consumo del maschio, a seguire se si analizzano minimamente le diverse figure (padrone, arcangeli, cherubine, ecc.) non si può non notare che non sono altro che l’apoteosi di tutte le debolezze e bassezze umane, e che tutti i personaggi sono talmente preda delle loro personali passioni tanto da brillare per ingenuità e stupidità.
Per di più ho trovato del tutto incoerente e incomprensibile la trasformazione da arcangelo a vampiro, né riesco a trovare una spiegazione minimamente logica per cui gli arcangeli debbano metterci dei millenni per trovare le loro cherubine che, miracolosamente, appaiono poi una dietro l’altra. Ma dove sono state per tutto questo tempo? Cosa è successo di loro da quando sono state mandate sulla terra nella notte dei tempi? La loro vita come si è svolta fino a quel momento? E come succede che poi risultino essere state generate da umani?
Ci sono troppe cose che non si giustificano in alcun modo e anche se la storia non è male e riesce ad essere avvincente, le troppe domande senza risposta contribuiscono a ridurre la mia valutazione a non più di tre stelle e mezzo. ( )

Completed 10/04/18 ( )

interesting characters, new twist on similar stories, but seemed to bog down in parts. I loved the part about flying over the coast at night together, and the gaining of their wings in the end. I also love the reference to the Old Man.
I would love to learn more about Samael's army - what powers does he actually have, and whom can he command? ( )

4.5/5
Egalley thanks to Penguin Group USA

Where do I sign up for the rest of the series? It was uber cool, people.

Four Archangels roaming the earth for 2000 years looking for their archesses. And check this out: one of them is a vampire and a famous rock singer, another is the actor who played a vampire in a insanely popular movie, the third is a policeman and the forth is a fireman.

Is this a collection of man candies or what? *grinning*

But that's not it. There is a Fallen Archangel, Samael, who wants an archess for himself. He is beautiful, tempting, and not an asshole, CEO of a big media corporation and he loves to draw contracts which need to be signed in blood. Sounds familiar? I thought so.

When Uriel, one of the Archangels finds his archess, Ellie, who works in a bookshop where he does the book signing, he desperately tries to attract her attention. He waited 2000 years for such moment, and she is a perfection for him.

Ellie, who's been on the run all her life, because she has unusual abilities - she heals, manipulates the weather and moves objects with her mind, can't afford to get involved with a famous actor because she will get noticed.

Situation gets complicated because Samael finds Ellie as well, and tries to woo her. Interestingly enough, you don't get any evil vibes of him. He is cunning and he wants an archess and he worships Elly. But he also totally plays Uriel to get him into signing the contract which changes the guy into someone, let's say, unstable for the duration of it. All because Uriel didn't read all the clauses before signing. Typical.

I loved Ellie and Samael. But because of Uriel complications he wasn't as likable as he could have been. The scene of sex was almost rape-y, and I hated to read it (I'm still fragile after Dark Predator disaster, people). However, according to the author Uriel was reading Ellie's mind and behaving in a way which turned her on even more. She admitted it herself and there was nothing on this topic later on. So yeah, that part of the relationship was shaky.

The big baddies very very believable and really dangerous, which I liked and the whole world-building was very well done.

I'm totally sold on this series and looking forward to the rest of the books, hoping that the next relationship won't be as volatile as this one. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: A well-developed world with slow parts and characters that were hard to connect with.

Opening Sentence: The archangel Michael gripped the rock in his right hand so hard that his fingers left imprints in the stone.

The Review:

Avenger’s Angel is a story about friendship, love, faith and free will. Do you even have free will if your mate has been determined for you from the start? This is one conflict that Eleanore Granger must go through when determining her relationship with the archangel Uriel. Many years ago, four angels were given an archess (basically a soul mate) from God but a jealous archangel managed to scatter these women’s souls before they were given to the four angels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Azrael. They decided to leave God’s side and find their chosen mates on Earth.

Many years passed and the angels had never found any evidence of their mates, until Uriel walks into a bookstore and sees Eleanore. He knows right away that she is his archess, while Ellie is attracted to him she doesn’t quite feel the pull he has. Ellie chalks up her reaction to Uriel being a famous movie star, she feels that she doesn’t have a chance with him. But not only that Ellie is hiding a secret. She has secret powers that she must keep hidden and since she was a teenager there are people out looking for her. She must keep hidden and being the girlfriend of a popular actor would definitely give her some notoriety. The men would surely find her.

Uriel and Eleanore have to deal with another threat with the archangel Samael. He wants Eleanore as his own archess and makes deals with both Uriel and Eleanore that have drastic consequences on their relationship.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I really liked the concept of these two people meeting, especially how they met. I enjoyed the concept of the fallen angels and the women that were made for them. I never really thought of the loss of free will for these women until it was mentioned in passing in the book. Parts of this book had some interaction scenes between the characters but there were a lot of slow passages in between. Even with the slow scenes setting up this world, I really enjoyed the development that went into creating this world. I also liked that it wasn’t a preachy religious book, they had their love of God and stood up for Him and His ideals but I wasn’t being preached at about it. I had a really hard time with one of the sex scenes – it really felt like a rape scene to me – he forces himself into her mind and forces her to submit to him. It seemed as though he took all of her will power. It took me a long time to get through this scene – I know because of circumstances with the story something would have stopped it if she didn’t want it – but it wasn’t until afterwards that is was declared something she secretly wanted – and his being in her head allowed him to see this. I just wish I had some forewarning or it wouldn’t have been such a hard scene to read.

Avenger’s Angel had many points of view throughout the story from the good guys to the bad guys. I think because of this I had a hard time connecting with the characters, Uriel more so than Eleanore. Uriel was hot and cold at times and because of this I liked Azrael more than I liked Uriel and I already can’t wait to read his story. Eleanore was a tough woman when she needed to be. For the most part, I liked her, I just wish I understood her feelings better as the story went along.

Overall, Avenger’s Angel had a well-developed world. As the first book in a series, it was a decent enough read that I would pick up the next book in the series. I would recommend this novel for those who like paranormal/angel stories.

Notable Scene:

He had given her a taste of something she had always yearned for and, in return, she’d felt true happiness. Somehow, it made him love her even more.

Love her?

He could hear that her heart beat rapidly in her chest and he couldn’t help it when his gaze slipped to the curve of her taut ass in those tight jeans, swaying gently as she walked ahead of him.

He swore under his breath and bit back his groan.

He watched as she tentatively placed a slim-fingered hand on the wall and peeked her hea around the corner of the entry hall into the foyer. The hair slipped from her neck when she didm exposing the long, slim column of her throat. He bit back another groan.

And there it was.

Fuck me, he thought. I do love her. I love everything about her. It didn’t actually come as a surprise to him. She was his archess, after all. But he’d existed for countless generations and had never known love before this. It was a new emotion for him, and it was bewildering in its own right.

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