If angels burn : a novel of the Darkyn (edition 2005)

Chicago plastic surgeon Alexandra Keller has a soft spot for victims, and no respect for pushy billionaires, so when a wealthy prospective client offers her a cool four million to come to New Orleans and operate in his home, she turns him down... repeatedly.

Unfortunately for Alexandra, Michael Cyprien isn't a man to take no for an answer. Kidnapped and threatened, Alex is still determined to resist - but Michael's injuries and amazing ability to heal present a challenge she can't resist. But Michael has a deadly secret, one that will cost Alex everything - but might end up bringing her more than she ever dreamed.

Not the most unique storyline, but likable characters and lots of action. ( )

Well...

The bad points:
1) the "romance" component is essentially a rape (repeated) though the female character ends up not treating it like a rape (it's not really the 'women like being raped' theme, more like it's 'not really rape because he didn't intend to hurt her' theme).
2) too many bad guys thrown into the story (Brethren, John, Darkyn kicked out of Ireland for some reason, Angel... the king... oh the list goes on). I don't think I've met as many bad guys in one story before.
3) the author likes to 'tell' how people are feeling via dialogue rather than, I dunno, showing the reader through her writing skills.

The good points. Well, the world is very interesting. It's a slightly different take on vampirism than usual. Alexandra is interesting and sometimes a bit funny. The story is self-contained but there is a bit of a hook at the end that might induce me to read the next in the series.

Fundamentally I like the story but not the writing. I don't understand why so many authors think to develop angst they have to make rape read like 'romance'. Go check out Moning's Fever series where there's some sex (in the later books) TONS of angst and yet... no "rape as romance".

You can also check out my blog at http://the-shit-that-goes-on-in-my-head.com/ ( )

This series has sat on my tbr shelf for a long time, finally in the mood to read some new series. I did find it easy to get into this book, I did find some parts of the charachters annoying, the romance was a bit of a short fizzle. However I liked the angle it was coming from. Very much an interesting idea and will see me finish this series. I'm not sure it's a series that I would keep hold of though. ( )

This is the story of a human plastic surgeon, Alex, who is brought in to fix the decimated face of an Darkyn, Micheal. Whilst in the attempt she is sucked into the world of the Darkyn, a powerful but heavily hunted species. She is determined to keep that world at arms length, while Micheal is determined to have her as his own.

Now, this really sounds like a romance novel and that's what you would expect, given the fact that it's located in the romance section. Thus I feel I must warn readers that it's really not all that romantic. The love story takes a back seat to all of the world building and fantasy drama. Looking at it as a fantasy novel, it's quite good. It has an intense and well paced plot, plenty of spooky stuff, and a lot of subtle humor. As for the characters, I found Alex to be sharp, whitty, and a little mean. Micheal, on the other hand, can only be described as blah. The chemistry between the two was just not there for me.

So, if your looking for a vampire based, urban fantasy sort of series, this is a decent pick. It's just not great romance. ( )

I liked this book, but I think potential readers should keep one thing in mind; this, despite the classification, is not a romance. Yes, there is a love story, but the primary focus of the book is world building, and the story is a paranormal thriller with a romance sub plot. If I judge the book this way, I like it a lot. If I were to judge it as a romance, it would fail, because Viehl's primary purpose is not developing romantic love; it's the story of one a woman and her brother and their dangerous involvement in the world of the Darkyn and the Brethren (enemies of the Darkyn). The world building is intricate; Viehl has a strong and compelling voice, and the characters are nicely drawn.

Unlike other reviewers, I did not dislike the heroine. She can be a bit abrasive, but I found this more realistic and true to life. I am heartily sick of sweet, silly, perfect heroines. Alex read to me like a real woman, who had real issues stemming from losing her parents and her brother. She also had the distinction of being one of the few Romance heroine surgeons, who I actually believed was a surgeon, rather than Doctor Barbie. The hero was slightly more problematic, because he did not seem to be as developed, and his motivations were less clear.

This book is part of a series that I am enjoying, and reading it is necessary to really appreciate the other books. If you approach this expecting a good paranormal, rather than a good Romance, I think you will find yourself pleased and intrigued enough to continue with the rest of the Darkyn saga ( )