Lizz Baldwin

I bought this one because the synopsis sounded so good..."Once a dedicated soldier of the Knights Templar, Derek de Molay was betrayed and killed. So instead of an eternity in Heaven, he has decided to battle the Dark Angels of Hell. But as the war between good and evil rages, he is summoned back to the mortal realm to protect a woman standing too close to the edge of darkness." Wow. Sounds awesome! Dark and edgy!

Problem is that I have a feeling the same person who wrote that synopsis, show more didn't write the book, and they should have, because the writing for the actual book is just bad. Amateurish and lacking any kind of depth at all. Dark and edgy it is not. Disappointing and dull might be a better word for it. I found myself starting to get bored and skipping ahead at page 20!! Not good.

I should have felt for Derek and started rooting for him from the beginning. I should have wanted to read more about him, and I just thought he was overly sanctimonious and annoying. Then I thought, well, maybe once we meet Rachel, she'll be the interesting one, and I'll want to continue reading for her. No such luck. I found Rachel as annoying as Derek.

Yes, I do know that some books are slow getting started, and I can appreciate that. But really good writing can overcome a slow start, and make you think, "Ok, this is slow starting, but there's something about it that's drawing me in, so I'm sticking with it." This one did not in any way give me that feeling. It was more a feeling of "Hell...I just wasted five bucks."

You know that quote from "Jerry Maguire" that says, "You had me at hello"? A book REALLY needs to do that...have me at hello...or I just can't continue reading it. This book SO didn't have me at hello. show less

Matthew is a fallen angel, playing the charlatan exorcist as a way of annoying God for tossing him out of heaven 2,000 years ago to walk with the mortals and never be one of them. Natalia is the manager for the mega popular rock star, Cain. When Matthew accidentally comes upon a true possession, Natalia witnesses his exorcism and believing it for an act hires the "Father" on the spot to help Cain with his stage act. What neither of them realize is that Cain has really sold his soul to the show more devil and that Matthew is the only one who can save him from fulfilling a horrific agenda.

I'm almost surprised to say how much I enjoyed this story. Despite making full use of the Biblical ideals of God/Devil, Good/Evil and sin/redemption it really didn't feel preachy to me. Matthew was a great conflicted character, wanting to "stick it to the man" as it were while at the same time truly happy to be making a difference in peoples lives. Despite a couple typos which always surprise me when they show up in a mass market publication the story was very well told and moved swiftly. I'm not usually much for religious stories, but this one I enjoyed. A very nice actually surprisingly kind of sweet paranormal romance. Maybe not one for those looking for more erotica, but a good one for those looking for romance with a supernatural twist who don’t mind the good vs. evil storyline being played to the hilt. show less

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. While it had romance, it was not the mushy every page kind. It actually told the story of a fallen angel who is helping a rock star who sold his soul to the devil. Great characters, good plot and fun to read. I will look for more by this author.

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Nov08

Margaret Weis is the majorly successful co-author of over thirty books in the fantasy genre. “Fallen Angel” is her second paranormal romance novel which she co-authored with her daughter Lizz Weis. These books are spicy contemporary romances about the redeeming of angels who have fallen from grace. The stories have a gritty feel and are very reminiscent of urban fantasies, but with a bit stronger relationship overtone.

Matthew is a fallen show more one, cast out of heaven for his disbelief. His eternal life has been one filled with sorrow and emptiness since his vow to forego love to save himself the pain of loss. His latest ‘gig’ is impersonating a priest at country revivals and, with the help of his shill, casting out a demon. He figures it’s a pretty neat way to thumb his nose at God. But one night he’s outwitted by a reporter, his shill runs out, and he’s presented with a teenager whose mother is sure she’s possessed. To Matthew’s surprise, when he performs his ‘act’, he realizes she really is possessed and although he is almost killed he does rid the teen of the demon. This is a major wake-up call for Matthew because as an eternal being, he shouldn’t be able to die; and he knows something has obviously gone wrong as demons aren’t supposed to be on Earth. Try as he might, this might be one situation he just can’t walk away from.

Natalia is the manager of the newest rock sensation, Cain. His gimmick is claiming to have sold his soul to the devil for his music, but the band’s tour isn’t going so well. Cain seems to have lost his ‘touch’ and Natalia is searching for something to liven up the show. Then she hears about a priest who casts out demons and decides to catch his show. She’s at the revival where Matthew casts out a real demon, but figures it’s just a good scam. She catches Matthew at a low moment and convinces him to join herself and Cain on tour. Matthew will do his ‘act’ and pretend to try and exorcise Cain during the final song of the show. The ‘act’ is a huge success, but weird things are happening and they are all connected to Cain.

As a fantasy fan, I didn’t really have any problems with the plot. Even though there were many ‘missing’ pieces of information or character motivation, it’s something I expect from a fantasy genre book. So this story flows a bit differently from most romance novels. I found it especially interesting that the main focus of the story is, not Natalia. I’m not sure if this was consciously intended or if it’s a result of the strong fantasy background by the author/s. There’s a chance that readers expecting a more romantic, heroine centered story will have difficulty with the plot. In addition, the sexual overtones seemed to be ‘plugged’ in where needed rather than flowing from the story. This was something that did jar for me. A plus was the humor from one of the secondary characters, the ghost of Natalia’s hippie, Deadhead grandfather.

Overall, “Fallen Angel” just seemed a bit ‘off’ to me. It read much more like a fantasy with some sex than like a romance. If you took out the sex, I could see this as a big seller in the teen urban fantasy market. But as the books stands now, it’s neither fish nor fowl but something in between. Those readers looking for a lighter, more adult contemporary fantasy without gore would probably like the latest offering from Margaret and Lizz Weis. show less