Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Review: Avenger's Angel


Reviewed by Jen
 
This was a book with potential. The premise: 2000 years ago, four favored archangels were given the gift of soulmates. But before they could join with their archesses, members of their brethren interfered, wanting the women for themselves. The creator sent the women to earth to protect them, and their mates chose to fall, in order to find them among the humans.

Presumably, each archangel will get his own book as the series progresses. This one features Uriel, the first of the four to finally find his archess. Uriel is living as a popular actor (a la Robert Pattinson) when he stumbles across Ellie at a book signing. She has no idea what she is or that angels even exist. But she has had mysterious powers all of her life and she is inexorably drawn to Uriel.

There are two main foils for their relationship. One is Samael... he's one of the jealous archangels who didn't get a mate. He also followed the women to earth and is determined to make Ellie, his. The other problem is a mysterious group of men that has been tracking Ellie and her powers since childhood.

All of this sounds pretty good, but something didn't quite connect for me in the execution. There was a lot of repetition, especially in the early part of the book. Ellie's attraction to Samael was, while understandable, somewhat off putting. But the biggest problem for me was the lack of a discernible build. Uriel was besotted at first sight. Ellie's resistance was laughable. It's like she's supposed to be tough and strong, but also this shining beacon of good. Meanwhile, Uriel is a perfect, gorgeous, rich movie star. As if being a freaking angel didn't make him spectacular enough.

Meh. It wasn't bad. It just didn't live up to its potential. The scene stealers in the story were Samael and vampire-angel Azriel. Perhaps, a story featuring one of them would grab me more. 3 1/2 stars.

*ARC Provided by NetGalley

Click to purchase: Amazon or The Book Depository
Avenger's Angel
by Heather Killough-Walden
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Publisher: Signet

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9 Comments:

At Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 11:47:00 AM CDT , Blogger CYP @ A Bookalicious Story said...

Wow, it really does seem like so much potential has gone to waste. I don't like it when the book doesn't develop the reationships and drag out the sexual tension, and adding the insta-love thing. Some books are good enough to pass it off, but most aren't.

Great review by the way!

 
At Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 3:31:00 PM CDT , Blogger AP said...

I'd have to agree, I got about half way through and got bored so I put it down. That was almost two weeks ago and I havent picked it back up again. I've been trying to talk myself into picking it back up again thinking it may get better but it doesnt look like it. So I wont waste my time. It did have excellent potential tho. And Azriel did seem to be the most interesting of the angels. Thanks for the review! We always seem to have the same tastes in books!
-Amanda P
www.paranormalromancenove.com

 
At Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 3:36:00 PM CDT , Blogger Jen at Red Hot Books said...

Thanks CYP.

Amanda: I wish I had better news on this one. It was just... meh. You're not missing much.

 
At Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 4:51:00 PM CDT , Blogger AP said...

Jen- Yeah I gave up wrote up my review sent it off via netgalley and posted it on my blog. I dont feel like wasting more time on it there are so many good books out there. Hey did you get the victoria dahl series about the Donavon bewery on netgalley? If not, you should, its pretty good!

 
At Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 4:53:00 PM CDT , Blogger Jen at Red Hot Books said...

I haven't. I'll take a look.

 
At Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 10:54:00 PM CDT , Blogger Unknown said...

Love your reviews. I've been hoping you'd review this one. I have yet to see a review for it that makes me want to run out and buy it. I still feel that way. Gah, it's blurb sounds so interesting too. I think I'm gonna skip this one or wait till I find it used.

 
At Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 11:55:00 PM CDT , Blogger Jen at Red Hot Books said...

Thanks Vanessa.

No. I wouldn't rush out to buy this one. It's not bad. It's just not what I hoped it would be.

 
At Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 7:59:00 AM CDT , Blogger Julie said...

Hmm... I got this one from the publisher this week. The reason I asked for it is because of the great premise. We'll see if it grabs me more. I hope it grabs me more. LOL

 
At Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 3:21:00 PM CDT , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmm...I love the cover, I love the premise, but now I'm worried. I'll wait to check out some other reviews before deciding to try this book out. Hopefully the next books in the series are better for you! :-)

 

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