Wishlist: MY AVENGING ANGEL

My Avenging Angel by Madelyn Ford

Publication Date: 25th of May 2010

About My Avenging Angel:

To save her life, he must break a covenant—and lose his heart.

An Angels and Demons story.

It’s Victoria Bloom’s twenty-fifth birthday. But is she out celebrating? Oh, no. She’s in a stuffy old attic with the Three Stooges—a.k.a. her so-called spirit guides. There’s a demon who wants her dead, the same one that killed her mother two decades ago. No worries, say the Stooges. All she has to do is summon an angel. What could go wrong?

Well, plenty when you summon the wrong angel. The next thing Tory knows, she’s got one very bad-ass, pissed-off and sexy Archangel on her hands.

Michael, mighty warrior, leader of an elite team of demon killers, is shaking in his heavenly combat boots. Not because he finds all humans distasteful. But because he’d rather face Lucifer himself than the woman his soul has just recognized as his mate. Binding himself to a mortal, one who will eventually die, is the one path he’s sworn never to follow.

It’s too late now; his fate is sealed. With one touch, she becomes as necessary to him as the air he breathes. He will move heaven and earth to protect her—but against a demon as powerful as Asmodeus, heaven and earth may not be enough…

Warning: This book contains one bad-ass Archangel with a fiery, um, sword, a witch who blows things up, one nasty demon who is trying to kill them both, and ghosts who make interfering their mission. Steamy sex is had, even with the voyeur ghosts—though Tory is still blushing.

Source: Info in the About My Avenging Angel was taken from the publisher's website at http://samhainpublishing.com/coming/my-avenging-angel on 24/05/2010.

Review: SECRET SPEAKERS by KSR Kingworth

SECRET SPEAKERS And The Search For Selador's Gate by KSR Kingworth

About Secret Speakers:

Thirteen year-old Fair O'Nelli has spent the last nine years of her life living in a cellar. She knows her father and brother are missing, or possibly dead. Set free on her day of maidenhood when it's safe to be seen, Fair sets off in the company of three guardians to find Selador's Gate. Along the way she discovers a dark secret the parents of Cloven Grave know nothing about, where the key to survival is learning to see things as they are.

Source: Info in the About Secret Speakers was taken from the back of the book.

Review:
I suggest that you do not read the prologue at the start because it is strongly suggestive of "Tolkien immitation" and as such, like most immitations, does not really come to par to the original. This is not true. Yes, the book is Tolkien-nish, and it is not a masterpiece... but it holds it's own charm :) Let the story tell you about the world of Fair. I think, reading the prologue diminished my reading enjoyment of this book as I automatically jumped to conclusions with... the prologue screamed "Tolkien immitation"!

If you are looking for a masterpiece, academically correct book, this is not for you. If you are looking for an enjoyable read, pick this one up. Fans of Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series and Joseph Delaney's Spook series will probably like this book!

Book Link(s):
www.secretspeakers.com

Buy Link:

Wishlist: Enemy Lover

Enemy Lover by Karin Harlow

About Enemy Lover:

It’s Jax Cassidy’s first mission for L.O.S.T.—one that will give the former cop who went rogue a chance to prove herself. Her assignment: gain the trust of assassin Marcus Cross . . . eliminate him . . . then take down Marcus’s mentor, Joseph Lazarus, a man with a bold eye on the White House. But the woman who’s known by her team for being a femme fatale succumbs to passion, only to discover Cross’s deadly secret. He’s a vampire, and Joseph Lazarus is his creator.

Left for dead by his platoon in the violent hills of Afghanistan, special ops sniper Marcus Cross was given a second chance at life. His newly heightened skills make him the perfect killing machine, and as Lazarus's right hand man, he’s quickly rising to the top of his dark empire, purging enemies with speed and precision. Only when dangerous beauty Jax Cassidy is sent to bring him in does he begin to question Lazarus’s motives and his own actions. But when Jax’s life is threatened by the one thing that can destroy them both, Marcus must make a bitter choice—her death or his.

Source: Info in the About Enemy Lover was taken from the author's website at http://karinharlow.com/books.html on 18/05/2010.

Review: ANGELOLOGY by Danielle Trussoni

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Genre: urban fantasy

About Angelology:

1943: The preserved corpse of an Angel is discovered in the Devil's Throat Gorge in the Bulgarian mountains. Only a select few are party to this discovery, including a young nun who is later taken in a state of distress to a Convent in upstate New York and never speaks about it again. Until now.

The present: When Sister Evangeline finds mysterious correspondence between Mother Innocenta of the Saint Rose Convent and legendary philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller, it confirms that Angels once walked among us - and their descendants, the cruel Nephilim, still do.

Indeed, the Nephilim are hunting for artefacts concealed by Abigail Rockefeller during the Second World War - objects that will ultimately allow them to enslave mankind - and have so far been prevented from reaching their apocalyptic goal by one clandestine organisation: the Angelology Society.

And if the Angelologists are to stand any chance of winning this new battle in the ages-old war, they must find the artefacts first. But their fate rests in the hands of innocent Sister Evangeline, who holds the key to unlocking Abigail Rockefeller's hiding places ... and whose destiny may yet find her prey to the terrifying Nephilim army, with horrifying consequences for humanity.

Angelology moves with electifying sweep from the icy mountains of Bulgaria to Nazi-occupied Paris, to twentieth century New York, as the greatest conspiracy of them all is finally brought to light.

Source: Info in the About Angelology was taken from Penguin's press release (29/03/2010).

Verdict: Needs a lot more editing to get rid of inconsistent story lines.

Review:
This is not the first angel book around. So for originality it does not rank too high. I would give it a 2 out of 5. The premise is that there are good angels and bad angels. But the way this was explained in the book was not satisfactorily logical. In fact it defies the explanation given in the book! Ambivalent even. I also like my story to make sense. And there are several points in the book where it contradicts itself! Inconsistent lines!! This kind of put a snag on the story. Throw in some scenes where it is just not believable. An old lady jumps out of a moving vehicle clutching a case (which couldn’t have helped with balancing), hit the road running and evade pursuers… what?? “Suspension of disbelief” will have to be a 2 out of 5.

This book is a slow starter which continued on at a steady pace. The story telling quality is good but not a grab-you-by-the-throat-and-take-you-away-to-another-place, but chugs along nice and steady. Trussoni masterfully weaved fact with fiction that the line between the two blurs a la Da Vinci Code. She gives the "imagined events" a depth with obviously a well researched topic. I would give the story telling quality alone, a 3 out of 5. The ending resolved the main dilemma which created the story but the emphasis is on pointing to the dilemma of the next book. I guess this is a good marketing strategy but to me as a reader, has a cliffhanger effect, which don’t score high points. I’d give the ending a 2. Verlaine as one of the main character is well developed and as a reader I can connect with, I would give the character development a 3.5. Overall score? I would give this book an entertainment value of 2.5 out of 5.

Book Links (author, apps, fandom sites):

Danielle Trussoni
angelologist.com
penguin