Death's Angel
Heather Killough-Walden


ISBN-10: 045123894X
ISBN-13: 978-0451238948
Publisher: Penguin Group
Line: Signet
Release Date: Dec 31, 2012
Pages: 368
Retail Price: 7.99




Genre: Paranormal
Heat Level: Hot
Rating:

Since the beginning of time, the archangels have longed to know true love. When four female angels were created for the four archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Azrael, a chaos spurred by jealousy erupted, and the archesses were secreted away to Earth. The four favored archangels followed, prompting a search that has lasted millennia...

As the Angel of Death, Azrael could never be like his brothers. While the others fell to Earth in human form, Azrael descended as a vampire. Today, as the lead singer of a popular rock band, he keeps his true nature hidden--a powerful darkness constantly at odds with his angelic self. Beneath his mask, Azrael holds onto the hope that he will one day find the archess who will complete him.

At his brother Gabriel's wedding, Azrael set his golden eyes on Sophie Bryce, the maid of honor. He is certain she is his destined mate, and will do anything to make her his. But Sophie is unaware of her archess identity, and is haunted by unspeakable demons of her own.

When supernatural forces emerge from the shadows, threatening Sophie, Azrael is the only one who can protect her. But to do it, he must reveal his true, savage self.


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Review

The author systematically frustrated and kept my fingers sliding against the Kindle screen.

Death’s Angel is all about Azrael, King of Vampires and archangel of death, and his archess, Sophie. As with the other books in the series this continues with the subplots left off from the first 2 books. Killough-Walden does a fantastic job of covering the key points of the previous stories to engage those who haven’t read any of the Lost Angel books, and if I’d come in with a blank mind I would have been able to figure out what was happening.

The things I enjoyed about the book are numerous. Killough-Walden weaves an intricate mythical world. It’s easy to understand, and become absorbed in. I found myself wanting more answers and asking more questions than the author seemed willing to give. That in itself is a testament to the writing skill and the story weaving. There’s also action, hot guys everywhere, and a large dosage of the supernatural.  Walden also brings dragons back in a big way and I’m excited to see more of them.

I found myself loving Azrael even more than I did in previous books. I’m a sucker for a guy dressed in black and playing the mysterious card. What I really enjoyed is how discovering his archess makes him more fallible. He’s not completely cool and collected, at least not as he was in previous books. Sophie is also fun because she’s not expecting to be an archess nor has she discovered her abilities at the beginning of the story. There’s innocence around her and something endearing in her ability to embrace others worth, but not her own.

My woes with the story were the lack of romance. The intimacy levels, once they were finally reached about ¾ of the way through the book, were hot and fierce. I just had a hard time believing in Azrael’s and Sophie’s connection. Sure they are drawn together because she was made for him and he naturally just loves her because of who she is, but there physical interactions were not detailed or intimate enough, in my opinion, to cause a lasting relationship. About halfway through I started to wonder how this qualified as a romance novel and not just straight urban fantasy.  Also everything you thought about the bad guys goes out the window. I don’t know anyone’s true goals or motivations outside of the archangels and the archesses. New villains explode out of the wood work in this story, casting aside any previous thought I had to understanding what the archangels were facing.

Overall, if you like a story with a ton of action and supernatural beings going head to head you’ll enjoy Death’s Angel. If you’re looking for a lot of intimacy and large amounts of character growth this story doesn’t have it, but it will hit the right note for Urban Fantasy fans who need just a bit more.

Reviewed by Landra