Review: fantasy romance with fallen angels
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 25, 2013
ARC supplied by Netgalley.I love fantasy romance - and this time its angels, fallen ones as opposed to vampires, though there are vampires in the novel.Human Sofia and her flatmate sneak into an elite nightclub in search of their missing friend. They haven't seen her for some time and they and her parents are worried. Knowing she worked in the kitchens here they thought it would be a good place to search. What they don't know is that the club is really a haven for vampires and other supernatural creatures.....They find their friend, but at deaths door in the arms of a feeding vampire. Sophia attacks him ( loved that bit, crack across his throat and a good kick in the balls!) and screams, and the person whose attention she'd caught earlier comes to the rescue. Turns out Phenex is a fallen angel - his real title is The Angel of Song - and the other person involved, Justin, is the vampire king. Phenex  kills the bad vamp, and Justin uses his vamp powers to make the other flatmate Amy forget she was there and had seen anything. They allow Sophia to go home - what she doesn't know is Phenex is going to be shadowing her as she's bait for the corrupt vamps Justin wants to root out. She finds out Phenex is her shadow when he kills a vamp about to attack her and he then stays openly with her.There a real attraction between the two that comes across with sizzling tension. They get very close to the edge and Sophia pulls back asking herself what the heck she's doing. That seemed so real, she feels like she's been in a dream but then presented with what seems to be a super-hot attentive man its easy to forget that he's so much more than that. Phenex has a typical supernatural disregard for humans, and doesn't always understand why his actions annoy Sophia. Their romance seems to travel along shakily, there's some really hot steamy sex between, them but though she feels she loves him she's unsure of how he feels - and he's unused to actually caring about someone and not sure about how he feels over that.I enjoyed this book - nice to see the vamps behind the scenes and angels to the fore for once. The characters were very well depicted, I could understand Sophia's caution over getting involved with someone supernatural, after all its only been a few days since she discovered they existed. I felt Phenex's confusion after hundreds of years of feeling nothing for humans to find one that touches him. They learn a lot from each other about passion and emotions. The side characters too - Justin the king of the vamps, the other angels - can't recall all the names -  each had their own quirky personalities that fitted their place in the novel.The basic plot was quite simple - really no more than an attempt at a vamp takeover - but the way heaven and hell keep the balance, and how and when the angels were allowed to intervene were interesting and kept the novel flowing well.  I do like a happy ending in my romances and Kendra delivers it here in a way that's believable.Its a well written and edited novel and priced at 2.16 for 310kb - no page info but I'd guess around 150 from how long it too to read. If you want a fantasy romance with a different slant to the usual then Kendra's book is for you. I'd like to see this world taken further with stories from some of the other characters. I think the world Kendra has created can take it and as I said some of the side characters were very "real" feeling and I'd like to see more from them.Stars: I'd have liked it a bit longer and more complex for my taste, then it would have been 5 star but for an easy to read fantasy its fits the bill. I'm giving it four stars.