DEATH ANGEL

Ballantine Books (2008), 341 pages, $26 (hardcover)
This is not your normal and beloved nice-boy-meets-nice-girl-and-overcomes-obstacles-to-savor-their-love-happily-ever-after sort of book.
Oh, the hero and heroine overcome obstacles all right. The biggest two being their own immorality.
Yes, Linda Howard has definitely given readers a very different sort of romance, and some won’t really appreciate it.
Others will be shocked that they like it.
Drea is the heroine, a woman who has suffered hard times and who used her good looks and smarts to live a life of luxury. Unfortunately, she did that by become the girlfriend of a drug lord.
Of course, it’s hard for Simon to criticize Drea for her “career choice,” since he meets her though his job – an assassin for hire.
The scene where Drea and Simon realize they have “feelings” for each other is rather sordid, and while they may reflect on it fondly later on, chances are you won’t.
The part that will make this work for many readers is the turnaround both characters do after being blessed with a miracle.
The redeeming part of the book is that it’s well-written (of course) and Drea and Simon, while unscrupulous initially, do become rather likeable. And Simon’s ultimate devotion to Drea is rather satisfying as well.
Another positive aspect of “Death Angel” are the bits of surprises sprinkled throughout the book, which makes it hard to summarize without ruining some of those.
So in a general, non-spoiling sort of way, here it is: Drea decides to leave her boyfriend and her life of crime-by-association. Unfortunately, she does that by stealing from drug-dealing boyfriend. Boyfriend hires Simon to kill Drea.
Does he? That’s one of the surprises.
Drea manages to start a new life, but Simon finds her.
The rest….well, miracles do happen and both Drea and Simon experience a whopper. They’ll never be nominated for sainthood, but their attachment to each other makes the final 50 pages or so a pleasure to read. Unfortunately, there are about 250 pages before you get there. Fortunately, while they’re not terribly romantic, they are intriguing enough to keep your interest. And with the promise of a satisfying romance at the end, that may be enough.







Overall rating: 3-plus of 5 hearts. If you can get past and forgive the hero and heroine for their immorality, it’s still a bit frustrating that it takes about 250 pages for them to really begin their relationship. But once they engage, they make up for lost time.

Hunk appeal: 10. Simon makes some choices in the first 200 pages or so that aren’t exactly sterling hero type decisions. But, he does redeem himself somewhat by becoming obsessively devoted to Drea.

Steamy scene grade: XXXXX, and not all very romantic.

Happily-Ever-After: Good. Again, the last 50 pages are romantic enough, with Simon saying and doing all of the right things to prove his love for Drea. Like the rest of the book, the ending may be appreciated by some readers and abhorred by others.

Also this week …

AFTER THE KISS, by Suzanne Enoch (2008, paperback) – 3 of 5. This is the first of a trilogy about “notorious gentlemen,” but in this segment, the hero is the likeable one despite his penchant for robbing houses.
Sullivan is a war hero, who returns home from fighting Napoleon to discover his artist mother recently deceased. All of his possessions, included his mother’s paintings, had been taken away by his father, who never acknowledged Sullivan as his illegitimate son.
So, Sullivan decides to recover the paintings.
Isabel discovers him doing so in her home one night. The spoiled, nasty brat decides to blackmail Sullivan, trying to turn him into a servant while she decides whether or not to report him to the authorities.
Isabel isn’t very likeable. She becomes almost tolerable by the end, when Sullivan finds a way to make their impossible love, possible. But Sullivan, and his friend who is destined to be the hero in the third book, are likeable enough to make up for Isabel and make it a worthy read.