Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Associate Reviewer - Marta C:
*eARC received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I have to start by saying this is the second in a series (previous book is Hellsbane), and unfortunately I haven't yet read that one. I quickly realized that it would most definitely be a good idea to read the series in the order it was written, as I don't really feel this is a standalone novel.

Emma Jane Hellsbane is the daughter of fallen angel and is a really feisty and butt kicking heroine. She has the power to sense when fallen angels are close, and heaven sent skills to vanquish both them and the demons they work with. As an Illorum, it's her duty to fight those who unlike her have already succumbed to evil and now fight as Gibborim (warriors of evil) She's under the tutelage of a very sexy angel - Eli - who is sworn to both train and protect her. Her life is further complicated by her relationship with Dan, a detective who also could be turned into an Illorum, as he's the child of a fallen angel as well but their very complicated triangle will test them all.

This tale is chock full of angels in all their various guises, and initially I must admit I felt a little bogged down by all the different titles. Seraphim as the warrior angels that protect humanity were not portrayed as I expected, but that's the beauty of this story. Nothing is cut and dry! This is a book that pulls the reader in and as the story progresses tears you apart!

As I previously stated, I haven't read the prequel and if honest, it took me awhile to both understand and truly enjoy this book, but when it got going... boy was it a fantastic ride. If I had to rate it initially it would have been just 4, which is a good mark for me, but the emotion that I felt in the second half as I came to both know and empathize with the characters makes this a 5 for me!

Amazing story , loved the characters, surprises galore and really want to read more! ( )

3.5

*Book source ~ Many thanks to Entangled Publishing for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Emma Jane Hellsbane is an illorum, a warrior for God and she fights demons and Fallen angels because her own father was a Fallen. If she can find him and send him to the abyss then she can get a normal life back. At first, that’s all she wanted, but after a year of fighting demons she’s beginning to wonder, even with Officer Dan as her boyfriend, if that’s what she really wants anymore. When magisters are being killed by demons and gibborim (nephilim who fight for Fallen instead of God) Emma has to decide between searching for her father with the only lead she has or fighting the ones who are killing magisters and taking their swords. If she can send her Fallen father to the abyss she would never have to fight again. She would be off the radar. However, Emma’s own magister is at risk and since she loves him she decides to fight the gibborim instead. But is forbidden love the right reason?

I had some problems with this book. First, there are two glaring mistakes. In Hellsbane, Officer Dan says he has five children, four boys and a girl, yet in this book he has only a boy and a girl. Second, the holy water necklace Emma wears is supposed to look like it did when Tommy wore it not like when Joan wore it. Emma told Eli in Hellsbane to make it look like how Tommy wore it, but in this book it looks like Joan’s necklace.

There’s also a lot going on and sometimes all the terms and explanations were confusing to me. In addition, Emma acts very foolishly quite a bit in this book, always insisting that ’she can handle it’ and I consider that pure arrogance considering how little training she has in fighting. On top of that, the love that Eli and Emma feel for each other just didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t believe in it and it ended up being an annoyance. And her thoughtless disregard for others when she traipsed off to Italy, well, she lost a lot of my respect there and even more when she said she’d handle it and be back in a few hours. Really? *shakes head* She acts too much like a bratty teenager and not a 23-year old. Yeah, I’m not liking Emma too much in this book. I certainly hope she grows up in the next one. It was very interesting to learn about her father though and I would love to know more about how much different Emma is from other nephilim. All-in-all if you can buy into the Eli/Emma romance then this is an excellent book, but since I couldn’t it’s only a good book for me. ( )