Review: Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter

Beauty Awakened (Angels of the Dark #2) by Gena Showalter
Publication Date: February 26, 2013
Publisher: HQN Books
Number of Pages: 448
Format: Paperback
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His name is Koldo. He is scarred, powerful, his control legendary-and he lives only for vengeance, determined to punish the angel who viciously removed his wings. But if he yields to the forces of hatred, he will be kicked from the heavens, eternally damned.

She is his last hope. Nicola Lane was born with a defective heart, yet this fragile human shows surprising strength as demons stalk her every move, determined to end her. She is the key to Koldo's deliverance...and his downfall. Though he fights duty, destiny and his first addictive taste of desire, his toughest battle will be the one for Nicola's life-even if he has to sacrifice his own....

 I was excited to read this. I love Gena Showalter, and the first book was amazing. But sadly this book falls short on my scale. I just couldn't really get into the book, and it took forever to read. I also heard she wrote this at a time where she rediscovered faith and got real religious. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking down religion, I'm religious myself. But you can tell it impacted the book. It was toned down a lot, and not a lot of steamy scenes that you expect with one of her books. Once my friend told me she had gotten religious, the style of the book made sense.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the book, but it wasn't one of her best works. I couldn't really connect to either main character. And felt like the plot just dragged on, and felt like the book could of been cut by at least 100 pages. I really did like Axel and want to see more of him. William showed up for a brief moment and we got hints to William's heritage.

The one theme that kept repeating was that to heal yourself you must let go of the negative thoughts and focus on the positive. Also that the Most High loves them and will always answer their pleas. It's a good message, although I felt like it was repeated a little too much. Like I said I liked the book but it felt like something was missing.

I almost consider not finishing the book and continuing with the series. But I was told that the new LotU book is a lot better and steamier. And the next Angel book sounds better too.

Rating: 3/5