A review by ab18
Notorious Angel by Jennifer Blake
4.0
So I have mixed feelings about this author. She can write extremely compelling characters and gives great insight into little known painful times in history but she fails on two points in EVERY single book that I’ve read so far.
Despite being women of heart her heroines are never given time to grieve after deaths of those they love. It doesn’t jive with their characters. How can they serenely move on after brutal deaths that they sometimes witness firsthand? I understand you don’t want a whiny character but I do expect my heroine to burst into tears or fall to the ground sometimes. Take Eleanora: you expect me to believe she had joyous sex TEN minutes after finding out her brother committed suicide on HER behalf? WHAT?!?!
Second, the author doesn’t give enough page time to our couple to see them fall in love. Most of their time is spent in bed, NOT speaking. Grant rapes Eleanora after two conversations, if we can call them that (both of which involve his manhandling of her), and a few pages later she’s in love. Why? How? Based on what exactly? She had more intense conversations with Luis than Grant throughout the book. I wasn’t buying their love and the end left me underwhelmed. He doesn’t say when he began to love her, why he hurt her the way he did, or make amends.
Finally, Luis. WHY? I haven’t cried over a fictional character in years! He was so incredibly sweet that I believed he was one of the villains in the book. How could he have been that selfless, that noble and not have been the hero? And why did it have to end the way it did for him? He was so wonderfully warm, so honest about his emotions and so heartbreakingly heroic. Gosh, I’m crying again.
Eleanora had a strong personality that made her likable as she held on to the ladylike graces and her modesty. I just wish… (see first and second rant). I did NOT understand her quasi friendship with Neville at the end. After everything she knew about him she should have been giving him the cut direct at every interaction. He caused countless deaths when he could have prevented each one. Why would she talk to him, let alone smile at him? That’s just being stupidly noble.
Can’t say much about Grant because we don’t get to see much of him.
Walker was a very interesting personage to discover. Quite a tale of misguided heroics there.
I thought Maizie was amazing with her practicality and soft heart.
All in all, Maxwell/Blake can write a dynamic story. I just wish she spent as much time on delving into the romance as she does on the history. Otherwise don’t call it a romance novel.
Despite being women of heart her heroines are never given time to grieve after deaths of those they love. It doesn’t jive with their characters. How can they serenely move on after brutal deaths that they sometimes witness firsthand? I understand you don’t want a whiny character but I do expect my heroine to burst into tears or fall to the ground sometimes. Take Eleanora: you expect me to believe she had joyous sex TEN minutes after finding out her brother committed suicide on HER behalf? WHAT?!?!
Second, the author doesn’t give enough page time to our couple to see them fall in love. Most of their time is spent in bed, NOT speaking. Grant rapes Eleanora after two conversations, if we can call them that (both of which involve his manhandling of her), and a few pages later she’s in love. Why? How? Based on what exactly? She had more intense conversations with Luis than Grant throughout the book. I wasn’t buying their love and the end left me underwhelmed. He doesn’t say when he began to love her, why he hurt her the way he did, or make amends.
Finally, Luis. WHY? I haven’t cried over a fictional character in years! He was so incredibly sweet that I believed he was one of the villains in the book. How could he have been that selfless, that noble and not have been the hero? And why did it have to end the way it did for him? He was so wonderfully warm, so honest about his emotions and so heartbreakingly heroic. Gosh, I’m crying again.
Eleanora had a strong personality that made her likable as she held on to the ladylike graces and her modesty. I just wish… (see first and second rant). I did NOT understand her quasi friendship with Neville at the end. After everything she knew about him she should have been giving him the cut direct at every interaction. He caused countless deaths when he could have prevented each one. Why would she talk to him, let alone smile at him? That’s just being stupidly noble.
Can’t say much about Grant because we don’t get to see much of him.
Walker was a very interesting personage to discover. Quite a tale of misguided heroics there.
I thought Maizie was amazing with her practicality and soft heart.
All in all, Maxwell/Blake can write a dynamic story. I just wish she spent as much time on delving into the romance as she does on the history. Otherwise don’t call it a romance novel.