Happy Booker

Raziel By Kristina Douglas was much better than I had expected. I usually don't have much luck with books about angels, with the exception of Angelfall and now Raziel, apparently winged hotties are just not my thing. There were some elements of this book that reminded me of Angelfall which I LOVED, and which initially drew my interest in reading this book. Raziel is definitely for adults and has some pretty detailed erotic scenes which I was so happy to find were not overdone and cheesy as in so many adult books (I thought they were actually quite well done). 

The main character, Allie's new and uncomfortable shoes distract her to the point that she doesn't notice the huge bus bearing down on her until it is too late and she finds herself standing next to what must be an angel? demon? vampire? He informs her that she is dead and he is there to escort her to heaven. This doesn't work out exactly the way Raziel, her fallen angel escort, has planned, however, and now he has to explain to the other Fallen why he has brought this human woman to Sheol to live among them. Allie would like an explanation about this as well because she's not really sure what she's doing living among these terrifying, grumpy, gorgeous creatures but she's fairly certain she doesn't quite fit in. Meanwhile, the Nephilim are at the gates and if they break through, it will certainly be a bloodbath. 

While there were some parts that were almost painfully slow, Raziel was still an satisfyingly entertaining read. I guess I like my angels to be more the dark, apocalyptic, dangerous type instead of all goodness and light. The background of the Fallen and their ongoing conflict with Uriel and search for Lucifer was original and one of the most interesting parts of the story. I'm looking forward to learning where the author takes it in the sequel because the ending left a lot of unanswered questions. This is certainly a series I'd recommend for fans of the genre.