Book Review: A Temptation of Angels by Michelle Zink

 

**I received this book from Around the World ARC Tours for review**

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  Even angels make mistakes in this page-turning epic romance...

When her parents are murdered before her eyes, sixteen-year-old Helen Cartwright finds herself launched into an underground London where a mysterious organization called the Dictata controls the balance of good and evil. Helen learns that she is one of three remaining angelic descendants charged with protecting the world's past, present, and future. Unbeknownst to her, she has been trained her whole life to accept this responsibility. Now, as she finds herself torn between the angelic brothers protecting her and the devastatingly handsome childhood friend who wants to destroy her, she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and above all to be strong, because temptation will be hard to resist, even for an angel.

Michelle Zink masterfully weaves historical fantasy with paranormal romance to create a gripping tale of love and betrayal.

My Thoughts:  This book is one of those hard ones for me to review.  Not because I loved it or hated it but because it didn't cause any major feelings in me.  It was just a book I read...not bad or good.

The story begins with Helen lying in bed listening to her parents and their "associates" having a meeting.  She can hear the voices and feels the tension but knows nothing about what her parents are doing.  Then her mother rushes in and hides Helen with special instructions.  After that, there is nothing left of Helen's parents or her childhood home.  

She follows her mother's instructions and ends up at the Channing house.  The brothers, Darius and Griffin, seem to be waiting for her but surprised at how young she is.  They briefly explain a few things to Helen and leave her even more confused than she was.  They tell her she is one of the Keepers.  In fact, she is one of only three left.   The Keepers are being killed off one by one.  It is up to the Channing boys and Helen to figure out how to stop it.

This book was not full of action or suspenseful.  I could easily put it down and do other things like clean my house and cut coupons so it wasn't one of those amazing "can't put down until the end" books.  It did keep my interest somewhat because I was able to finish it with no problem...just not as quickly as I would have liked.

The story takes place in England sometime in the past.  There is never really a time mentioned and not a lot of descriptions to help you figure it out.  At one point it is written that Helen wears a corset, has her dresses made and I think one or two mentions of a horse and carriage.  Other than that, there is nothing to tell you what time period you are reading about.  

Then there is the story behind the Keepers, the Legion and the Dictata...or rather, there is no story behind them.  It was frustrating because you were told just a tiny bit about them but there was no back story.  You really didn't know a lot about what the role of the Dictata was or what was behind the Legion.  


The love triangle was not really a love triangle at all.  I'm totally fine with no love triangle but the author tried to bring one in and it just fell flat for me.  I didn't see the point in it at all.  I also wasn't impressed with the "insta-love" between Griffin and Helen.  Helen didn't really grieve for her parents or all that she lost and then suddenly she is madly in love with a guy she has known for two days?  


So, for me this book was unimpressive.  It wasn't good or bad....just forgettable.  There wasn't even a cliffhanger at the end to make me want to read more (if this is suppose to be a series).  I would recommend borrowing this book before buying it.