Judith‘s review of Her Dark Angel by Felicity Heaton.

An angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn’t called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it’s to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.

Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris, claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengence spell. he’s no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her with revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can’t resist the temptation, but can she resist him?

Their charade as lovers quickly becomes reality when one dance leads to another and Apollyon proves that he’s as sinful as he looks. His sensual and hungry touch brings Serenity back to life, freeing her from the hurt of being betrayed and reigniting her passion, but she can’t ignore her growing fear. Does he really love her and will he break her heart when he leaves?

The unseen world of angels is a subject that never fails to grab the imagination with an interest that borders on fascination. As one who has knocked around the religious world for lots of years it is the subject of many questions that have been posed by both young and old alike. Because there are great gaping holes in our knowledge base about angels, fiction writers have great latitude in creating some marvelous creatures in their stories. Here Felicity Heaton has created a dark and beautiful angel, the guardian of the bottomless pit of Biblical fame, and has, with her flight of fancy, given us a gentle story of the love between an immortal and a young French woman who has been terribly wronged by a man to whom she had given her heart.

But there is an immediate twist on this story: Serenity is a witch, one who has been trained by he mother to use her craft only for the good of others. Her heart is so injured, however, that she gives into the pain and casts a spell of revenge, one that calls out to Apollyon, thus connecting him to her as his new master for the duration of the “contract.” This beautiful and dark angel, however, gets far more out of this “contract” in many ways than does Serenity. It has been thousands of years since he has been on Earth, since he has touched a mortal woman, flown freely and felt the currents sliding past his wings. As they are carrying out their playacting, letting the ex-boyfriend get a dose of his own medicine, both Apollyon and Serenity become aware that the dynamic between them has shifted–is that genuine desire in their eyes?

This is really a very gentle and enjoyable love story–an immortal who longs for companionship, who is so weary with being alone. It is a mortal who is searching for genuine caring, who like all of us is wanting to be loved and cherished for the long haul. But like so many real relationships, though, Serenity is on the verge of letting her fear of being hurt, the fear of experiencing loss that plays havoc with her feelings and she struggles with trusting Apollyon. Is he who he says he is? Is he really one of the “good guys?”

This novella is nicely written and I think the plot is just a bit unusual–not really a minion of Hell but certainly an angel who has “been around.” The main characters are interesting, certainly not boring, and the story moves along well. Having an immortal for a lover definitely gives the word “forever” new meaning. Ms Heaton has done a good job in helping the reader to understand the characters well, not an easy job in so few pages. I enjoyed the story very much, and had the sense when I finished it that it was a tale well told. So romance fans will find lots of hot loving here and fantasy fans will be interested as well. I give this little work a rating of 3.75 out of 5.

This book is available from Alinar Publishing. You can buy it here in e-format.

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.