I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Fallen
by
Erin McCarthy
paranormal romance in a paperback edition that was published by Jove on April 29, 2008 and has 320 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include High Stakes, My Immortal, Bit the Jackpot, An Enchanted Season, The Taking, Bad Boys of Summer, Bled Dry, Flat-Out Sexy, Sucker Bet, Hard and Fast, Hot Finish, When Good Things Happen to Bad Boys, First Blood, Slow Ride, The Chase, The Night Before Christmas, Out of the Light, and into the Shadows, Jacked Up, A Date with the Other Side, Heiress for Hire, Bad Boys in Black Tie, True, Seeing is Believing, Believe, Shatter, Sweet, Burn, Gone with the Ghost, Murder Drama with Your Llama
Second in the Seven Deadly Sins paranormal-romance series. This story is set in New Orleans, Louisiana with Gabriel Saint John as the angel who has Fallen.
My Take
A major weakness here is Gabriel’s being unable to touch a woman without her becoming addicted to him. A simple brush of his skin against hers is enough. Okay, that’s fine. It’s the counterpoint to his addiction. But it falls apart with Sara. He’s constantly touching her and, while she does seem to fall in love with him fairly quickly, it doesn’t appear to have anywhere near the same effect. Eventually, McCarthy claims that it’s because Sara is so strong. But, c’mon, ONE mention of Sara’s strength when McCarthy has been going on and on about the effect of his touch?? McCarthy should have been playing this, creating tension with it instead of just brushing it off.
Nor does McCarthy give us a good reason for Gabriel taking up with Anne. We hear all about his trials with the absinthe and some about the opium as well as his need to create but there really isn’t much about why Gabriel “needs” Anne.
The idea behind the true crime book Gabriel wants to write is to demonstrate two things: how important forensics is in solving a crime and that people are still a necessary tool in addition to the forensics. However, this premise is just an excuse to bring Gabriel and Sara together. The story explores addiction, Sara’s and Gabriel’s. The weaknesses which led to their relying upon their individual crutches and how they resolve them.
That said, I did enjoy the story! Exploring New Orleans, delving into its mid-19th century history, the developing attraction between them, and the approach Gabriel takes to building his true crime story.
The Story
Overwhelmed by the misery humans endure, Gabriel, assigned as a Watcher over humanity, attempts to drown the despair with absinthe and opium becoming addicted to avoidance. As a consequence, God tosses him from Heaven sentencing him to an everlasting demonhood, part of which Gabriel assuages by taking a mistress, Anne, in 1849. When said mistress is murdered horribly, Gabriel swears off women and his drugs of choice retreating into a solitary existence. Until he learns of another murder. Committed exactly the same way. In the early 21st century.
Desperate to learn if there is a connection. To learn if he had killed Anne, Gabriel teams up with the daughter of today’s murdered woman to discover the true killer never dreaming just what that connection is.
The Cover
The is kinda weird in a kinky sort of way. A woman is dressed in a slinky mint green backless dress, blonde hair cascading partway down her back with a wings tattoo at the small of her back, embracing the statue of an angel whose back is to us.
