I read 15% of the book and finally put it down. I could not get into the story or characters. To storyline never seem to be picking up on pace, and I was always wondering when the story was about to start. It was crawling extremely slowly, Painfully slow. There are way too many good books out there waiting to be read, so I am not wasting my time on this one.

This book was awful! I couldn't stand either one of the leading characters. She was vain and selfish while he was supposed to be powerful and broody but came off as obstinate and boorish.
I get so annoyed with authors who try to do the "I lust after her but I don't want to get hurt again" thing. It's overused and tedious to read.
I skipped page after page of Allegra and Raziel arguing.
And the vampiric angel thing has also been overdone.
The only thing that kept me reading besides the fact that I'm desperate for a new series, was that Allie had some humorous thoughts on her situation like how she thought of the wives of the fallen blood sucking angels as the Stepford Wives.
I'd say don't bother reading this. It bites. ( )

The heroine has always been a kind albeit creature but certainly undeserving of what fate has in store for her. One day-a day like every other day-she dies. She's hit by a bus and finds herself being carried over to the other side by an obnoxiously hansom angel. She's devoid of all earthly possessions- her hair has grown out to it's nature mousy brown colour. But just as she's shoved into the black abyss of what she can only hope is heaven- the angel snatches her back. When he discovers his annoying but beautiful charge is going to hell he has a sudden but powerful bout of mercy. There is no way she's done anything in life that warrants being sent below but his actions have dire consequences. He brings her to the island hideaway where he and his fellow fallen live in relative peace. Cursed as they are to drink the blood of a source- the hero is far from what you can call angelic. By thwarting the judgment of heaven he's brought their enemies to their gates. And he's also fighting a losing battle in keeping his lust and deeper emotions towards the heroine. For the majority of this book I felt it rated a solid 3 star. Mostly I enjoyed it well enough but it was nothing spectacular. I had a really hard time relating to the heroine or even liking her as a character. I found her to b stupidly obnoxious and extremely annoying. She just rattled on about this injustice of that and didn't shut up for more 5 seconds so that they could tell her what her situation is. The hero I felt was a bit washy as well. Though I liked the fact that he swore repeatedly because he knew it pissed off the archangel but otherwise I found his sort of bland. Then later on came the climax battle and it started to pick up. I become enthralled in the action and sudden but passionate bonding between the characters. If it had only kept this pace throughout it would have easily rated higher but overall it was just okay. ( )

Raziel (Fallen (Pocket Books)) 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. ( )

Raziel (Fallen (Pocket Books)) 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. ( )