Search - Covet (Fallen Angels, Bk 1)

This book is set in the same universe as the Black Dagger Brotherhood. If you have read the Black Dagger books, you will recognize some people and some places. It is not necessary to have read the Black Dagger books to understand this one.

All right first let me say I really enjoyed this book. It is a bit more complicated than the BDB books in terms of plot in my opinion. The first forty or so pages were hard for me just because I was trying to work out who was good who was bad and I found it difficult. Once I got past that and found the rhythm of the story it was a really good one. The premise itself seems a little strange. Heaven and Hell agree to call off the war and place the fate of everything onto one guy and seven souls. However, JR Ward really does a great job of selling it. I didn't anticipate every aspect of the book in advance, I was genuinely surprised a few times. I love it when that happens in books!

In shorter words, go get this book. Because you cannot have mine! :)

If you are looking for a Black Dagger Brotherhood kind of story, think again. This book was slow and tedious, and it's about 150 pages to long. I really wanted to like this book because i love J.R. Ward, but it was a struggle from the start. Fallen angels? The main character was not an angel, he was recruited because both sides of the "battle for humanity" decided he was a middle of the road player to play the part. The whole story was confusing and the ending didn't leave me impatiently waiting for the sequel. The love story has its own sub plot with a stalker thrown in that has nothing to do with the story. I even tried to explain the plot to a friend, and i couldn't make enough sense of it to describe it. I own all of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books, but this series is not a keeper for me. Sorry Ward, better luck next time.

I'm a huge fan of the Black Dagger Brother books, so I really looked forward to this series. While I enjoyed this book, however, it has a very different tone than Ward's other work.

As is typical of Ward, the point of view jump around a lot. We meet Jim, a 40-year-old ex-assassin construction worker who, following a near death experience, is charged with saving seven souls from sin and damnation. The first of these souls is the leading man of the book, Vin. Vin is a very wealthy man who is basically always unsatisfied with what he has and greedily seeking more. Vin's world is turned upside down when he meets Marie-Terese, a prostitute who is desperate for a normal life. They pretty much immediately and inexplicably fall in love (another typical theme for Ward). However, they are both in danger as Vin's greedy past and Marie-Terese's less than pleasant current circumstances catch up to them. Jim must help them find there way out of danger and to each other.

The romantic moments in this book are surprisingly touching. If you can suspend disbelief and assume love at first sight, that is. There's no build-up, just instant knock out attraction followed quickly by "the L word". I actually enjoyed this aspect of the book, because it made their love seem urgent and fated. I had some trouble liking both characters at first, because they just aren't that easy to relate to. But Ward quickly explains why they are what and who they are, so I was able to start to sympathize with them. Similarly Jim takes some time to warm up to, but you like him by the end. Most importantly, I can't say I was ever bored by this book.

Having said that, there were a few not so good things about this book. I felt like it changed points of view a little too often, even cutting into romantic moments to tell us what Jim is up to. While he's vital to the plot, he's not the romantic lead and in my opinion he got just a little more air time than was necessary. Also, there is a stalker subplot that made almost no sense and could probably have been left out entirely. Meanwhile, we are given a lot of background on how Marie-Terese ended up where she was, and in the end those background circumstances pretty much remain the same--i.e. the abusive scary ex-husband is still out there to pose the same threat as before. Loose threads like that, as well as Vin's special ability, are left to hang so the reader must guess and assume (or perhaps they will be tied up in future books). Overall there was a little to much "Buy The Next Book To Find Out" going on at the end of the story--it doesn't function as a stand alone at all.

This is decent paranormal romance. It's nothing like the Black Dagger Brotherhood, so it's best to read it without expectations.

Covet, Book 1 of J. R. Ward's Fallen Angels series.
Jim Heron is the quintessential bad boy, but he is also very good. So good that he's been selected to tilt the scale in the battle between good and evil. Given seven tries, I'd put my money on him every time. He's bad to the bone, yet he's as good as gold, and the future of mankind is on the line.

I am going to admit something shameful. I have not read the Brotherhood books by this author that everyone else has read ages ago. Because of this I have no expectations. I’m only hoping for a decent paranormal that doesn’t bore me to death with endless action and subplots. I don’t think I could stomach another one of those right now. I’m reading this on audio and the narrator is a guy (I usually prefer a woman) but he’s doing a decent job even though he sometimes sounds like Casey Kasum. I’m waiting for him to end a chapter with “Keep your feet on the floor and keep reaching for the stars.” which makes me laugh at the oddest of places in the story. I really hope he sneaks it in there somewhere.

If I’m following the setup correctly this is the beginning of what appears to be a series of seven or eight books, perhaps? Behind the scenes angels and demons are engaged in a battle and one human will be chosen to determine who wins it for them. This human must save seven souls from one of the seven deadly sins but naturally the demons being evil and all aren’t going to play fair.

Jim is a construction worker with a mixed sense of morality which is why he is the choice of both the angels and the demons for their little end of the world game. The day after his 40th birthday he meets the angels and learns of his mission. The angels aren’t very angelic in manner and the narrator gives them all accents which made their banter even funnier. Several sound like Simon Cowell while another sounds like that sexy Australian guest chef they always have on tv’s “The Biggest Loser”. I sure hope we get to meet the demons if the angels are this offbeat.

But the book isn’t all about the funny, soon after the angels make their appearance it takes a turn towards the dark and pretty much stays there. The characters are troubled and all are a bit mysterious which is what hooked me right off. I was unsure who was the good guy or gal and that kept me reading in the early stages of the book. The author does a fantastic job of making her flawed characters realistic. Not always likable but realistic. The main characters have brutal pasts and many secrets and that horrific baggage has shaped them into who they are now. This isn’t the minor fluffy stuff that torments many a hero/heroine in romance novels and drives me up a wall when they start up with the Eeyore act. These are traumatizing, life altering events.

Jim’s now a fallen angel and his first subject is Vin DiPietro. Vin is a successful businessman and is about to engage himself to a gorgeous but strangely secretive beauty. Vin is one of the tormented men who starts off the book as cold and unemotional. I’m curious to see which of the seven sins belongs to him. I’m guessing it’s either greed or pride but hey maybe he’ll get lucky and it’ll be lust.

The book alternates between Jim, Vin and another main character named Marie-Terese who is working as a prostitute. She loathes what she must do but is determined to pay her debts. Why she couldn’t find another option, any other option (perhaps working two normal jobs?) to pay off that debt though is beyond me. It’s not like she was an undependable junkie-type and this felt too contrived. Marie-Terese remains shrouded in a cloud of mystery too. And I’m not being sarcastic for once. I actually enjoyed all of this mysteriousness. It made me want to keep on listening. This author has the secret to the ever elusive hook many books seem to be missing.

I won’t go into the plot any more than that and will only say that I mostly enjoyed the book and am glad to have finally discovered this author. It captured my attention and wasn’t so action packed that I ever became lost and the author’s “voice” worked for me. My interest began to wane a bit midway and I never became fully emotionally involved in Vin and Marie-Terese’s love story for whatever reason. Actually my attention began to drift when they got together. But I’m cold like that. So, it just misses being a four star book (I’d give it 3 ¾’s if I could) and probably isn’t one I’d read again but I’ll be checking out the sequels. For now I’m off to rescue all of those brotherhood books from tbr purgatory.

If you are into Vampires and love matches...J.R. Ward is the gal for
you. Terrific book.
Barb in San Diego