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Book Review of Wicked Nights (Angels of the Dark, Bk 1)

Wicked Nights (Angels of the Dark, Bk 1)
Wicked Nights (Angels of the Dark, Bk 1)
Author: Gena Showalter
Genre: Romance
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
reviewed on + 503 more book reviews


Excellent start to a new series. A few references to the Lords of the Underworld but very little interaction with them. Book can easily stand on its own. Lots of new, interesting, characters introduced without boring us to death with side stories and subplots that take away from the central couple. Just enough to get you hooked for the next installment. The angels do seem a bit like LOTU with wings, but if you enjoyed that series, you probably won't mind.

Having read all of the LOTU series and also some of the Alien Huntress series, this book was refreshing in that it delivered something I would never have thought to expect from a paranormal romance, much less a Gena Showalter book: depth. Showalter brought some philosophical and spiritual ideas the the fore that are rather profound in their simplicity and worthy of thought long after the book has been shelved. It was an added bonus to a book that was already fun and entertaining.

I must agree with another reviewer that the proliferation of torture and extreme violence delivered by angels, even if it is against demons, somehow strikes the wrong note. Seems rather hypocritical. And if Showalter is indeed teaching us something about the real world with the rest of the story, what is the take-away from all the violence and torture? Maybe it is a metaphorical device but somehow in a world (the real world) where we are hopefully becoming less tolerant of rape and torture, having the heroes resort to it feels wrong.

The sensuality was a little lean, and perhaps less descriptive than the LOTU books. I've read that she's kind of going in a new direction but I don't know if that is fact or opinion.

I'm not sure I need a philosophical lesson in every book I read, but it was nice to come away this once with a feeling of the author having articulated something profoundlly true even if you never knew the words before.