Comments on: REVIEW: Death Angel by Linda Howard

By: Review: Death Angel, Linda Howard « Racy Romance Reviews

Review: Death Angel, Linda Howard « Racy Romance Reviews — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:30:29 +0000

[...] Jane, Dear Author, B- [...]

By: HAZEL EYES

HAZEL EYES — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:35:45 +0000

I read this book twice. It’s a wonderful book. I wish Linda Howard had a web-site. All the Authors I read have email(newsletter). It would be nice to beable to communicate with Linda.

By: Tazallie

Tazallie — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:42:50 +0000

We are out there! But we may be slightly different in that we try to cater to niche genres such as romance, paranormal, fantasy, LGBT, historicals etc..we carry the blockbusters but we have dedicated sections to the smaller genres…cos the big stores tend to side line them…their loss our gain!

I have only just stumbled on this site but fully intend to use it for my own and work related reading. I have just spend this afternoon compiling a list of what to read based on some of the reviews here. So thanks to you all, your work is appreciated.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:23:48 +0000

I’m so glad that there are indie booksellers that push romances. it seems those are few and far between.

By: Tazallie

Tazallie — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:57:46 +0000

Jane I would just like to thank you for your review of this book, without it I would not have read it at all. I agree with your comment that the official blurb for this book is misleading, and is what in fact had been stopping me from reading this wonderful novel. The Back blurb just made the book seem …just another romantic story, when in fact it is very much more than that, the FBI portion is just a secondary filler to give motivation to the heroes actions.

I work for a small independent bookseller in the uk and a lot of my customers have come to rely on me for recommendations as they know I am an avid reader. I am sad to say I know I wouldnt have recomdended this book, but when the paperback (sorry Ms Howard but we dont stock hardbacks)comes out it will be on the shelf.

What I like about this book is the fact that both the hero and heroine are like they are not because they are inherently bad but because they took the easier of lifes options, and they both know that and arent looking for redemption in the normal sense of the word, but are looking for a true second chance. Not a page turner but a thought provoking read…or at least it was for me.

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:42:05 +0000

Finished DEATH ANGEL over the weekend…and the book didn’t live up to the synopsis. The story felt slow and I found my attention wandering numerous times. The characters had such great potential, but the paranormal shortcut kind of killed them for me. (And I was little irked by the whole “a mother’s love is the purest form of love” crap. So, does that make women who can’t have children lesser people?)

As a reader, I think I’ve outgrown LH. *tear* I’ll go back to re-reading her southern pot-boilers.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:08:52 +0000

Shoot, I caught the error and retyped (or so I think!) Cry No More in place of Cover of Night and it is not there. So did I do it? Am I losing it?
I am with you: Throwmerope: I actually read the preview/excerpt on Amazon, then went and pulled out Cover of Night and reread, then assumed it was the same guy. But that guy was Chicago based, so I decided it wasn’t him. I didn’t think of the alias possibility…duh of me.
MPH: Totally am with you about our hero. It breaks me up to think of that thought process.
RE: Cry No More. I reread that too. Wow, what a gut puncher.

By: MPH

MPH — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:07:08 +0000

I guess I must be simpler than most. I know the synopsis leads us all to believe it is action-pack and all but I was not disturbed that it wasn’t. The lack of action (the story’s not about that and it’s definitely not about being romantic), the lack of info on Simon (he wasn’t really “human” before Andie), the lack of time spent together between hero & herione (they were always thinking of each other hence the “droning” and “monlogue”), lack of result with FBI (shows Andie that she cannot find her worth there) didn’t bother me at all.

This story was so dark in many ways. I was completely wrapped up in how the Andie and Simon were coming back to life - how each begin to question their worth and then try to redeem themself ( for Andie, sacrificing her life. For Simon, no longer killing.) They both failed in their plans. In the end, you/they accept that perhaps there is no way of knowing, that perhaps the only prove is in how deeply you loved and were loved in your life. (My heart nearly broke when Simon accepts that there may be no redemption for him but as long as he had her in this lifetime, it was all he ask for.)

I liked the story alot - it’s not the best but it’s definitely felt it’s mark on me. Cry No More made me cry but this one left me shaken. Still.

mph

By: Throwmearope

Throwmearope — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:59:31 +0000

Uh, Susan, Diaz and Milla are in Cry No More. I went into Death Angel thinking it was the story of the ambiguously bad villain of Cover of Night. Read the whole book still thinking that and loved it. I was very surprised to check the villain’s many aliases and discover that my assumption was wrong. Doesn’t matter, love LH frothy (Blair is the most outstanding heroine I can recall), funny or dark. Just wish she had a website for upcoming books.

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:41:16 +0000

I don’t know if my note is a spoiler or not; I am comparing it to previous Linda books. I really enjoyed this book, so please read the book and form your own opinion if you have it or plan to buy or read it.

I always love Linda Howard and LOVE her to reread. I now classify books in my mind by their reread potential. Linda is on my reread list.

Anyways, after thinking about this book and then rereading SLOWLY which is totally the opposite of my regular speed of reading HOT OFF THE PRESS books, I decided I like it more and more. It is in a similar category to Cry No More and Son of the Morning. By that I mean the heroes are doing what they do, because it is necessary. It is almost like Linda stuck her toe in that water (Son of the Morning) then walked in up to her knees (Cry No More) and then in the deep end in Death Angel.

In Son of the Morning, I still was hooked on Grace’s newly dead husband and had a hard time getting into the hero. Also, he wasn’t super friendly in a heroic romance way at first; he was all about keeping to his quest. In their first true sex scene, she is not sure whether he is going to kill her or not, and as a reader I never was sure he knew either.

In Cover of Night, Diaz is truly pretty much working for good, but doing things that are not considered in a civilized world, the “good thing” to do. But he really bonds with Milla, and they are very similar in their approach. He becomes more “lovable” as she grieves in NC and he takes care of her.

By Death Angel, we meet a hero that truly has the goodness of love for Andie as what keeps him from being utterly “beyond the pale” to quote Regency terminology. But again, Linda makes it believable and understandable…this man doesn’t prey on you and me, but on the really big bad fish. The ones we really don’t want around.

Segue here: in my area a couple of twenty year old women were sentenced yesterday for stalking an elderly lady from the grocery to her home where the jumped her, threw bleach in her face and robbed her. I believe she is 87 years old. Now, who is morally more empty, them, or our character in Death Angel? I see the point Linda went for when she took us down that path with him.

Love the site.