Wow. I don’t think I have ever returned a book less than a quarter into it, but this is just all kinds of awful. I am sorry that I will never get those two hours of my life back.
Joel Leslie is an automatic purchase for me. He is one of the best narrators out there with a vast range of distinctive voices, genders and accents and his pacing is amazing. I cannot recommend his work highly enough.
I have read and enjoyed many books from ANW over the years and that, combined with the blurb and narrator, left me giddy with anticipation. I am not familiar with the other author. This was just bad writing.
The characters, especially D’Angelo, are completely over the top in their reactions to events. Side note: were there no other names to choose from? Why have the two main characters have almost the SAME name (D’Angelo and Angel). D’s thought process is to react in the extreme to everything. He’s also unkind/borderline nasty to his future love interest. I’ve never been too excited with the enemies-to-lovers trope, which I wasn’t aware this was, as Angel is basically a doormat for the first two hours (at least). I’m supposed to assume they fall madly in love by the end? Maybe it’s just Stockholm Syndrome. It’s definitely not healthy.
Another really annoying thing that just screams immature writing is that no matter how inappropriate, the main characters have these graphic sexual desires just dropped in at random. I am more likely to believe in vampires and witches than “OMG the bad guys are going to take over the world, I have to stop them just as soon as I think about Angel performing erotic acts upon my person.” All. The. Time. There is really no flow to, well, anything.
So, I cannot recommend this series at all, I am extremely disappointed and will have to go through life never knowing if D’Angelo is ever worthy of Angel. That’s my two cents.