Christina Ashcroft

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: Potentially great story about an Archangel falls short of my expectations.

Opening Sentence: Aurora Robinson counted seventeen steps east of the ancient oak, three steps north, and then narrowed her eyes at the woodland that bordered her family’s property ten feet in front of her.

The Review:

Archangel of Mercy by Christina Ashcroft has a pretty hot cover. Like in most paranormal romances, Ashcroft promises heat, and lots of it. I would categorize Archangel of Mercy more as an erotica, rather than a romance, so you know there will be a lot of sexy times. Just from the first few pages, it was starting to steam up my glasses. Angel romance does that, but I’m picky. Archangel of Mercy started out great, but slowly lost my attention.

Aurora Robinson yearns to find out more about her mother’s heritage and her past. In order to do so, she opens a rift between dimensions. Consequently, she manages to bring an Archangel, Gabriel, to her as well as alert the paranormal authorities, the Guardians. As a psychic, Aurora can retain her mother’s memories through dimensional rifts. What she doesn’t expect is an out-of-this-world with Gabriel. He brings her to his private sanctum to protect her from the Guardians and herself. Together, they reluctantly discover more about each other than they have before.

Aurora is a good character, but I was concerned about how quickly she gave in. She is a woman with an undiscovered past with psychic abilities. She can open dimensions, but quickly falls for an Archangel that oozes sex. She falls into lust with Gabriel just from a single look. After a few moments (or days) of sexual lust, she thinks clearly and carries out actions that I question.

I had a love and hate relationship with Gabe. I liked his sex appeal. What romance story would be successful without a hunky leading man? But I didn’t like how he was written. Well, not all of him at least. His attitude as an Archangel left me with a feeling of disappointment. My preference of leading men do not include forceful and aggressive personalities. He calmed down his actions near the end of the story, and maybe that’s the whole point, but I could not connect with him at all.

My focus was lost several times, causing my interest to disconnect from the story. The original objective, finding out about her mom, was lost within the sex, hiding from the Guardians, finding out about Gabe’s past, and more sex. The beginning pulled me in, but it went away as Ashcroft introduced more details into the mix. I didn’t think that the reasons were explained thoroughly and I often had to go back and piece things together.

I was excited to read this paranormal romance with an archangel. I just didn’t think Archangel of Mercy was for me. I didn’t find out much about Gabe’s world, at least not fully, and I didn’t think I found out enough about Aurora’s either. I wanted more of this and less of that, but again, this is how my mind prefers things. I would give Archangel of Mercy a try, because those scenes are steamy and hot.

Notable Scene:

The necklace that had haunted her dreams for as long as she could remember. Recurring, endless dreams of rainbows and gold dust and magnificent jewel-like butterfly wings had been her nightly companion as a child. And as an adult she had sought to capture the dream, to make it a reality. To her dad’s horror she’d used a good chunk of her grandmother’s inheritance to commission the piece from one of the top London jewelers.

She’d never seen anything similar to it before. Yet here, in an angel’s treasured painting, was her beloved butterfly necklace’s twin.

It couldn’t be coincidence. There had to be a connection even if for the life of her she couldn’t imagine what.
Besides, it was a lot easier to focus on that than the mind-shattering reality that she’d been saved by an angel.

FTC Advisory: Berkley Trade/Penguin provided me with a copy of Archangel of Mercy. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.… (lisätietoja)

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

Long running series like Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunters and Meljean Brook’s The Guardians prove that readers are still clamoring for hot paranormal romances featuring angels. Hoping to feed the demand, Christina Ashcroft introduces a new series featuring Archangels with scorching hot romance. In ARCHANGEL OF MERCY, the hero delivers on the scorching hot promise, but may be too alpha for some readers.

There are going to be readers who are really put off by Gabe, the fallen archangel hero. He is initially very dismissive of Aurora (“I have no need to ever justify my actions to anyone. Least of all to you.”) and he has his own definition of the word ‘no’. He walks a very fine line between forced seduction and just plain force. Due to his supernatural senses, Gabe is attuned to Aurora’s involuntary physical responses, and totally dismisses her numerous and forceful protests (“Fight all you like. You’re not going anywhere.”). I get that he’s a millennial old being who has reason to disdain humans, and I get that he’s very accustomed to getting what he wants when he wants it, I even get that to him, he truly doesn’t see anything wrong with forced seduction. But for me, I’ll admit to feeling slightly uncomfortable in several places.

“Get off me.” She glared up at him, breasts heaving just inches from his chest, desire snaking through every word. “You bastard! Where the hell am I?”
Her disrespect, far from enraging him, tightened the need in his gut, heightened the throb in his temples…“You’re where you belong.” The words were little more than a growl and to reinforce her position he dragged his hand from the back of her neck, curled his fingers around the top of her tank and ripped the material in two.
Her entire body quivered beneath him and her free hand suddenly gripped his throat. It didn’t hurt. She was incapable of hurting him. But it was surprising.
“I don’t belong here.” Her fingers dug in deeper…
I like Alpha males who are controlling and cocky and even a little dangerous. I like that the kind of women who end up with them are just as strong. With Gabe, he’s an acquired taste. He pushes even my limits of acceptable alpha male behavior particularly during the hotter scenes that are told from his point of view. Keep in mind that this is from Berkley’s Heat imprint, so it is very erotic. Initially, Gabe sees Aurora as little more than a walking hole (something she rightly calls him out on), but even when he reigns in on the quasi criminal caveman behavior, the plot gets somewhat convoluted and pulls in one of my least favorite story tropes to explain Gabe’s ‘inexplicable’ attraction for Aurora.

Overall, not my favorite angel paranormal romance. It is hot, and I liked the semi Sci-fi direction they took with the angel mythology that nicely sidestepped any religious dogma, but Gabe’s behavior is challenging to accept. If you are at all sensitive to even a hint of dubious consent, you’ll probably want to skip this one. According to the author’s website, this is the first in a planned series. If I had to guess, I’ll bet Gabe’s friend Mephisto will be the hero in the next book.

Sexual Content:
Several graphic sex scenes. Including hints of forced seduction… (lisätietoja)