01 March, 2012

A Temptation of Angels by Michelle Zink

A Temptation of Angels
Pages: 448.

Publication: 20th March 2012/Dial Books for Young Readers

Rating: ½
Pre-Order It: Amazon

"Even angels make mistakes in this page-turning epic romance... 



When her parents are murdered before her eyes, sixteen-year-old Helen Cartwright finds herself launched into an underground London where a mysterious organization called the Dictata controls the balance of good and evil. Helen learns that she is one of three remaining angelic descendants charged with protecting the world's past, present, and future. Unbeknownst to her, she has been trained her whole life to accept this responsibility. Now, as she finds herself torn between the angelic brothers protecting her and the devastatingly handsome childhood friend who wants to destroy her, she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and above all to be strong, because temptation will be hard to resist, even for an angel. 



Michelle Zink masterfully weaves historical fantasy with paranormal romance to create a gripping tale of love and betrayal." 

Review.
I must disagree with the blurb. A Temptation of Angels is not a page-turning epic romance.
The concept of the story is interesting and had great potential yet it was ruined by cringe worthy romance and an uninteresting characters. 

Zink's characters lacked the spark of originality that is needed to have a character stand out in YA fiction.

You have Helen, the over-zealous and in my opinion dim, girl who thinks she is indestructible. She is the bold and beautiful girl who boys like yet she does not see why. Although, she has been trained and insists on joining the boys she is dead weight that just needs saving. She is stubborn and not in the respectable way. The only aspect of Helen I liked is her retorts to Darius.

Then you have the boys, grumpy Darius, the golden boy Griffin and of course, the mysterious Raum. Again, the lack any real originality. 

My real problem with the book is the pacing. It was terrible. With the terrible comes the insta-love romance and by speedy romance I mean, they knew each other days and he (I shall not say which one) was confessing his undying love to Helen. Damn boy, I am not sure who is dimmer you or Helen? She just lost her home, her parents, her world has been turned upside down and she is worrying about boys.

With all that negativity right there, Zink got one thing right and that is the writing. A Temptation is well written. It was fluid and elegant and that deserves recognition. 

Final Thought.
I would not bother. A Temptation of Angels is too long due to the bad pacing and has that I'm reading it just to finish it feel. Not a series I will bother finishing.

2 comments:

  1. Too bad you didn't like this one. Judging by the cover alone, A Temptation of Angels seems like a read-worthy book. Have you read other books by Michelle Zink?

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  2. The cover is very lovely but I didn't it enjoyable. That being said though I have seen a few five star reviews on Goodreads, so I guess it's down to opinion! I have Prophecy of the Sisters in the house which I bought a while back but have yet to read! :)

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