Title: Angel’s Hero and Angel’s Truth
Series: Angel, Books 1 & 2
Author: Liz Borino
Genre: Romantic Suspense, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided via NetGalley
Published: February 26, 2014 by Lazy Day
Blurb from Angel’s Hero:
CIA Agent Aaron “Angel” Collins doesn’t take many things on faith. He trusts his gut, his eyes, and his husband, Jordan, an Army Captain. When his commanding officers deliver news of Jordan’s death, Aaron needs proof. The facts don’t add up, and Aaron must decide if he can trust Major General Troy Hart to assist in his quest to discover the truth.
Captain Jordan Collins is battered and disheartened in an Afghanistan prison, but definitely not dead, though he learns his own government believes he is. His only mission now is to stay alive and make it home to Angel, if he can find an ally among the enemy. But someone in the US government will stop at nothing to make sure he never leaves that prison, And Jordan must reevaluate the lines between friend and foe if he is ever to return to his Angel.
Reviewed By: J9
In a Nutshell: These books must be read together because book one ends on a huge cliffhanger. I really liked the characters and the setup of these two books but they were badly in need of editing, both in style and content.
The Set Up: Aaron is a CIA agent married to Jordan, an army captain when Jordan gets sent on a secretive mission. Aaron refuses to believe official word of Jordan’s death even when it appears a conspiracy is involved to make sure Jordan never returns home to Aaron.
Why I Read this Book: I enjoy established couples in romance novels and put both men in uniform and I’m really happy!
What I Liked: I really liked these characters and their relationship. I liked how the author does some flashbacks to show readers how Aaron and Jordan meet as well as their first date and how they were married. This invested me in the men’s established relationship which was well done.
I also liked the characters of Aaron and Jordan as well as the life they’ve built together. Aaron is a CIA agent and Jordan an army captain but that’s just their jobs; readers get more like how they grew up and what makes them individuals. I love the moments of calm when the men are post-coital talking about their future plans or the flashbacks to times they supported each other like when Jordan had a family crisis. They had believable issues given the circumstances and I liked how the book made the men talk about these issues.
What I Also Liked: Even though the plot was convoluted and badly in need of editing, it kept my attention. Jordan’s kidnapping and how he returns home drives the book and I was riding right along. Jordan meets someone in captivity who turns out more complex than I initially thought and I liked this a lot.
What I Didn’t Like: I hate to say it but this book needed some serious style and content editing. Superficial errors were there – like words missing or spelled incorrectly, which I can sort of ignore. But the most egregious errors were in the plot. For example, someone would be in a scene talking and suddenly he disappears. There was a huge scene at book one’s conclusion so I re-read that part to see when I missed that person’s exit but found nothing. The most puzzling though was I had no idea what the motivations of the bad guy were—none. The entire plot focuses on this person’s actions, which keep Jordan away from Aaron, and I had no idea why he’d do this—that’s a content issue a good editor would have picked up on.
IMO: With some good editing these two books (which should be one) would be a four star read but with all the content and style errors this is just an okay read.
J9’s Rating:
I love reading about established couples, but think that the editing problems you mentioned would keep me from enjoying these two books. And how could the author not mention why Jordan was being kept away from Angel? Very strange!
ReplyDeleteHad such promise too! I wanted to love it but just couldn't.
DeleteI think I would like the books, but the editing issues would be too much for me to handle. Most of the m/m books I've been enjoying have been published by Dreamspinner Press and they seem to have a good handle on that.
ReplyDelete