Review: Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter (Angels of the Dark #2)

Beauty Awakened (Angels of the Dark #2)
Gena Showalter
Published: Feb. 26, 2013 (HQN)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon

Reviewed by: Candace

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Note: Haven’t read the first Angels in the Dark book? Check out the VBC review of Wicked Nights.

Wow.

Beauty Awakened’s tortured hero Koldo made me immediately think of Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones, only without hair. He is dark, broody, loyal to a fault and a fierce lover, both with his heart and with his body. Poor Nicola didn’t stand a chance.

But Nicola is actually a powerhouse. The girl and her twin sister have withstood a lifelong flirtation with tragedy, defied odds (doctors have said that both sisters should never have lived this long) and she is within a hairsbreadth of succumbing to demons. Until Koldo. The warrior merely instructs Nicola on what to do and, despite her twin’s refusal to obey, she does and completely recovers from her illness. Both sisters have weak hearts, weakened bodies and the condition is worsened by the demons trailing them both. Nicola’s strength is formidable, even though her body is not.

Beauty Awakened takes us back to what draws readers to Gena Showalter’s writing in the first place. It’s much like the originals Lords of the Underworld books with camaraderie between warriors, protectiveness and witty snark that had me laughing all throughout. The big difference now is that the sex scenes are toned down considerably and the language is tamer.  

Does this matter? That’s up for you to decide, but I can tell you this: You get a cameo from one of the favorite LOTU characters and he all but had me drooling. We’re also left with teasers from Kane. His book is next in the LOTU world and it appears as if there will be some Angels of the Dark around to help him out.

There are truly wretched characters in Beauty Awakened, and their actions are hard to read. Koldo is tortured mercilessly by his parents. His mother cut off his wings, all because he brought her flowers, which meant that he didn’t follow her instructions. His father is a special kind of evil. Again, this can be difficult to read.

The big mystery is at the end and it centers around Bjorn, Thane and Xerxes. Those three are a potential gold mine waiting to happen in the Angels of the Dark series and I can’t wait to see what Showalter has in store for them. Speaking of gold mine…

Axel. I loved him. Absolutely adored him and he reminded me of William. Which is funny, because as I looked back over my review of Wicked Nights, someone had commented on that very same thing. Axel’s one liners were genius and he leaves you wanting more.

I can not wait to see what Showalter has in store next for the Angels. Whatever she dishes out, they surely can take it.

Sexual content: Sex