Review: Wounded Angel by Stacy Gail (Earth Angels #3)

Wounded Angel (Earth Angels #3)
Stacy Gail
Published: May 27, 2013 (Carina Press)
Purchase at: Amazon
Review Source: Provided by publisher

Reviewed by: Candace

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

Note: Check out Jo’s review of the first Earth Angels book Nobody’s Angel.

Ella Little is leaves a nightmarish past behind in an attempt to recreate herself.  She does her very best to make sure she is never a victim again and that nobody can find her.

Nate da Luca jeopardizes all that Ella has worked for.  He could destroy the anonymity all by doing what he assumes is the right thing.  Poor Nate must never have heard that old saying: Never assume. You could make an ass out of u and me.  Nate is sent to find a woman that he very well could fall in love with.

Stacy Gail’s Earth Angels line deals with the Nephilim, descendents of fallen angels (yes, those) who are basically judged for the sins of their ancestors.  Only these guys (girls, too) are not bad, but are wanted by those who know exactly what they are and want to exploit them for their abilities.  Which is how Nate finds himself in this situation.  Nate’s bosses want to send the Nephilim after the girl knowing that he’ll bring the girl back and the party that hired Nate is free to exact retribution.  Only, that’s not exactly how it happens.

Nate realizes that the group that hired him has no interest in the well-being of Ella Little, far from it, in fact. His role changes and he becomes protector instead of finder.  Only Nate has a few more battles than the one against the man writing his paycheck. Nate’s kind have wings and Nate’s mother cut his wings off as a baby in order to mask what he was.  He bears the scars, both physical and mental, and it takes the vulnerability of Ella to wake something up in Nate.

Ella wants to run far and fast, to get away from her past.  Only, to do that, she has to get away from Nate, which proves problematic.  Ella is inexplicably (to her, at least) drawn to this man.  So when Nate takes her and leaves with the intention of making things safe for her, they are forced into spending time together, deepening intimacies, tightening bonds, weaving their fates.

Here’s the problem: the villains.  The very definition of villain generally means that you aren’t going to develop deep and heartfelt ties to the characters.  But these are especially vile and in one scene, the faces melt off.  Yeah, that kind of melt.  As in put your chocolate in the microwave for ten seconds too long kind of melt.

Once you’re past the melting skin, it gets much more tolerable.  If you’ve read the earlier Earth Angels, you know Sara.  Sara’s group stays in contact via chat rooms, which is basically their primary source of discussing business.  The Nephilim can’t be in the same place at the same time as it weakens them.  Their banter, to me, was reminiscent of Christina Dodd’s Chosen Ones.

Basically, Wounded Angel features great characters and has loads of potential.  Fans of fallen angels may want to check this out.

Sexual content: Sex