Book Review- Night Angel by Annette Miller

This a new author for me. I loved the storyline. Randal is a guardian and is trying to save the children kidnapped by the pack, even the alpha’s son. He is destined to meet his soulmate.
Karen wins a free mystery weekend and ends up in the same place. She is a superhero and a part of a paranormal female team. So, you know instantly who she is going to be. Randal has to save the children and embrace a relationship with Karen.
The host of the mystery weekend shows an interest in Karen and she joins in to save the children when she understands what is going on. Her character really surprised me. I figured she would be sassy and pick up on things faster than she did. I really didn’t like her as a heroine especially if she was already on a team. You would expect some analytic skills to assess situations you find yourself in. She seemed clueless.
Randal was a cool hero. He had to endure a lot to even have the chance to save the children. It was hard to read what was done to him and how he had to just take it. He was my favorite character in the book. He had a lot of determination and strength to do what he needed to do.
Parts of the writing seemed flat in places. I felt I was reading something from a young writer. The author could have explored the characters so much more. As I said I really liked the idea of the story and the series of Angels. I am giving this book a 4 out of 5 because I liked the idea enough to overlook the writing in some areas.

This took me awhile to get into but once I did I enjoyed, this was a new to me author. I would read more from Miller.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Reading a fantasy book is not my usual comfort zone. So was pleasantly impressed that this story really grabbed me by my shirt collar and dragged me in. The suspense and mystery surrounding the characters was palpable and thrilling.
Randall and Karen May be destined for each other but you keep on reading as you’ll figure there’s little hope that that will ever happen. With enemies surrounding them, and all the pitfalls and traps, beatings and deprivation... you figure no one could overcome them. Your heart beats faster hoping beyond hope for things to go right.
Very fun read!
I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Sadly, I could not finish this one. :( I was starting to take breaks after every chapter (sometimes even after a chapter break), and multiple times I found myself having to re-read paragraphs because my brain wasn’t processing the words (due to boredom and frustration). After struggling to a little past the 50% mark (page 102/173) I had to call it quits.

One of the main things I found confusing about this story was the intended age bracket. So much of this story (and the MCs interactions) felt like a young teen’s whimsical fairytale romance. Even Karen’s inner thoughts/dialogue (and dialogue with the Guardian) came off as very immature for her age. And yet… there’s a graphic torture scene (nowhere near as bad as some I’ve read, but graphic torture nonetheless) and multiple mentions of Karen and Randall “consummating” their bond. It felt like such a strange mix of young teen vs. mature/adult themes, with (potentially?) some sexual content in the latter half.

Karen also seemed much more focused on her “true love” bond with Randall, wanting her first kiss with him, and fretting over if/when she would be getting her “happy ending” than she did with their very important, very pressing objective: save the children. I really felt like it was an annoyance to her, and something that she wanted to be over and done with so she could immerse herself in her bond with Randall. Although, funnily enough, I couldn’t really blame her…

*sigh* … “the children”, “the children”, “save the children”. After reading that countless times, I was actually clenching my teeth every time it was mentioned because I felt no emotional attachment to their plight. At all. They felt like this intangible thing, that was constantly being dangled in front of my nose. I really wish the prologue had included the werewolf pack and a scene of the children being abducted. Or even some brief scenes of their captivity peppered throughout the story, either from the villain’s PoV or from one of the children. Just… something, to make me really care about what was happening to them and feel a sense of urgency for their rescue.

Another confusing and frustrating aspect of this story was the worldbuilding. A lot of it felt very vague, like the relationship between the Fae and the werewolves. (I’m assuming the werewolves are not part of the Faerie Realm?). Are there any other non-Fae supernatural races? (Eg., other animal shifters, vampires, etc?). Also, there’s no explanation about how/why all these humans have supernatural powers. Are they bastard children (or descendants) of Fae/human couplings? And there’s no explanation about Karen’s “dragon spirit” or why she has multiple powers/abilities when it seems like all the other humans only have one? Maybe some of these questions are answered later in the story, but to constantly be wondering about it all for (a little more than) half the book was incredibly frustrating for me.

The villains (and their motivations) were a bit cookie-cutter, but they did give me the creeps (which is a good thing). And I really liked Randall. I found him very intriguing and much more sensible/mature than Karen. He’s the main reason I stuck with the story as long as I did, but eventually I just couldn’t continue for that reason alone. :(

Beautiful romance between Randall and Karen. I loved the plot if this book. Looking forward to reading more about background characters.

I liked this book have not read anything from this author before and i cannot wait to try more.it was well written with super characters.