Book Review : Shadow Of Angels by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Shadow of Angels by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Series : Halfway Between #1
Genre : New Adult Paranormal Romance
Publisher : Limitless Publishing
Publication Date : January 6, 2020

The first time I died was November 1st, 1945. That might’ve been the first time, but it certainly wasn’t the last.

My name is Veil, and my life has been far from normal. Everything I thought I knew about myself had been a lie. Every single thing. Turns out, I had been in the care of a cult dedicated to a King in Hell and fallen archangel.

But after learning the truth of who—or what—I am, I devoted my life to stopping them and everyone like them.

Which is why when I learned that Boston was under siege from an occult society who was slaughtering innocents, I had no choice but to come and stop them. Even if it meant it would take me piece by piece through that past I’d spent seventy years trying to avoid—and right into the presence of the archdemon I’d been running from for so very long. Asmodeus.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, I realized once more that I had no clue what was coming next…

Available on KU!

Amazon US

Amazon CA

Amazon UK

Amazon AU

One of my favorite authors, that I discovered in 2019, is back with a new series and I couldn't be happier! I loved Kathryn Ann Kingsley's The Masks of Under series and I was super excited to hear that she was working on something new!

Shadow of Angels was a great start to an amazing, new urban fantasy series!

It is set in Boston, and features a kick-ass protagonist who fights demons and cults, and also has the ability to die and come back!

Veil is quite a mysterious character in the beginning and the author starts the book off quickly with some action! We are immersed immediately into the world that the author has created with a completely different take on angels and demons!

Veil comes back to Boston, a city which holds too many memories for her, after a long time and finds suspicious cases of mutilated bodies, which leads her to believe that this is the work of a cult. Soon, she comes across a new type of monster, which she hasn't seen before and she has to ask for help from a certain organisation who aren't too kind to anomalies like her!

This book shifts seamlessly between the present and Veil's past, where we get to see Alistair(Asmodeus) through her eyes!(And I'm stressing on through her eyes, because her emotions really shape her perceptions!) This book had me dying to see more of him, because the author teases us with tiny glimpses!

I love the way Kathryn Ann Kingsley writes her anti-heroes, because they aren't the stereotypical villains who are completely changed into good men by the love of the heroines! They are instead dark men, who are beautifully portrayed as capable of both good and bad at the same time(it's all grey here, my friend!) and with women who love them for what they are, without expecting them to change drastically!

I loved the way the author slowly pulls back the veil(pun intended!) on the protagonist's past and existence! We also had a great set of side characters too! Richard was an amazing friend, but also such a believable character at the same time! I loved the touch of lightness that Conrad and Gabe added to the story, but I just wished we had spent more time developing the friendship between them and Veil! It felt a little quick to me! Melon was the cutest thing ever! Lol!

As much as I loved spending time seeing things from Veil's point of view, I think she still needs to mature just a little more, even though she's quite old in human years! Maybe I'm being a little hard on her because Lydia is one of my favorite heroines, but I felt like Veil couldn't look past her own emotions at many times, despite thinking that she was cool-headed. The way she trusted Gabe and Conrad so easily was a little bit too fast for me, when she hadn't even told Richard many things about her past despite having been his friend for so many years! 

I really liked the way the author has fleshed out all the characters though! Veil is caught between her feelings of admiration, love and anger! The last few chapters had me on the edge of my seat, and I was so giddy with happiness to see a little bit of Alistair's possessive side! Plus, we also get to see how different his perspective on the past is from Veil's! I felt like Veil hasn't even understood him completely if she thinks that he'd be angry and punish her for imprisoning him to the other side!

Also, can I add that I'm super happy with the steamy scenes in this book!*fans self*

I was super disappointed with the fade-to-black ones in the Masks of Under series, and had to go to the author's website to devour the explicit scenes! So happy that this book features all the deliciousness!

I'm dying to get my hands on book two! Hope we get to see more about Veil and Alistair's relationship and past interactions! I would also love to see how he feels about the current version of Veil! <3

Veil was dying.

Again.

At this point, she was on a first-name basis with the sensation of her body shutting down. All her organs were struggling valiantly to soldier on, even though things were entirely out of place and had gone very much awry. A golf-ball-sized hole had been punched straight through her chest. But her body only had one job, keeping her alive, and it was trying so very hard to do just that.

She was lying on the floor. A bullet had been what put her there. A particularly large caliber one, judging by the pain. The gun the man had used packed a damn good punch.

It was also likely enchanted and holy.

She figured it went with the territory.

Now she found herself examining the ceiling tiles of a charming little coffee shop. It was trying to make the vintage thing work at all costs, even if it meant putting up fake stamped copper tiles. I bet they’re plastic from Home Depot or something.

It’s amazing what came to mind when the brain was struggling for oxygen and blood. The thoughts were always the most random, trivial things. Never anything salient or prophetic. Never anything interesting.

The bullet might have nicked her heart. It had definitely punctured her lung. She knew this, because when she went to breathe, it felt as though she had liquid in her chest. It gurgled like trying to suck air through a snorkel with too much seawater in it. The sensation was just as unpleasant.

It’d be over soon enough, she knew. It wasn’t the first time this’d happened. It wouldn’t be the last. While every kind of death carried its own unique form of pain, she likened it to flavors of ice cream. Sure, it all tasted different, but down at the core it was the same thing. How she got there might be new and interesting, might be double-fudge or salted caramel, but it all got her to the same place.

Man, I could seriously go for some ice cream right about now.

Lifting her hand, she touched it to the wound in her ribcage. It was sticky and wet. And big. She picked her hand up to look at the blood dripping off her fingers. More out of morbid curiosity than anything else. It was painful to breathe, so she opted not to. It would just get it over with easier that way. The darkness that was creeping at the edges of her vision would come faster. The quicker that happened, the quicker she could get on with her day. 

Death obeyed, and she felt the darkness at the edges of her vision rush in closer. The bullet had punched its way easily through bone, flesh, and sinew. The man was also an excellent shot, she’d give him that.

Y’know, Yul Brenner made a weird villain in West World. Again, with the random-ass thoughts. It almost made her laugh. She would have, if she had the air and the lungs to do it. Just another weird thought popping up out of nowhere as her brain struggled to survive.

Veil knew the telltale signs that the end was coming soon. She shut her eyes as her lungs burned and willed her body to just give up the ghost and let it end. When a hand grasped hers and clutched it, she blinked in confusion and looked up at the man kneeling over her.

He had long, chestnut hair in a ponytail and sharp hazel eyes. He wore all black, save for a white clerical collar that only made him look tan by comparison. He held her hand gently, and with his other one with two fingers aloft, gestured in the shape of a cross in the air in front of him. Earnestly, he began to pray in Latin.

It almost made her laugh again.

“Don’t bother,” a familiar voice said from the table nearby.

“What?” the priest kneeling over her looked up, appalled and offended.

“Give her a minute.”

***

Read the rest of the first chapter here!

Kat has always been a storyteller. With ten years in script-writing for performances on both the stage and for tourism, she has always been writing in one form or another. When she isn’t penning down fiction, she works as Creative Director for a company that designs and builds large-scale interactive adventure games. There, she is the lead concept designer, handling everything from game and set design, to audio and lighting, to illustration and script writing. Also on her list of skills are artistic direction, scenic painting and props, special effects, and electronics. A graduate of Boston University with a BFA in Theatre Design, she has a passion for unique, creative, and unconventional experiences. In her spare time, she builds animatronics and takes trapeze classes.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon | Goodreads | Bookbub

Hosted by