Revew of Not An Angel

Review of Not An Angel by Dawn Chartier

Kira is a woman on a mission...a suicidal mission. With her husband and only child dead she fells there is no resson to go on living. She finds herself on a bridge on the outskirts of town on the railing and ready to jump. Plunging to her death she lays in murky waters as the water engulfs her lungs. Little does she know an "Angel" was watching from the shore waiting for the moment he would have to spring into action.

Trace is on the side of the river where Kira has just plunged to her death. Without thinking he dives in and pulls a nearly lifeless and cold Kira from the water. Even against his brother Mikah's wishes he calls an ambulance to take her to safety.

Kira awakens in the hospital, only to be confronted by her Brother-in-law, Jeff who has an agenda of his own with Kira. She finds out that Jeff has placed himself as her guardian, claiming she is mentally ill and has given himself Power of Attorney over her. As Kira's head starts to clear, she is alarmed at finding out things are not in her control as long as Jeff is around. She luckily runs into Trace, who came to check on her, and he KNOWS something is wrong. He is more than glad to help and keep Kira safe, even if he knows he's going to face trouble back home when word gets out.

As trouble continues we find out Jeff isn't the only trouble causing Kirqa to be in danger. Another creature, A Vry from Trace's home come slinking out and it has eyes only for Killing him. But this creature is highly elusive, fast, and actually has a brain! Not what Trace expected at all. And this new development is not boding well for him back home, as word got out back home that this foe has gotten away from him more then his Queen cares. Can Trace kill the Vry, or will Kira and her love of him end up being his undoing? You'll have to read to find out.

Kira starts off somewhat meek and is completely out of her norm to begin with in the book, but as things start to make sense to her she realizes that sometimes she'll have to fend for herself or take matters into her own hands. She can be a bit defiant as more than once, while under the watchful eye's of Trace, she has disobeyed his rules which keep her safe. This of course she thinks keeps her safe, as well as Trace, whom she has a strange connection with, but is afraid to say so or let things develop as she fears it can only lead to more deaths. She ends very strong, which made her a wonderful lead character in this book.

Trace, is both beautiful and intimidating all at the same time. Don't ask me how but he definitely was a strong Hero. Trace is shocked at the bond he feels for Kira, as a Poryria it was highly unlikely and unheard of for them to find a mate in a human. He tries to deny his growing feelings in order to protect her, but ultimately it put her right in harms path. As he finally acknowledges his feelings and can't deny her any longer, he still has the Vry creature to face, but Jeff keeps rearing his ugly head and Trace finally understands that Jeff won't stop until Kira is either his or DEAD!

I loved this book from start to finish. I found myself worrying about Kira in the beginning as I was scared stiff of uber-creep, Jeff. He was just plain crazy! He used and abused his powers in the town to manipulate things in ways which definitely made me think about watching my own back! As Kira became more awasre of what was going on, she grew up quite well in the face of the Vry and even upon finding out about Jeff's ultimate scheme. Trace being the defender was like truly seeing an angel or a knight in shining armor, but he's got his own battles to face in the story. He is facing his dark side and keeping his weakness at bay and not giving in to his primal urges fearing of what he becomes if he does get to that point. Kira helps him battle his demon's as well as her own, endearing me to her even more. Even some of the secondary characters were well played out, Mikah for one, Trace's brother and his back-up in hunting the Vry on the loose. There is a rather scary trio of characters who appears near the end and just the images of what they looked like had goosebumps on me. Hardcore doesn't even BEGIN to describe this set of shady characters. I loved the plot as it only got more twist and turns then the most dizzying roller coaster, but things somehow always work themselves out. A solid 4 of 5 stars for Dawn's novel.