Angeli by Jody Wallace

Angeli
by Jody Wallace
Rating: 3 of 5 stars

My Review:
Another one of those really hard book for me to rate. On the one hand, I really liked the writing, the adventure was fun and original, the sexual tension was good but realistic. Overall I was pleased with the pacing. But then there were lots of places where I had to put aside my questions and hope for answers at the end. Those answers never came. I don't actually know if this is just the first book in a series, so maybe the answers come later. But by the end of the book, I felt like the characters were just plugging along with a veil thrown over their heads, so they never saw beyond their own feet.

Adelita was tough and fatalistic. She got things done and had a good time doing them. I loved how she was drawn. She felt very real and she was able to integrate all parts of the situation pretty well. I liked how she could be emotionally vulnerable but also take charge and intelligent. She seemed to always have a plan and know what needed to be done without being clued in to all the details.

Gregori is an enhanced alien/humanoid. He was honorable, a little blundery, and ready to take on the world. He felt a little like the Wolverine, but with wings. The pain of his enhancements is sort of glossed over in a way that he just shrugs and says that's how things are. He seems like he's not that good around people and he was ok with Adelita taking charge when she felt like it. Not that he was all beta and bendable. He could be rather full of himself sometimes and an authoritarian know-it-all, but he was still flawed and Adelita was just as likely to be the one in charge as he was.


It felt like Adelita and Gregori were pretty perfectly matched to each other. They were able to support each other and care for each other in such unerringly precise ways. They fit together like puzzle pieces and their romance and sexual tension was well done without being over powering.

If this were a book written only for the romance, I'd give it four stars for the characters' interactions together. It had a happy ending for the romance portion of the story. But the romance and emotional tension was only about a third of the book. The rest was focused on the adventure and in those terms, I felt like I was just left hanging. Even Gregori and Adelita's part in the adventure seemed to be unclearly resolved at the end, so I was left frustrated and unfulfilled. Perhaps if I see a second book in the series, more of my questions will be answered and I won't feel so slighted, but right now I feel like I put all kinds of time into confusing myself. I did like the writing, so I still have plans to read more by this author.