Review - - Imperfect Angel

Imperfect Angel

by Christi Barth

Publisher: Entangled

Release Date: October 25, 2022

Reviewed by Hellie

 

Three days ago, all Maisy Norgate had was a stack of bills, about a gazillion jobs, and her sunny-as-hell outlook. Now, thanks to an uncle she never knew about, she’s inherited an ornate skeleton key with absolutely no idea what it’s for—or why she has it. Which is exactly when a ridiculously handsome guy claiming to be an angel shows up at her door and all hell breaks loose…

Nephilim Rhys Boyce cannot believe that Maisy is the new Keeper of the Key. Why would anyone bequeath this warm, bubbly redhead the key to Hell? And to make matters worse, she’s given the key to the first person who asked for it. A demon. Yep, Maisy is determined to make his job—not to mention some seriously inconvenient temptation—as hard as possible.

First a half angel with a very human chip on his shoulder must find a way to convince Maisy that angels and demons do exist. Then Rhys will have to break the really bad news…that she might have accidentally ended the world.

 

Hellie’s Heeds

I try to keep up with my review books, but it feels lately I have had less free reading time–or the free time gets eaten up by out-of-state travel or LOVE IS BLIND episodes. So this is why this is coming out later than I meant and I do apologize. It’s not the book’s fault by any means: it’s a cute book and when it comes to paranormal, I’ll always pick an angelic hero over one who turns into a wolf…or wants my blood. Rhys Boyce lives up to his angelic hype as one gorgeous, broody, protective hero. Maisy is a lovely heroine who is very much the human who is just trying her best to be a good person–and always believing she is falling short–but always impressing Rhys whose experience with humanity has been with a more selfish kind. 

The blurb actually sums up the story very well (not always the case) so I don’t feel I need to go into more details because it would give more away. I was impressed by the dark moment for the heroine–the thing she must sacrifice in order to get the key–and also how the ending was resolved. I’m also glad there wasn’t a large dramatic “I’m not worthy of you because I’m only a half-angel” type of black moment where I would have thrown the book down–but a normal amount of romantic doubts that the characters worked through with conversation, trust, and action. Not to say that these characters don’t do dramatic and sorta dumb things–as people do when feeling self-doubt–but I think you and I have both read books where that has been dragged out way too long and you no longer want the couple to get together because you think the whiny hero(ine) should get therapy instead of a relationship.

I did spend a lot of my time thinking there should be more books associated with these characters–and wondering if those books are in development. I looked at her website–where she says she writes sassy, smart, and sexy romances–and I would concur. The banter of the characters was all of these things; and by avoiding creating “conflict for the sake of conflict”, she made her characters smarter and more emotionally intelligent, more worthy of a happy successful relationship. I do hope we get to see more books set in this universe of angels, demons, and the humans who love them, but in the meantime, she has all sorts of books for all sorts of vibes to fulfill your need for smart, sexy romance. (There’s a royal series that has my name all over it! I do love discovering new-to-me authors.)