Reading After Dark ~ Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter ~ Mini Review

His name is Koldo. He is scarred, powerful, his control legendary-and he lives only for vengeance, determined to punish the angel who viciously removed his wings. But if he yields to the forces of hatred, he will be kicked from the heavens, eternally damned.

She is his last hope. Nicola Lane was born with a defective heart, yet this fragile human shows surprising strength as demons stalk her every move, determined to end her. She is the key to Koldo's deliverance...and his downfall. Though he fights duty, destiny and his first addictive taste of desire, his toughest battle will be the one for Nicola's life-even if he has to sacrifice his own....

Wow. That was ridiculously disappointing.

I can’t believe that followed Wicked Nights! I LOVED the first book, and while I know this is a companion novel, so technically not a sequel, I can’t help but hold Beauty Awakened to the same standard as Wicked Nights.

To be honest the entire story just didn’t flow, it felt rushed, and overall I’m left with a total sense of “what the hell”. Which pisses me off since I was really anticipating Koldo’s story. I wanted to see inside that twisted head of his and watch him come back from the brink of falling, and while I did get to watch him battle his demons it just felt like Showalter’s heart wasn’t in it. Even when Koldo began to fall for Nicola, which was my favorite part, it just couldn’t redeem the overall feel of the book.

The action scenes, the “heart wrenching” scenes even the eventual decapitations just couldn’t salvage this read for me. I admire Koldo’s drive (even if it was way extreme…daddy AND mommy issues?!) and I especially loved his personality, but the events that unfolded around him just didn’t seem right. Yes, he was able to battle his inner demons and that shed light on why he is the way that he was, but I overall I had an overwhelming sense of meh. Even when he and Nicola finally got together and began to develop and totally adorable relationship, I couldn’t shake the feelings that Showalter just didn’t put her heart in it. The wit was there, the violence too! But, none of it flowed in a way that I truly enjoyed. In fact the only thing saving it from one star was Koldo and Nicola’s relationship.

Koldo and Nicola were the definition of chemistry. From their first try encounter in an elevator to the very last page I felt this urge to say “aww” every 45 seconds. And considering how much of a hard ass Koldo is that says something. This woman who was frail and on the brink of defeat took Koldo and helped him release some of that pent up hate. She wasn’t a warrior, she wasn’t some knock dead gorgeous woman, she wasn’t even brilliant and I loved that! For someone so utterly normal (besides her life crippling heart issues) she did something that should have been damn near impossible. She got Koldo to feel. And not just his usual hate and vengeance feelings. I loved watching them both grow into their relationship up until the 300 page mark. From here even their relationship seemed to be rushed and half assed.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the series. A part of me hopes that Burning Dawn can redeem this blah read, but another part of me doesn’t want to risk it.