angel undoneRating: 3.75 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella


Michael is getting weary of his job as an archangel after centuries. He used to be a warrior, but now his job is mostly as protector and he toils under the control of Father. One night, Michael heads out to his latest assignment, a man named Asher who is just taking his first steps to act on his sexuality. Michael stops Asher from going home with the wrong guy by taking Asher to bed instead, and the two have a wonderful night of Michael teaching Asher some of the pleasures of love with a man.

His job now done, Michael knows he should return home and out of Asher’s life, but Michael finds he can’t let the man go. Michael continues to see Asher, growing ever closer, even as he knows Father could pull him home at any time. The more time they spend together, the more Michael begins to consider whether he should follow the path of his brother Lucifer and consider falling to Earth so he can be with Asher for good. Now Michael must decide which role is most important to him — that of an angel, or that of a partner to the man he has grown to love.

Angel Undone is the story of two kind and loving men who find an instant connection, but are separated by this great divide. Michael is supposed to be done with Asher as soon as their night is over, but he can’t make himself leave this man he is so drawn to. At the same time, Michael has to hide just about everything about himself from Asher, which further adds to the conflict. I found these guys sweet together and I wanted to see them happy. I think the ending takes a nice twist, not fully expected, which I enjoyed. And I particularly liked Michael’s relationship with his brother, Lucifer, and how the two interact.

I did find I had somewhat of a hard time with the connection between these two guys and I am not quite sure why. I just didn’t feel the spark between them the way I wanted. I did enjoy the way Michael slowly brings Asher out of his shell, but I had a hard time getting just what made that key difference with Asher that had Michael ready to abandon his whole life for him. I think partly this is because there is a lot of discussion about whether Father played a role in this, whether he is engineering the connection, and just what is going on. The speculation and back and forth actually left me kind of confused as to what was really happening — what is orchestrated, what is fate, what is spark? Maybe that is kind of the point, but it did leave me feeling a little bit removed from the connection between them.

The story is told in third-person, present tense, which generally worked for me. I do think it gives the story a very specific tone, one that very much gives the book a feel of being Michael’s journey. We are in his POV the entire time, and the first person really gives the sense of him driving the action. It left me feeling less connected to Asher, however, and I didn’t feel like I had as good a sense of him. I also never fully got a handle on what Asher needed saving from in the first place. The story indicates that the guy Asher was going to pick up was “a good person in that body—someone with a generous portion of mirth and humor, someone who loves children and small dogs. There is also too little patience, not enough self-control.” We never get the sense that this guy is a danger in any way, or would hurt Michael, just maybe not as slow and sensitive to someone new to guy on guy sex. But somehow these seems like a pretty thin crisis to require angelic intervention, so I just found myself a little confused about what was going on and why Michael was there in the first place.

I think in the end, a lot worked for me about this story, but I just didn’t fully connect with it. I enjoyed the characters and wanted good things for them, but I never felt like things really came together for me tightly enough. However, I am a huge Leta Blake fan and if you are too, and especially if you enjoy angel stories, this may still be a good one to check out.

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