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First time book review due to how disappointed I am in this author's new direction. Bought this book based on her older books and I deeply regret it. The storyline was overtaken by her relentless, preachy message of faith healing. Found it to be very obnoxious and atypical of her previous books. Guess she's recently found Jesus and while I'm happy for her newfound religious beliefs, I don't care to be hammered over the head with them. The book read more as a YA Christian novel, not was I was expecting to spend my money on. Also, there were too many different, brief, future storylines being set up. The writing felt very choppy and immature. Will not be purchasing any of her other books after this disaster. Sad to say I scanned through the vast majority of this book hoping it would get better, it didn't. Such a shame. Her need to preach her personal belief system ruined what could have been a great storyline. In future, Ms. Showalter, please ensure your books are put into the YA Christian/Inspirational Genre so that readers will not be mislead in what they are purchasing.

This cover is writing checks the scenes in this book can't cash!

I enjoyed the book and the characters, but there were some issues.

I've seen the tortured childhood before, many times. This was good, but I've seen better, even from GS.

I agree with others that this book had much stronger religious overtones. Not that you don't expect that with angels, but it's still a romance novel! This didn't ruin the book for me, but backing off a bit might be nice.

The most annoying part was the romance, or lack thereof. All the romance/sex scenes were SUPER tame. Practically YA. They only have two real sex scenes and both were a bit disappointing. Her other books deliver a much better pay off to all the sexual tension. And I really wanted her to explore that part of their relationship more since they were both so inexperienced and the build-up took so long, but she just skimmed over it with very veiled language and little detail.

Overall, she had the makings of a good book, but fell short in certain areas. Hope the next one is better!

Like so many other fans of Gena Showalter, I preordered Beauty Awakened as soon as it was available. I truly enjoyed Wicked Nights, so this book had at least Three Stars waiting for it. Strangely, I can't give it more than three stars. I'll try to explain in my review.

Koldo was a character who intrigued me in Wicked Nights. His tortured past and his sacrifices made me curious to learn more about him. While I did learn quite a bit about him in Beauty, I can't say the overall book left me satisfied at the end. The main issue seemed to be the romance portion. While I feel there was sufficient tension between Koldo and Nicola, I never had that heart-pounding excitement of romantic awakening. To put it bluntly, the consummation of the romance didn't cut it.

There are plenty of secondary characters who also drew my attention and interest, but this wasn't their book. It was Koldo's. Therefore, I went from intrigued to confused. Gena has wonderful ideas about the Sent Ones, and those warriors all contributed to my affection for Koldo. Yet the story didn't quite live up to my expectations.

I enjoy angel stories. It's hard to go wrong with those beings as broken characters for me, the reader. I don't know who the next book will focus on, but I do hope the spark I saw in the first of this series returns.

CAUTION!!!!
THIS IS NOT A REVIEW ON THE BOOK, BUT ON THE AUTHOR........

What to say? I feel very conflicted about my review. It feels wrong to be writing this but.... WTH! I was hoping Last Kiss Goodnight was an exception, but I guess not. It felt like Sunday church school. I've deleted this sentence like 10 times because I just don't know how to continue without being harsh, but I think GS might be at a point where she is going to be acquiring a completely different kind of reader and saying goodbye to her old ones (you know, the ones that obsessed, laughed, cried and set reminders on their phones for her release dates? ya, those.) I gave her last book 3 stars because I couldn't bring myself to rate her any lower. It just felt wrong. But now I'm just so upset :( I think, to new GS readers, this book is perfectly adequate and if it was a Young Adult book, it would have been great. But for me it was a complete let down. She just jumped off my purchase list. I'm not quitting her, but I will definitely be getting her books from the library from now on. I read 331 pages of Young Adult at best, Christian Fantasy Romance easily, at worst, but definitely not what I thought I purchased. Not making that mistake again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, but fool me three times? Oh no no no!

I have extremely low expectations for the following books, and don't even want to think about what she's going to do to the Lords. It's really quite tragic, I feel like crying just thinking about it. The worst part is that I don’t mind her new PG-13 way so much…….. well, okay fine, I do mind it, a lot actually, but I could live with it if it meant having her in my life. It’s the overkill that REALLY bothers me. I don’t even nag to my kids this much. I mean WOW! It felt like a really draining therapy session, or a visit to my mother in laws. The moral lessons should definitely be kept to a minimum. Less is more is a good rule to follow in this case.

With that said and all kidding aside, I actually feel really sad and let down at this new turn in her writing. I look forward to her books sooooo much, and to be left with this feeling of dissatisfaction is a real bummer. I always read her books on the release day, usually in one sitting and right away get on the phone to let everyone know how good it was, what to expect and give away spoilers to those who want them. I read it two days ago and haven’t called anyone. I’m always so excited and can’t wait to talk to someone about it. I feel no excitement at all. How sad is that