Yes, there were some great visuals of the castle in the beginning and great physical descriptions of Hugh and Lilith throughout the book. But in the contemporary section, it seemed like one interior after another was described as very plain and that was it. Maybe it was actually because of the vivid descriptions in the opening and the descriptions of Hugh and Lilith that I wanted more description of interior settings in the later sections.

I wanted to be able to visualize where the characters were, and most of the time, I felt like I was visualizing the characters, but without much surrounding them. Hugh’s room was plain, Saavi’s (did I spell that right?) room had a lot of equipment in it but almost no description otherwise, the other FBI demon’s office was plain also.

I only read the first half and it’s been a while since I read the book so I could be misremembering, but was there much in the way of description of Caelum and hell? There was such opportunity for vivid descriptions of those places and the fact that I don’t remember much says that it didn’t stick out in my mind. Also when Lilith and Hugh first met again in the present day (when Hugh discovered Lilith was alive after all), it was outside, but I don’t remember much description of the setting. Maybe it was my imagination that was at fault, and not the writing, but for whatever reason I visualized Hugh and Lilith in that scene very clearly, but their surroundings were fuzzy to me.

Don’t forget the glasses

As for Hoyt’s historical, the opening wasn’t a page grabber but I am still willing to give it a go. I bought a slew of fantasy novels and more manga. Oy. I really want to read another really good romance novel right now.

But then again, everyone else is raving over Elizabeth Hoyt’s The Raven Prince, and I found it to be a B– read with some promising aspects but a number of things that wore me down, too, like Hoyt’s writing style, which felt too modern and not very pretty to me. I will most certainly read The Leopard Prince, becuase I think she has potential and I could appreciate what she was trying to do with her first book, but if she’s being compared to Julie Ann Long, I find Long’s authorial voice much fresher and more compelling. Who know what makes us connect to one book and not to another — I still love Sherryfair’s analogy of matchmaking because the chemistry idea seems appropriate.

Love to discuss this book with you. I didn’t see much discussion going on at the bookclub (wonder where everybody went to). Anyway, I read your mini-review on it. I guess I’m surprised at a couple of things that you mention:

I wish there were more visual setting descriptions in Demon Angel. I’m a reader with a strong visual imagination, and I like to be able to form pictures in my head as I read. Right now I’ve got great pictures of Lilith and Hugh, but not much of places. A lot of the book is taking place in dialogue and character thoughts, and I hanker for more concrete physical details — visuals, but also scents, textures, sounds, etc. Some of the character thoughts are a bit repetitive and could be more compressed.

Please know that I respect your opinion and value it a great deal. Ok. Unlike you, I thought that there was GREAT imagery. I think this book would have made a great movie. I could easily imagine some of the places, like the ruins for example at the beginning, the castle, the nosferatu’s, Lilith’s demon form, Hugh’s glasses (stretching here as I think you get the point. ) What I do agree with you on is that there was a bit much in the way of dialogue and like I mentioned, there does need to be a balance.

I am so looking forward to Colin’s book. I like Brook’s detail for character and places. I really enjoy her authorial voice. I am surprised that you didn’t enjoy this one. Did you eventually finish reading it? Where did you stop?

My opinion is a bit different from the majority’s. I’ve written something about Demon Angel for Dear Author in a roundabout way (not really a full review, more of an opinion piece), but I’m not sure when it will go up on the site.

My grade or enjoyment for the story would have been much higher if the story wasn’t so long and was paced better. The story was dialogue-heavy and as with everything you must have balance. I loved her dialogue, loved the imagery of the story, loved the first part of the story and enjoyed the second half just as much despite the pacing. I thought this book would make a great movie. Ms. Brook did a great job. It seemed like a very ambitious book. I can’t wait to read Colin’s story. He intrigued me. And I read the teaser when I said that I wouldn’t.