Tiffany Reisz
The Angel
Harlequin Mira / September 25, 2012 / $13.95 print, $9.99 digital
Infamous erotica author and accomplished dominatrix Nora Sutherlin is doing something utterly out of character: hiding. While her longtime lover, Søren—whose fetishes, if exposed, would be his ruin—is under scrutiny pending a major promotion, Nora's lying low and away from temptation in the lap of luxury.
Her host, the wealthy and uninhibited Griffin Fiske, is thrilled to have Nora stay at his country estate, especially once he meets her traveling companion. Young, inexperienced and angelically beautiful, Michael has become Nora's protégé, and this summer with Griffin is going to be his training, where the hazing never ends.
But while her flesh is willing, Nora's mind is wandering. To thoughts of Søren, her master, under investigation by a journalist with an ax to grind. And to another man from Nora's past, whose hold on her is less bruising, but whose secrets are no less painful. It's a summer that will prove the old adage: love hurts.
It's not often that the second book in a series is just as good if not better than the first one, but author Tiffany Reisz completely outdid herself with The Angel. Like The Siren, The Angel pushed my comfort zone to its limit and took me on an incredible emotional journey.
This is the second book in Tiffany Reisz’s The Original Sinners series and Reisz continues to push the envelope with Nora and Soren’s relationship. The characters and the plot are so compelling and the reader is immediately drawn into their lives with intensity. This series isn’t for the faint of heart; there are events that could make a reader highly uncomfortable. By the end, you are emotionally drained and yet you want more.
What makes The Angel so awesomely fantastic and yet at times cringe-worthy and has you squirming in your seat is that Reisz successfully walks a fine line that pushes a reader’s comfort zone and at the same time, you start caring for these characters even if you don’t agree with their choices. The writing is superb. The characters are excellently written to the point that you can’t help but root for them. And at the center of it all is the wonderful heroine, Nora. She’s brazen, outspoken and lives her life without regrets. She’s also funny and witty and you can’t help but like her.
“You’re both fascinating and repulsive.”
The Angel is more than just a novel about BDSM. It’s a story about love and the journey to finding love. This novel is wrought with emotion from start to finish and will pull at your heart strings. These characters are people who love each other who happen to have a BDSM relationship. That aspect of their relationship does not make their love invalid.
“I love her. I love her more than my own life, and you….You hurt her.”
If you’re looking for an erotic novel that’s nothing but sex, sex, sex then The Angel is not the book for you. There’s plenty of sex and it’s hot and wonderfully written. But with that hot, steamy sex there is a wealth of emotion and connection between the characters.
You don’t expect an erotic novel to touch your heart, but that’s exactly what The Angel did. When I finished, I had a tear in my eye and a smile on my face.
“I love you. I love you enough to take this from you for a little while. I love you enough to give you this in return.”
The Angel is not your ordinary erotic romance and that’s what makes it so great.
Marquetta: Reader, Blogger, Smut Lover.
