By: Michelle Zink
Published by: Dial / Penguin Teen
To Be Released on: March 20th, 2012
Source: ARC from publisher to review
4.5 stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Pre-Order from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Even angels make mistakes in this page-turning epic romance...
When her parents are murdered before her eyes, sixteen-year-old Helen Cartwright finds herself launched into an underground London where a mysterious organization called the Dictata controls the balance of good and evil. Helen learns that she is one of three remaining angelic descendants charged with protecting the world's past, present, and future. Unbeknownst to her, she has been trained her whole life to accept this responsibility. Now, as she finds herself torn between the angelic brothers protecting her and the devastatingly handsome childhood friend who wants to destroy her, she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and above all to be strong, because temptation will be hard to resist, even for an angel. - quoted from Goodreads
An incredibly enchanting story with the perfect blend of paranormal lore, historical fiction and romance. A Temptation of Angels is a thrilling story that's rich in mystery, friendships, love, and betrayal. There's plenty of steampunk elements that will do more than satisfy fans of Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices craving for this addicting Victorian London era. Though there's not a lot of action in this book, Michelle creates a fulfilling storyline with well developed characters that I didn't even realize that was missing until I was done. Michelle's writing is engaging and left me wanting so much more after this book ended.
The characters are fabulous in this book! There's not one I didn't enjoy, though there are some I loved more than others. Helen, our story's teenage main character, is a character that I had a hard time connecting with at first. She wasn't this fierce, butt kicking character I had excepted her to be right off the bad, though I admired her steely determination she had the entire story. Helen's someone who grew on me over time. I felt that as the story progressed and as she continued to grow as a character I was able to get to know her more and the more I got to know her, the more I started to like her. I will say this girl is resilient and pretty brave. The story starts off with her running for her life, she's thrown into a world she never knew existed, finds out some pretty shocking things about herself and she's also being hunted. Helen was strong when she needed to be and in the face of danger she never waivers on what she feels is right.
The setting in this book is fabulous! I absolutely love this time period and the Victorian London setting really set the tone for this book. Michelle really brought this time period came to life for me, and she made me feel like I was getting a glimpse back in time with her descriptive writing for this time period. I feel that Michelle has done such a great job at creating a story that will appeal to YA fans who enjoy the perfect blend of paranormal, romance, historical and steampunk elements. A Temptation of Angels isn't your average angel-lore. It's a richly crafted together story that truly offers readers a little bit of everything, and introduces them into a unique world with a fascinating lore. I sincerely hope this book will be made into a series, or at least have a companion book to go with it.