Title: A Temptation of Angels
Author: Michelle Zink
Author Info: Website / Twitter / Goodreads
Pub Date: March 20, 2012
Publisher: Dial Books
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 435
Purchase: Indie / Amazon / Barnes and Noble
"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."
I loved Michelle Zink’s writing in A Temptation of Angels. Once I started reading I just couldn’t stop and it was one of those books where I would read over 100 pages without even realizing it. I loved the historical setting for the book. Victorian London lends itself well for things that go bump in the night and Michelle does an excellent job of creating this world around it. I’m not usually that drawn to angel books, I’m not sure why but this one was perfect. There was no spreading of wings (well almost) nobody flying around or that sort of thing. The keepers are trained to be backward assassins. Not necessarily trained to kill but trained to stay alive. I loved the role they hold in the world.
I loved the characters in this book, from the good, bad and sarcastic. I easily connected to Helen as the stubborn butt kicking girl. At the beginning there is a moment of weakness when she really wants to save her parents but she stops herself, she makes herself move forward even though she doesn’t want to. She has lost everything and so she doesn’t let people tell her to do. She wasn’t going to just sit around and let everyone else save the world. She was going to have her own part in it, whatever way she could.
The two brothers Griffin and Darius seemed like polar opposites of each other. Both characters were definitely not one dimensional. You would see them swing back and forth between being kind hearted and vengeful. It was interesting how the girls in their lives almost tamed them. I think if they didn’t have the anchors that they did they would have probably gotten themselves killed already. I was glad that Griffin wasn’t perfect, we see him throw reason to the wind in a couple of instances which made him more human. Of course he was also kind, valiant and strong which made him easy to love.
The love triangle was understandable and actually very toned down. Helen isn’t some wishy washy girl, she looks at the facts straight on. She knows why she has affection for one boy or other and she also knows what can never be and why. I felt like she handled the whole thing well.
Does this book really not have a sequel?? It was wrapped up nicely at the end so there doesn’t need to be another book but please say it isn’t so. I loved it and I would love to read about the continuing adventures of Helen, Griffin and Darius.