A Review for UnGuarded by Ashley Robertson + eBook Giveaway (Int)

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie

Release Date: July 1st, 2012

Finished Date: June 27th, 2012

Publishers: Self Published

Source: ARC For Review

Format: Kindle

Pages: Unknown
Buy : Amazon UK / Amazon US 

Guardian angel Selene was so close to becoming an archangel—the supreme of all beings—until she fell in love with Cole, a forbidden dark one. Once she discovers her vampire lover has been kidnapped and the only way to save him is by abandoning her number one priority—Caitlyn, her human charge—there really is only one answer in Selene’s mind, even though leaving Caitlyn unguarded will most likely cause Selene to fall from grace.

But her choice to save Cole doesn’t come without a price…and now Selene is racing against time to not only save her dark lover, but find a way to keep Caitlyn alive as well. With the help of a new vampire ally, Luke, Selene will push her diminishing angel abilities to the point where her very existence lies in the balance. Now threatened with the chance of becoming a fallen angel or even dying, Selene can only pray she’ll have enough time—and good grace—to save the ones she loves.

The Review: I think the synopsis says it all so I’m not going to re-cap because I wouldn’t be able to add anything extra. So, I really enjoyed this book – I kind of have a love/hate relationship with books about Angels, I either love them or hate them. . . I really liked this but didn’t love it nor did I hate it so I consider it a success for me. I liked the characters Selene especially, I loved that she was willing to risk everything for love and to do the right thing. I love a character that has good morals and who is genuinely selfless even if it didn’t seem that way from the beginning and of course, she is an angel – I would expect no less but ‘the road to evil is paved with good intentions’ and that is a threat that is very prominent throughout the book. Will Selene’s actions cause her to fall and become a demon? There are two main male characters Cole – Selene’s boyfriend – and Luke – who helps Selene in her endeavours. Both seem like likable characters although I was left wanting a bit more something from them because Cole was missing for the first half of the book and the only way we had of knowing him was through a few flashbacks which was fine but I didn’t get to ‘feel’ their relationship so I couldn’t really ‘feel’ why she risked it all for him. Same with Luke, it seemed rushed and I didn’t get why he was so enamoured with her, did he truly want her/care for her? Or was it just because she had let her vampire boyfriend do something that he wanted to do and he coveted her in that way?

The storyline was intriguing; I liked the whole set up with guardian angels each having a charge to guide and that each charge also had a demon steering them in whichever direction they chose – like the angel and devil on the shoulder theory – and that the fallen angel’s became the demons too or ‘dark ones’. I liked that each guardian had an Archangel to answer to, take orders from and be bestowed powers from or powers taken as punishment – Selene’s was good, more fatherly toward her I thought. I liked the worlds that were described- there were quite a few settings- and I liked the gathering together of the different species –Angels, Demons, Vampires, Humans and all of their varying forms and what part they played. It was a quite complicated plot that was weaved here because there were many events that culminate to the ending and I had no clue where this was going or why - which is quite rare in a book and why I liked it so much. Also it was a quite unique storyline, yes we get Angels & Demons all of the time but the way this was put together isn’t something that I’ve read about before.
The pacing was a little off for me in the beginning but once you got to a certain point it ceased to be an issue, I think maybe it was because there was a lot to set up that slowed it down but once everything was in place, it was plain sailing and all out action as you’re hit with all of the revelations that built up throughout. I loved what happened at the end in one way, but not in another and hopefully that means we will be getting a sequel, but what I loved most about this was its message that love can be worth the fall and sometimes it’s a love worth risking everything for and Selene definitely did. 

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