Review - Guardian

Title: Guardian
Author: Claire Delacroix
Publishing Date: October 2009
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot
Book Disclosure: Borrowed from Paperspine.

Guardian is the second book in Claire Delacroix's Fallen Angel Trilogy. Delilia is the daughter of the heroine from the first book. The world she lives in is 100 years or so after a nuclear war. People who have been affected by the radiation are known as SHADES. These shades are without rights and treated as though they are inferior to normal, unaffected humans. Delilia has been labeled a shade and was taken from her mother as an infant. She has lived her life down in the underground serving as a slave to the Daughters of the Light, a group of women raised similar to nuns. Rafe, a fallen angel has accepted a mission to see that Delilia is rescued from her servitude and fulfills her destiny as the Oracle for the Republic.

There is a lot happening in Guardian and readers may easily become lost if they haven't read the previous book, Fallen. Guardian is unusual in that the book takes place in a post apocalyptic world in the future, yet it’s as if it has reverted back to old customs. Women have to be covered from head to toe and there is slavery. Technology is very advanced and everyone has to wear a palm - think smart phone implanted in your hand. Religion also plays a large part in people's lives, but has become corrupt. Hence the need for Angels to interfere.

Delilia is a young heroine at nineteen and Rafe is older, an Angel who has been around since the dawn of time. Usually, these huge age gaps annoy me, but that wasn't the case with Guardian. Mostly because Rafe, even though he is old, is new to his human body. He is experiencing humanity first hand and it's like he is a kid in a candy shop. The new sensations he experiences such as sight, touch and smell are all new and exciting. He loves sex and spends lots of time learning about it. He is very fun and impulsive. He likes puzzles and games. He is definitely not a stodgy, doddering old angel.

Delilia is the more serious of the two. She hasn't had much fun in her nineteen years of life. Unfortunately, no pleasure was to be hers, she spent much of her time drugged and undernourished. Her and Rafe are on the run throughout this book and it has very grim overtones much of the time. Delilia never loses her hope in humanity, even though she has been treated poorly. So, things aren't always so grim and this book does end well. A few things are left hanging and I imagine they will be wrapped in the final installment. I am definitely hooked.

This book can be purchased in print or kindle format from Amazon.