Title: Angel’s Hero
Author: Liz Bornio
Length: 78 Pages
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Lazy Day Publishing
Heat Level: 
Mild
Overall Rating: 
2.5 disappointed hearts
Synopsis: CIA Agent Aaron “Angel” Collins doesn’t take many things on faith. He trusts his gut, his eyes, and his husband, Jordan, an Army Captain. When his commanding officers deliver news of Jordan’s death, Aaron needs proof. The facts don’t add up, and Aaron must decide if he can trust Major General Troy Hart to assist in his quest to discover the truth.
Captain Jordan Collins is battered and disheartened in an Afghanistan prison, but definitely not dead, though he learns his own government believes he is. His only mission now is to stay alive and make it home to Angel, if he can find an ally among the enemy. But someone in the US government will stop at nothing to make sure he never leaves that prison, And Jordan must reevaluate the lines between friend and foe if he is ever to return to his Angel. – via GoodReads.
Review: I really liked the book that this tried to be, but overall, I feel it was too big of a story to be told in a novella and ultimately, fell flat.
That, in a nutshell, is why I generally don’t read novellas. Some authors are able to pull them off and I don’t feel left wanting. It’s rare though. Missing scenes, short vignettes, those are things to read novellas for, not a full length story.
Here, we had conspiracy, attempted murder, captivity, and a general sleazeball as a villain all in less than 80 pages. It needed more development and time to unfold naturally. There were times that I had to either go back and reread something, or was just left with a mild case of confusion because either something was just skipped over, I missed it, or it summarized when it would have served the book better to have been further explored. There was far too much telling, and not enough showing.
This book, is almost two stories told simultaneously via flashbacks. The present, where Angel is working with the CIA to prepare for a mission to recover POWs in Afghanistan. Only to learn at the last minute, he has been removed from the mission and must watch as his husband, Jordan, and army captain, leave without him. A mission, that, as far as Angel knows, led to his death.
Meanwhile, Jordan is being held captive in an Afghan prison with the most unlikely ally, who is ultimately responsible for his return home. And while it’s not hard to figure out who put him there, it’s still enough to further your dislike toward the man. Seriously, he made my skin crawl. I wished that this part of the story would’ve been better thought out. I thought the plot line for it was very, very weak. For the setting and all the possibilities, it could have been so much more.
Then we have the past, where we see Angel and Jordan meet and fall in love. It was sweet, and I liked them and and wanted to know more. It also gave us a little background on the present mission where Jordan is captured and Angel’s work with the CIA.
And holy cliffhanger. That’s just cruel.
So, while it’s obvious I had several problems with the story, I still found myself liking it enough to want to find out what happened to Jordan, and what Angel would do. I’m even a little tempted to go ahead and read the sequel even though I know I will probably have the same problems. Or possibly, the questions I had in this one, will be answered in the second? Is this one of those sets where it never should’ve been split up and remained one novel? We shall see…
Purchase Link: Available 2/26/2014 from Lazy Day Publishing
*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher. A positive review was not promised in return.*
