"Ordinary Angels" by India Drummond

From Goodreads: "Most of Zoe’s friends are dead, but she doesn’t mind because they died long before she met them. Then one Tuesday night an angel takes her salsa dancing and turns her world upside down. Grim reality closes in when she discovers a body in her company’s boiler room and Higher Angels accuse her best ghost friend of murder. Knowing she’s the only one who can stand against them, Zoe resorts to lying, stealing and summoning. In the end, getting blood on her hands forces Zoe to question herself."

Okay, can we please take a moment to squeal over this cover? Isn't it gorgeous?!? This is hands-down my most favourite book cover in quite some time. Everything is just so soft and romantic looking. Okay, cover-loving-squeal-moment-over...

Because I have now just started to seriously dip my toes into the world of adult paranormal romance I am still getting a feel for the genre and have yet to form a really concrete opinion of it. As a newbie PNR reader I did like the book quite a bit and as for hardcore PNR readers? Well, I think that you are in for a treat!

This book combined all sorts of paranormal critters in it, from angels to ghosts to seers to demons and I love it when an author doesn't just stick to one paranormal critter- I figure the more the merrier! But while I love lots of paranormal creatures being included in one story, I did feel like there were a few instances when there was too many plot elements going on in general (magical knife, magical keys, weird hallway, weird timeless area, garden of Eden type home, western town, etc.). I think that had all of the elements been toned down a bit I would have enjoyed the book a bit more (because less plot elements= less chance of me getting everything mixed up= less having to reread parts of the book).

I find Zoey to be a really intriguing character, not only is she super snarky/ sassy, but there is much more than meets the eye with her (specifically in her potential abilities). I thought that Alexander was also an intriguing character, I thought that it was really cute that he didn't fully understand how humans are to act and whatnot, plus, the guy is kinda smoldering. 

I hope that India has plans for another book because I'd love to see how everything continues to develop!  

This book will released on April 4th, 2011.

Rating: 7.5/10

I received this e-book from the author and was not compensated for my review (Thanks India! And thanks Carmel for the recommendation!).

Random Acts of Senseless Kindness, Free eBook

Things start to spiral out of control for Gomez when he tries to win back his ex-girlfriend during a very strange New Year's Eve party.

Clinical studies have shown that reading the "Random Acts of Senseless Kindness" eBook is not only likely to make you more attractive to the opposite sex, it will also elevate your random luck by about 9.5%**
So, that's a nice bonus right there.

(**These statements have not been evaluated by anyone of consequence!)

You can find the eBook: here

Bio:

Graham Parke is responsible for a number of technical publications and has recently patented a self-folding map. He has been described as both a humanitarian and a pathological liar. Convincing evidence to support either allegation has yet to be produced.

No Hope for Gomez! is his fiction debut: Boy meets girl. Boy stalks girl. Girl already has a stalker. Boy becomes her stalker-stalker.

Random Acts of Senseless Kindness, Excerpt:

Blog entry: Arrived at the store late, found a homeless guy sleeping in the doorway. Hicks was already inside but gave no indication he’d noticed. I nudged the homeless guy and asked, “How are you doing down there, fellow? You okay?”


The homeless guy grumbled something in his sleep.


“It’s getting pretty cold,” I said. “Don’t you want to come inside?”


“Inside?” He coughed and opened his eyes.


I pointed out the store, not convinced he’d actually noticed where he’d crashed the night before. “This is my antiques store,” I told him. “We’ve got the heating on inside, shame to waste it on just two people. And it looks like it might start to snow soon.”


The homeless guy gave me a suspicious look. “You want me to come inside? With you?”


“Sure, if you’d like.”


“Is that because you think that if I come inside with you, I’ll let you touch me?”


“What? No!”


“Okay, because I can tell you right now, that’s not gonna happen.”


“Well, I suppose it is good to get those kinds of things clear beforehand. But no, I was just thinking you might enjoy the warmth, maybe a cup of cocoa.”


“A cup of cocoa you say…” He scratched his stubble. “And you’ll be charging me for this cup of cocoa?”


“No, the cocoa is free.”


“I see. So, are you operating under the assumption that if I come inside with you, and I drink your free cocoa, that I will touch you?”


“What? No!”


“Okay, because I can tell you right now, that’s not gonna happen either. Just because a guy is down on his luck, that doesn’t mean he goes around touching people in exchange for cups of cocoa.”


“I understand completely. And thanks again for pointing that out. But no, my friend and I noticed that you were sleeping in our doorway and, well, we’d like to invite you inside.”


The homeless guy turned and peered through the window in the door. He made eye-contact with Hicks, who panicked and went looking for his broom. “That your friend?”


I followed his gaze. “Yeah, that’s Hicks. He’s a bit peculiar, but he’s okay.”


“I see.” The homeless guy pulled on his collar. “And this friend of yours, will he be drinking cocoa also?”


“I suppose. I’m not entirely sure, but it seems likely.”


“I see.” The homeless guy considered this. “So,” he said, after a long moment, “will this friend of yours be expecting me to touch him?”


“No! There is no touching involved in any of this!”


“Okay, calm down,” the homeless guy said. “There’s no need to get all homophobic!”


“I wasn’t!”


“You sounded homophobic to me.”


“Me? You’re the one who can’t stop talking about touching people!”

I noticed people stopping in the street to stare at us. This made me very uncomfortable.

Download Free eBook here.