“My guardian angel is a drunk.” Evelyn Casey's life is at a standstill. She's in her mid-twenties, struggling with the dating scene in San Francisco. Nothing seems to be working out, and she’s starting to think that she’ll live out her days in her crummy apartment with her overbearing roommate, Brooklyn. It's absurd, but sometimes Evey longs for a guardian angel to show up and save the day. And then he does. Seriously. His name is Lucian and he's a guardian angel, been on the job for two thousand years. His sudden presence in her life is both good—he's brilliant, witty, and warm—and bad—he's brilliant, witty, warm, and hot as ----. But as perfect as Lucian seems, he’s got problems of his own. He’s taken up drinking and he’s brazenly inserted himself into Evey’s life, going against the greatest cosmic law ever created. For Evey, the rules are simple: You are not allowed to hook up with your guardian angel. But sometimes fulfilling your destiny requires a leap of faith, a confrontation with God. Yes, God as in God.
Thanks for stopping by my blog during this blog tour of Renee Carlino's new title, "Lucian Divine". I was provided with a free copy of this book from the publisher and author via InkSlingerPR for the purposes of my review.
This was my first Renee Carlino book, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I've heard so many great things about her other books that I decided to give this one a try. And I'm so glad I did! While "Lucian kDivine" reminds me a bit of some of the angel movies I've seen, like "City of Angels" with Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage, and "Michael" with John Travolta, and TV shows like "Touched by an Angel" and "Highway to Heaven", I've never actually read a book along those lines. I've read YA books with angels in them, but they were more the action/adventure stories than the rom-com style that "Lucian Divine" is. So yeah, a nice change of pace I the "angel genre"!
Honestly, the main thing (or being) to draw me into this story was Lucian himself. He is a foul-mouthed drunk, but there's just something about him that's so refreshing! I loved how he could see right through everyone that Evie came into contact with, from the new guy she was dating to her boss to her best childhood friend and current roommate. Lucian knew whenever somebody was jealous of Evie, or was taking advantage of her, or was just going to break her heart. I guess that's the beauty of being an omniscient being! And because Lucian is in love with Evie, all he wants to do is protect her from any and all dangers, but really, he's not supposed to get so emotionally involved. Eventually, Lucian can no longer hold back - he shows himself to Evie, and then there's no turning back.
The pacing was different, I'll say that much. I'm not really sure how to describe how odd it felt at times, but still, things moved along and kept me involved from beginning to end, and that's always a positive for me!
Where this book fell short for me was with Evie's character. There was not enough explanation for Lucian's attraction to Evie to make me believe it was real. Plus, Evie seemed so ordinary! Maybe there was some divine intervention involved? (Pun totally intentional there!) I could see why Evie was attracted to Lucian - super hot, cocky and confident, makes her feel protected and safe, fun-loving and adventurous, attentive and sweet, loves her unconditionally - what's not to swoon over? But even though Lucian describes Evie's positive attributes to some extent, I still wasn't buying the fact that after two thousand years of guarding souls, Evie was the only one to capture Lucian's attention. Really? Why her? Why now? Why not another angel, for that matter?
Despite this shortcoming, I really did enjoy Lucian and Evie's story - there were quite a few really funny moments, interspersed with plenty of sweetness and heavier, darker spots. For this genre, I felt it was the perfect mix. I would certainly recommend "Lucian Divine" to anyone looking for a unique twist in contemporary romance!
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