If Angels Burn

Edited: Sorry about the layout of this post. Blogger won't save the spaces for some reason so I have changed the colours with each paragraph so you don't get overwhelmed.

Woohoo, finally found some me time. Okay, most of the time is *me* time but this time I got to sit and read.

Lynn Viehl's If Angels Burn

The saving grace for this story was the heroine Alex (Alexandra) Keller. Course she was also a bit of a pain. Let's start with the blurb:

She Restores the Light of Hope.

Dr. Alexandra Keller is Chicago's most brilliant reconstructive surgeon.

He Dwells in Shadow

Michael Cyprien is New Orlean's most reclusive millionaire -- and in desperate need of Dr. Keller's skills.

A New Dawn Awaits Them Both

Beneath the foundation of a mansion in the heart of the Garden District, Alexandra will perform an illegal surgery. Her patient's disfigurement is beyond medical repair. But his body's ability to recuperate from his wounds borders on the miraculous.

Alexandra knows Michael Cyprien is no ordinary patient. Intrigues by how his remarkable physiology might benefit medical science, she is even more compelled by his presence -- and the mystery surrounding him and his associates, a cadre of immortals who call themselves the Darkyn...

Some first thoughts. This is not exactly a romance story although I am assuming the book ends HEA. I'm not sure exactly if all the characters that we have met will have continuing story lines but I am guessing not. For example, we won't be seeing things from their POV any longer.

The blurb is of course deceiving.

The opening of this story is brilliant and Alex is obviously someone so dedicated to her very real work of reconstructive surgery that she eats, sleeps and breaths it. No question, with her upbringing and her absent brother she has made surgery her home and she works hard at her skill. Viehl brings this aspect of Alex's character to full life. You meet her patients and you feel her dedication to helping them anyway she can. Even when she knows that for some, they will not have a great life.

This leads to a mysterious offer for 4 million dollars to fly to New Orleans to operate on Michael Cyprian. She considers it for a full 2 seconds because of all the pro bono work she could do but decided against it because it was obvious this guy needed a new face to escape authorities. So you can see here that we have a smart, overacheiver heroine.

What happens next, a kidnapping and then a made up disease that would explain this man's fast healing and a riddle for a doctor. She's not happy to be kidnapped but does the surgery. Things go bad and Michael attacks her.

It was at this point that the story kinda fell apart. We experience what can only be called the Rapture through Alex's eyes but it is weird in it's imagery and hard to follow where everyone is standing.

I found this to be a problem for the rest of the book. Especially the climax which was over the top and reminded me of a movie ending. By this I mean, I could actually see how this was written to appeal to an action movie/vampire crowd. I was no longer in the story but watching it from afar.

Alex is lippy to say the least but she is a character who seems to runaway all the time. I don't know about you but if I was suddenly turned into a vampire I would be sitting and asking a whole bunch of questions. Instead, this intellectual woman goes about figuring out what is wrong with her through her medicine. Okay. Maybe getting as many facts as possible and then doing the medical research would have faired better. Just saying.

As for the romance it was the typical, 'I made you and you are mine' for the hero Michael and 'I'm not going to be your slave for eternity' heroine. There was no friendship built between these two characters so when love was declared I was skeptical.

The other part of the story, which was the whole reason the Dr. became involved with Michael, was the idea of reconstructive surgery. Michael literally has no face when she first sees him. Alex reconstructs his face based on a painting of him. She has to re-create the bone structures in his face and move the muscles and create eye-lids and the whole bit. Now, the reader knows he is a vampire or Darkyn and thus, heals but I was just creeped out every time Alex noticed what a good job she had done on his lips or cheeks or some such thing. It was peppered throughout the story to the point where I didn't really *see* Michael. I just don't know enough about reconstructive surgery and much of it is phenomenal in real life but, they can't fix everything. So how did she create lips? Were they a different colour from the rest of his skin like most people's lips are?

I have the next book in the series which I *think* is Thiery's. After knowing what he has gone through it is hard to think of him as hero material. Heck, most of the character's shown in this series are far from hero material. Except for Phillipe but then, I would guess his story would be boring. From the spine of this book, it says it is a paranormal series. I hope that there is more romance in the next book and I *know* there will be less thoughts about reconstructive surgery, if I'm lucky!

Also, I should mention that this book is not for the faint at heart. I thought I had dealt with some gruesome stuff reading Laurell K Hamilton and yes, I have skimmed over parts I couldn't deal with but how these Darkyn are tortured is unbelievable and sickening. We're used to our vampires just healing. These Darkyn heal but they heal around damaged bones and such so that they are completely damaged and yet there are no wounds on the exterior. Neat take on the idea but, gah, painful.