Bedeviled Angel [Mass Market Paperback]

Queisha Saint-Denis was given a second chance at life when a stranger pushed her out of his escape tunnel of a collapsed building. She lived and he died. Now she lives her life for both of them, or does it as much as possible without ever leaving her house. Unfortunately, Queisha has agoraphobia but she is working on healing that. One thing she did was agree to be a surrogate mother and had twins for a childless couple. Doing that was both the greatest and hardest thing she has ever done.

Chance Gordricson was a lawyer when he died saving Queisha. Now he is her guardian angel who can't get over the feelings he has developed while watching over her. Chance knows that Queisha is going to need him even more because the twins' parents have died and they are coming back to her. Being able to see what is coming her way has Chance both worried and infuriated at the selfishness of others. Everything changes when Chance is tossed back to earth and Queisha.

Queisha suddenly has many changes in her life. First she has her babies back but for how long is the question. And then she has their co-guardian and cook, Chance, to figure out. Chance just wants to help Queisha believe that she is the best parent those kids could ever have and to defeat her agoraphobia. Queisha might doubt herself but she will do anything for her kids - even overcome her fears. However, she just isn't sure what to do about the strong attraction to Chance. Will he be willing to stick around with an instant family? When all secrets come out Queisha is expecting more heartbreak and has no way to prevent Chance from going away. The fates gave her twins back and a love that healed her, what are the odds she could have Chance forever too?

What is the strongest thing on Heaven and Earth? Why a love everlasting of course. Bedeviled Angel proves that love can happen at any time and anywhere. Queisha works daily on living her life to the fullest. Chance found love after he died and with one of his charges of all things. What can I say, I loved both Queisha and Chance from the minute I met them. Chance because he would not let anything harm Queisha - not even his boss. Queisha because she had found a way to allow fantasy and happiness show her a way around her phobia. I felt the love from the minute they met and then when you added in the twins, it was palpable and leapt from the pages. The twins were scene-stealers in the best way. Magic, fantasy, and angels combined with hot passion and humor made Bedeviled Angel a book I could not put down.

Jo
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Meet Guardian Angel Chance and Queisha, his charge. And they must fight not only for custody of Queisha's twins, but their attraction for each other.

Sometimes I feel a little weird when young children are secondary characters. I don't know if it's because they don't seem real, or maybe because they don't act like I expect children that age to act. These children, Lace and Skye, came pretty close, but there was still a few moments where I wasn't sure if they felt too young for their age, or maybe too old. Of course, I'm not a parent, I'm not really around kids this age very much, so maybe they're spot on. I'll admit it, after a while, I started to ignore the kids' part in the story, except when it came to the inevitable fight for custody. Then stuff started to get interesting.

And occasionally, I wasn't sure which character was talking, or what they were talking about. But obviously I was interested enough to keep reading.. and I suppose I could say it paid off in the end. Along these lines, there were a few powers/abilities that just seemed weird to me. I wasn't sure who all had what powers. And the fact that a certain someone could just make a whole trail of bricks pop up and wind itself around the yard? Who has that power? I mean, who's like "Yes... Yes I must have the power to create brick trails for people. Include that in my list of super useful powers.. like the ability to glue pieces of paper together, and have one over-ly rubbery arm." Do you get the picture I'm painting there? Basically I'm saying it's a random, weird power. Obviously not totally useless, but a little weird.

As for the characters. Queisha was quirky, which is totally good, but there were a few times I just wanted her to hush. Or maybe act.. differently. I wanted her to just shut up about the kids being taken away from her and just enjoy it. She told herself so many times to not think about the fact that the kids will probably get taken away, and to just enjoy the time she had with them. That's wonderful... DO IT. As for Chance... Chance is the type of hero that I love - sarcastic and strong. I'm not saying he didn't have his faults - honest to the point of needing a good shaking - but he was someone I'd want to be around, maybe even hang with on occasion. And I did love how he was slowly losing his feathers.

Up until almost the very end, this book was going to be one of those "good, not great, but okay" kind of books. But there was an otherwise not-that-big-a-deal paragraph in the last chapter or two that made me sniffle, and I even had to show a friend. And because of that (Everlasting puppies were involved!), this book was pushed into a different category. So with that, I give you the rating..

So I'm going to give "Bedeviled Angel" by Annette Blair a FOUR out of FIVE (4/5). I did enjoy it, and for the most part, I loved the two main characters. I don't think I could deal with Queisha's neuroses, but I'd definitely want to cuddle up with Chance. And his backstory was a real winner (I LOVED his backstory.. but no spoilers from me).

Bedeviled Angel by Annette Blair
Paranormal Romance -Aug 3, 2010
4 stars

Annette Blair writes a fun, frothy romance. Big on laughs and with a huge heart. Bedeviled Angel is part of the Works Like Magick series but can easily be read by itself.

Chance is an angel with many human charges but there is one that he can't help thinking about all the time. The lovely and quirky Queisha Saint-Denis. Queisha has a big heart but lots of problems. The chief among them being that she seems to have inherited 2 orphaned girls (she was their surrogate mother) after their parents went missing while mountain climbing. Queisha has a checkered past and her current difficulties include not being able to cook and a fear of leaving her house! Chance has been mooning over Queisha for years from heaven. Tired of Chance's infatuation with Quiesha. A well meaning angel decides enough is enough and literally pushes Chance from heaven. Chance falls to earth and soon finds himself adopted by Queisha's friend Vivica. Vivica runs a magical employment service. She quickly realizes Chance is an angel and that he would be a good match for Queisha. Vivica mentors him and places Chance with Queisha as a cook and as a temporary co-guardian to the 2 orphaned children. Although being near Queisha feels like paradise to Chance the more time he spends with her the more he places his angelic career and life in jeopardy.

I really loved Chance. I could feel how head over heals he was with Queisha. He longing for her yet knowing she could never be his was very poignant. Queisha was a very easy character to relate to. The only thing I wished was that she had been more proactive a character. Compared to Chance she seemed bland. I did like her vulnerability and her kindness and caring. And I couldn't help wanting them to be together. I also enjoyed the touching the side story involving the cute little orphaned girls. They needed the stability and love Queisha and Chance gave them. I yearned for them to be a family. But I think Chance's character steals this book. His love for the little girls and Queisha were heartwarming to read. He constantly tries to do the right thing. It was so fun to read how Chance is 'hired' as a cook but doesn't know how and has to learn behind their backs! There was also some tension in the story because although Chance loves Queisha the more time he spends with her the more he puts himself in danger as temptation leads to the slow loss of his angelic self.

Sweet, wacky and fun. Lovers of chick lit and light paranormal romance will savor this book I know any reader would love to have a guardian angel like Chance!

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars