Beauty Awakened

By Gena Showalter

Koldo – The Heavens’ Most Wrathful Warrior Scarred, dangerous, legendary – Koldo lives only for vengeance on the angel who viciously removed his wings, and diminished his power.

But if he retaliates he will be kicked from the heavens, eternally damned. Mortal Nicola could be the key to his deliverance – or his downfall. The first addictive spark of lust that she inspires in Koldo calms his rage, and offers him a path away from vengeance.

But as a target for the demon world, Nicola is stalked by evil at every turn. Now Koldo’s quest for revenge is the least of his concerns as he face his toughest battle yet: the war to save Nicola’s life—even if he has to sacrifice his own….

‘Passion, humour, pulse-pounding action and just plain fun’ – Lara Adrian

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Mar 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781472010780

Gena Showalter

Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of over seventy books, including the acclaimed Lords of the Underworld series, the Gods of War series, the White Rabbit Chronicles, and the Forest of Good and Evil series. She writes sizzling paranormal romance, heartwarming contemporary romance, and unputdownable young adult novels, and lives in Oklahoma City with her family and menagerie of dogs. Visit her at GenaShowalter.com.

Reviews for Beauty Awakened

[aliterarylion · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was so disappointed. I had such high expectations. I know Gena Showalter just recently became a Christian and I am so happy to hear that. It's severely affected her writing style. Her work has become boring and her love scenes, which were previously quite steamy, have become incredibly vague and dull. The characters made bad decisions and incredibly illogical. I miss her old writing style. She already messed up the Underworld Assassin or whatever it's called. If she screws up Kane's story, I'm going to flip a table.

[pnrlist · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well, now I am worried. If Gena is going to be using the AotD series to preach her religion, I'm not going to read the series. I just hope that LotU doesn't go this route! If Gena keep going for the Christian-inspired romance, I'm done.

This book was just way too prosthelytizy. I mean, given the steaminess of her other books, it feels weird that there are like two sex scenes that come at the end of the book and only after the couple is married. And they're super super vague! No actual descriptions of sex happen in the book, just vague references to it.

The book is clearly just a vehicle for talking about god. The whole message is about the importance of faith - and unbelievers are punished. Laila has too much fear and not enough faith in "The Most High and His Divine Brilliance And Love And Perfection, etc etc" so she dies. All of the battle scenes and messaging about demons, it's all about preaching Christianity. So disappointing. If I want to be preached at, I will read specifically Christian romance - which is what this should be shelved under. I won't be reading more of this series (unless someone tells me the next isn't preachy) and I can only hope she doesn't ruin LotU by using it as a platform to push her religious views on her readers.

Also, honestly, her world-building here has just gone haywire as well. The end, with Nicola becoming a Sent One, seems random and poorly explained or justified. There's a lot of moments when I felt like she decided she wanted to make a point and reconstructed the world to fit that, rather than having things develop organically based on the way the world had already been designed. I guess there are just a few things that felt manufactured or forced or lacking context... Not sure how to explain it really, just some stuff felt flat.

[texasbooklover7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really liked Koldo!

[bookmonsterreviews · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Heartbreaking, Funny, Action-Packed and Sexy!BEAUTY AWAKENED, the 2nd installment of Gena Showalter's Angels of the Dark series is finally here and it was so worth the wait!The book starts off with a young Koldo at the age of 7 years old. This was by far the most heartbreaking chapter I have ever read. A little boy starved for his mother's attention and love and getting nothing but hatred and abuse in return. No matter what he did to please her, she hated him and punished him more. We finally learn what happened to Koldo's wings and I sat here with a box of tissues balling me eyes out through this chapter. We also find out who his father is and I just can't decide who was worse, his mother or father. I finally decided they were both just as equally horrible. Poor Koldo!Koldo is a warrior in Zacharel's Army of Disgrace, a group of warrior angels that are in danger of falling. I loved Koldo when he was introduced in WICKED NIGHTS but now he has my heart forever. I'm a sucker for the tortured souls and we all know Koldo went through torture when we learned his wings were removed but in this book we learn the full extent of the hell and anguish he went through. Koldo was the warrior with few words and no emotions, but he does have emotions. He just covers them up and pretends to not care because he is scared of rejection. Through everything that he has been through he still fights for what's right and he's a hero which he proved in WICKED NIGHTS when he made huge sacrifices to save his leader Zacharel. When he learns to open up and discovers his feelings for Nicola he is also very possessive but in a sweet, melt your heart kind of way.Nicola and her twin sister Laila were born premature and with underdeveloped hearts. They have lived their lives not truly living at all due to fear of overdoing it and having a heart attack. They both know they don't have long to live but they are too weak and scared to fight. Nicola isn't a kick ass hero like Annabell was in WICKED NIGHTS but she is awesome in her own rights. Nicola is the stronger sister, always looking out for and taking care of Laila who is the weaker more afraid sister. She's easy going but not a doormat and she's not afraid to stand up for herself and let anyone push her or her sister around. She's kind, good hearted and funny and I really enjoyed her character.Koldo first notices Nicola while on a mission in a hospital. He finds Nicola leaning over a very sick, almost dead Laila. He notices right away that they are both being poisoned by demons who are shadowing their every move and are filling them with toxins. They feed on their fear, sadness, pain, doubt and any other negative emotions and the demons are slowly killing them both. Koldo takes an interest in Nicola and decides he's going to teach her how to get rid of the demons and keep them away for good. Because to have any shot at living, they need to keep the demons away for good.A lot of the healing Koldo teaches Nicola and Laila was all about the power of positive thinking. Some people may be put off by this but I truly believe that positive thinking does help. If you think negative thoughts then those thoughts will start to bring you down. We may not have demons sitting next to us feeding us negative thoughts and toxins like the sisters do, but to me negative thoughts and words are toxins. If you think negative about yourself you start to believe it and live it. I love how Gena incorporated this into her story.This book is NOT full of steamy sex scenes like some of Gena's other books. There is pretty much one full on sex scene but there is plenty of sexual tension. Both Koldo and Nicola are virgins and Nicola needs to take things slow otherwise her heart can give out. This book has just the right amount of sex and tension for these two characters and I think Gena told their story perfectly! Honestly, I get tired of the hero and heroine jumping into the sack by the 100th page of books. It takes a talented author to write a romance book with only one actual sex scene and keep it sexy but if anyone can pull it off its Gena and she totally nailed it!We get to see a lot of Axel and Thane is this book. While Axel acts extremely immature, you can't help but LOL at his crazy antics and the absurd things that come out of his mouth. Thane was on a mission to take out the demons responsible for killing someone they all cared dearly for. AND....for all you Lords of the Underworld fan girls out there, William makes an appearance! Squee!!Overall this book was incredible! It was heartbreaking at moments and LOL funny the next. It was sexy without a lot of sex and full of non-stop action. BEAUTY AWAKENED book pulled me in from the very first page and consumed me to the last.*ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review.I give BEAUTY AWAKENED 5 out of 5 skulls

[addictofromance · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beauty Awakened is book two in the "Angels of the Dark" series and I am in love with this story. Gena Showalter is a queen in writing such riveting paranormal romance novels, and Beauty Awakened is no different. There was something so much more tangible about this book that just gravitated towards this reader. I deeply loved the development of this series so far and for those who are solid fans of the "Lords of the Underworld" series than this trilogy is a must read for you because it is connected to the same world although a bit different. For those new to the "Angels of the Dark" series, it's about archangels that work for the "Almighty" and fight demons to save humans and innocents from their evil machinations.In Beauty Awakened, we have our hero, Koldo, whose life was rough. He was raised partly by his mother who abused him as a child and tore his wings from his back and then he was sent to live with his father who was just as cruel but more manipulative and evil. Koldo was forced to participate in actions he abhorred but had no choice in. Now he is working with Zacharael's Army, the only one without wings but he does have other abilities like "flashing" from different locations in a blink of an eye. While on a mission, he is sent to a hospital which is where he sees Nicola Lane and he is fascinated and wants to know her but he doesn't fully comprehend the feelings he has for Nicola, only that they are something he has never felt before. You speak what you believe, and you believe you’re doomed. If there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout the years, it’s that what you believe is the impetus for your entire lifeNicola Lane is in the hospital because her sister is dying from a poison that can't be stopped. Nicola's family was killed by a drunk driver, and her sister is all she has left. But Nicola herself has special abilities, she can see the demons that torment them. But when she meets Koldo, she is fascinated by this brawny tough man that has a heart of gold and honest to a fault and innocent in the way of romantic entanglements. She doesn't know if she can trust him, but she knows the truth when he tells her of the poison in her body and how she must fight it. Soon Koldo and Nicola join forces, and there is some powerful chemistry between these two damaged hearts but they will have to fight a great enemy to find their HEA.Beauty Awakened is a breathtakingly bold romance that will captivate the hearts of its readers. I was immediately pulled into this book and I never wanted to leave this story. It was magnificent and so beautifully told. In Beauty Awakened, we have a story that brings together a hero who is also a virgin, but so naive about relationships. He doesn't fully understand about intimacy and love but he knows its there and he wants it with Nicola. He knows what he is feeling for her is more powerful than anything he has ever experienced in his life previous. Of course, he has a lot of emotional growth he develops because he has never truly known love and acceptance, the kind that he received from Nicola who is all about love and acceptance. Nicola herself has her own growth and learning curves too, she has issues with trust but together these two pack a punch. I love how willing and open they are in the relationship, that they don't fight too much what they are feeling for each other.The conflict that we see in the story is an outside force and we some different evil forces that are coming against Zacharael's army, Koldo and Nicola. I adored how Koldo and Nicola fight together to overcome the evil against them including Koldo's father who was believed to be dead. But what occurs in the last half of the story is AWESOMESAUCE!! I love how committed Koldo and Nicola are to each other and the different ways we see them sacrifice for each other. We see how much they are willing to sacrifice to help one another and this is what real love is all about and I love that Gena Showalter shows this in her storytelling.Overall I found Beauty Awakened to be a beautifully portrayed romance that delves into a world of demons and angels, of sacrifice and true intimacy between two people..... AN AWE INSPIRED ROMANCE

[bethanymoore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I adore Gena!! Though I love the LOTU series more, I love me some angels too! Can't wait for the next one!

[jorgeousjotts · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the majority of this book. It wasn't amazing, but I was entertained. The whole finale though, (starting at the time one of the characters embarks on a quest), I thought was pretty weak, and I disliked it much more than I liked it. Poor character decisions, circumstances swerved so negative for a while it felt like a horror novel or something rather than a romance, the bad guys seemed especially one-note evil, some kinda lame "revelations", changes in magic that felt like they were pulled out of a hat, events just seeming particularly unlikely. So it ended on a sour note for me. But it was okay otherwise okay (a fair mix of good and bad), that I'm still giving it 3 stars overall.

[author_andrialarge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was really good. The first one was better. But this was a very close second.