Beauty Awakened

Angels of the Dark, Book 2

By: Gena Showalter

Narrated by: Max Bellmore

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Gena Showalter returns with another captivating Angels of the Dark tale, as a tormented warrior is brought to his knees by the most delicate of humans.

His name is Koldo. He is scarred, powerful, his control legendary - and he lives only for vengeance against the angel who viciously removed his wings. But if he yields to the forces of hatred, he will be eternally damned.

Nicola Lane was born with a defective heart, yet this fragile human shows surprising strength as demons stalk her every move, determined to end her. She is the key to Koldo' deliverance...and his downfall. Though he fights duty, destiny, and his first addictive taste of desire, his toughest battle will be the one for Nicola's life - even if he has to sacrifice his own....

©2013 Gena Showalter (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What you let into your heart affects your soul

Nicola and her sister come into Koldo’s life unexpectedly. She is a mystery to him. The twins hold demons on their shoulders that are rotting their life from the inside out. Be that as it may she has an undeniable strength and puts her sister’s welfare above her own at all costs. As he teaches her to laugh and live she is teaching him to love and the changes are beyond amazing. This tough warrior is so innocent in so many ways and this fragile human is more powerful than most anything. Together they will rock the world!

One of my favorite series thus far!

What does Max Bellmore bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Max is fabulous, brings the book to life!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both, this book has great dynamics... and takes you for a great ride!

one of the best angel series book

I did like Zachary real story cuz it continued from The Lord of the underworld series but this one had me unsuspend wondering how it was going to come about right cuz for some reason I thought for sure Nicola would die I have to be reborn really really love this book it's a reread type

Really good addition to the series :D

4-4.5 stars

This was a really good story. I really liked Nicola and Koldo and enjoyed their story very much.

Nicola is a nice woman with a bad heart. Nicola and her identical twin, Laila, we born with heart defects and they've lived their whole lives trying to do nothing to strain themselves for fear of making themselves weaker and dying earlier. Nicola is doing ok but Laila has spiralled down and is on death's door when the story begins.

Koldo is a "Sent One" which is a heavenly race that are similar to angels. During his early childhood, Koldo was raised by his mother, who hated him (for reasons revealed much later in the book) and treated him horribly. When she got fed up with him, she dropped him off at his father's camp and Koldo's father was not a nice man. He forced Koldo to do horrible things and by the time Koldo was rescued he was pretty much feral. Koldo was taken in and eventually became somewhat adjusted, becoming a warrior in one of the Sent One armies.

Koldo first sees Nicola when he's sent to a hospital to kill a demon that's been plaguing a patient there. He happens upon Nicola while she's visiting her sister and sees that she has 2 demons following her, whispering evil things to her that would causing negative emotions that the demons then feed off of. Nicola wasn't the person Koldo was sent to help but she catches his interest and he finds he wants to help her. He soon meets up with her and initiates a conversation that leads into coffee. While they talk, Koldo starts to teach Nicola how embracing fear and other negative emotions can allow sickness to fester but with the right attitude, she could possibly recover completely. Nicola isn't sure whether to believe Koldo or not but when he flashes (teleports) away from their meeting, she realizes he's not human and there's more out there than she ever realized. Now that Nicola understands the world is much more complex than she thought, she starts to believe Koldo and is determined to work on surviving.

The one issue is Nicola's sister. She's dying and Nicola can't handle that so she asks Koldo if there's anything he can do to help. He manages to find a way but warns her that the repreve is only temporary and it's unlikely she'll survive more than a couple weeks. Koldo decides to spend time with Nicola, teaching her more about how to improve her life and health. At first, Koldo doesn't think his feelings for Nicola are loving type feelings but the longer he spends with her, the more he finds himself wanting more than friendship with her. Nicola is happy with Koldo wanting more because she's pretty much had the hots for him since they met and his kindness since has helped her initial lust grow into something deeper. Koldo has a lot to deal with outside of Nicola though...namely his father and mother, both of whom cause much drama in his life. Thankfully, despite demon attacks and other issues, Koldo and Nicola are able to work through blockages to their relationship and gain something good together, ending the story starting a well deserved HEA.

This was a really enjoyable story. I really liked Nicola and thought she was a pretty good heroine. I thought Koldo was a great hero. He had his issues but deep down, he was just a big teddy bear that just wanted someone to truly love him. I just wanted to hug him! Overall, the story was very good and I liked the characters so I'd recommend this story. :D

Fun read

It’s Good to be completely separated from reality sometimes
Fun to listen to while driving.

Where can I get an angel robe?

Although I like the LOTU series better, this series is good too. Another tortured soul in need of some loving. I laughed and I cried, I only wished it had better sex scenes but was moved by what Koldo has learns and what he is willing to sacrifice for his woman. I enjoyed watching Nicola learn to be strong and let go of the darkness in her life. Max Bellmore does it again. He has a rich sexy voice that is very easy on the ears. If you like Gena Showalter I recommend reading Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter series and Thea Harrison Elder series.

A + for Gena and Max

Once again G, Showalter does a great job of making us feel for her characters. This book has everything including the ability to make me stop another read to finish this one.

Story of Kaldo and his journey to find love and happiness or rather it finds him. Overcoming so much hate and resentment.


Max Bellmore adds such feeling!

This is well worth the credit!

Yeah! Go Geena.

Gena is the best I've read all her books and am always waiting for more.

My Sweet Koldo

This one just broke my heart. My heart absolutely Ached for Koldo. I was angry and so sad for the child he was and hurt for the pain the man still held inside.

All he wanted was love. He was Soooooo sweet and timid yet powerful.

Love scenes were a little too flowery and skated over the actual act itself for my preference, but still beautiful and meshed well for who these two characters were.

It is a beautiful story as the oxymoron that is both of the characters come to a head and the one you believe is the weaker of the two, turns out to be the strongest. Together... they are complete.

I'm so happy that Koldo has found love. I felt as if I were discovering love for the 1st time through his eyes as the darkness in him brightened steadily throughout the book.

Go on, Gena! Go on, Max!

Gets my 5 stars!

All is as it should be!

All of Koldo’s worst nightmares come back to haunt him, in this book. However, his sacrifices finally get him the answers he has searched for, since he was a child. He also discovers his mate and they teach each other how to be pure of spirit.

There is a leadership change and with it, many wrongs are righted! And a new battle begins.


This series definitely has tortured souls, like the Lords of The underworld. Some of the themes are similar but, this series has very few and very mild, sexual experiences; at least so far! With that being said, the basic theme continues, from the previous series, Good vs Evil!
-V from Kansas