J.R. Ward – Rapture

The fourth book in the Fallen Angels series, published September 25, 2012.
Genre: paranormal romance / urban fantasy
Cover: Gorgeous. Mine is the smaller one, which has a delicious Paul Marron stepcover.




Mels Carmichael, reporter for the Caldwell Courier Journal, gets the shock of her life when a man stumbles in front of her car outside the local cemetery. After the accident, his amnesia is just the kind of mystery she likes to solve, but she soon discovers they're over their heads with his past. Over their heads with passion, too ...As shadows walk the line between reality and another realm, and her lover's memory begins to come back, the two of them learn that nothing is truly dead and buried. Especially when you're trapped in a no-holds-barred war between angels and demons. With a soul on the line, and Mels's heart at risk, what in heaven - or in hell - will it take to save them both?


This book sure surprised me. I knew that Davina would be punished for cheating in the previous book, and killing Eddy. But to have her price stolen from her, and battle again for his soul, that was great. It is really hard to write a review about this book without spoiling too much and ruin the surprises in it. The hero’s name is left out of the blurb for a reason of course. So, I have to take this from a different angle.

I liked Mels, she is stubborn as only a reporter can be. She really misses her father, who died three years ago in a car accident. If only he would not have worn his seatbelt, he would have survived. Which is the reason Mels refuses to wear hers. She has come back home to take care of her mother, as that was her fathers job, but she is not really close with her mother. Still, that really changes in this book, she sees that her mother has made a whole new life for her self, filled with hobbies and friends, and that she does not need taking care of.
Finding love with a dangerous man, a man she does not really trust, really makes her look at her own life differently, and she makes some changes. I liked that, it takes a strong character to start over. Of course, she does some stupid things as well, and has little sense of self preservation. But that can be the reporter part, and was of course necessary for the plot line.

Now, the hero of the story. I never did believe he was redeemable at all. A true psychopath since childhood, and kind of raised by Davina to be her tool. So loosing his memory is giving him new options, and new morals? That is truly hard to believe, but it worked. He has never fallen in love before, and now he has. Of course he does not believe that it will ever work out between them, he knows he has to stay on the run, but he will do what he can for Mels first. And to keep her safe is the most important thing there is.

Adrian has a real hard time coping with Eddy’s loss. They did everything together, and even sex has lost its appeal. And so he decides to do something totally selfless and heroic, and performs a true miracle. I did admire him for that, but I really, really hope this will be made undone somehow, and he can be my gorgeous Adrian again.

We even get some new clues about Dog, and that was totally making me laugh.

Then there is Jim Heron, our angel hero, and the one destined to win enough souls over to the side of good, to safe the earth itself from becoming hell. He also misses Eddy, and especially everything he was learning about his own angelic powers. Nigel is his old tight-lipped self, and won’t tell him what he wants to now. And Davina is tormenting him by killing woman with the same blond hair as Sissy. Leaving a message carved in their stomach for him to find. Jim can’t bear the thought of his innocent Sissy trapped in the same hell as all those people who do deserve to be there, tortured for eternity. And Davina really uses it to get under his skin.

Davina, our demon lady. J.R. Ward truly made her too horrible to look at, though of course she can appear extraordinary beautiful if she wants to. I love how she sees a psychologist for her many phobias, and for example, needs to have 12 exactly the same lipsticks in her purse. She is addicted to her little mementos and routines and she tries to loose some of them. I don’t think the therapy is helping very much, but perhaps with her anxiety attacks. Even though she is the evil personified in this series, I do kind of like her.


I do love this series, and think it is better than the BDB series. What I do find annoying though, is the chapter breaks, just when things are getting exciting or heating up. We will continue with one of the other characters storyline first, before getting to know what happens next. I know she does this in the BDB books as well, and yes, it keeps you reading past your bedtime. The plot twists and turns, and surprises again and again.

9 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian