A fallen angel seeking redemption. A demon seeking revenge. The teenage girl caught between them.
Since the new guy, Michael Fontaine, came along, Mia Crawford is being hunted. Strange creatures appear out of nowhere. Visions of another time and place creep into her thoughts.
Searching for answers, Mia discovers a past life of forbidden love, jealousy and revenge that tore an angel from Heaven and sent her to an early grave. Now that her soul has returned, does she have a chance at loving that angel again? Or will an age-old nemesis destroy them both?
Ancient history is only the beginning.
I'm struggling between 3 and 4 stars because of some things I didn't like, but it leans more toward 4.
Now, before you roll your eyes at the "fallen angel love story" and give up, just hear me out.
Gorgeous angel meets a beautiful girl, they fall in love, heaven finds out, the angel falls, and they end up together and happy forever. Maybe this happened today, maybe it happened 500000 years ago and they're reincarnated and reliving their love. Sound familiar?
Think again.
Michael fell from heaven thousands of years ago when he fell in love with a girl. Having broken one of the rules of Heaven for angels, Michael began his "descent" as he lusted after her. Captivated, he ignored the rules and married her, but she was met with an untimely death by a demon, and he was convinced everything was his fault. Now, he's in "rehab," trying to recover from falling and return to Heaven.
Mia starts seeing strange things right before two new boys start at her high school. Beautiful Michael and dark, mysterious Damiel are the focus of all the girls in the school, but Mia is wary of them. When she agrees to go on a date with Damiel, she discovers that he is actually a demon hunting her. Michael saves her and tells her some of their past.
Michael devotes his time to protecting Mia from Damiel, but being around him tempts him to his limits.
Lisa Voisin weaves a captivating story that is more than just your typical angel/mortal love story. With religious details and unexpected twists, The Watcher is much more than what you would expect.
Some personal thoughts on the book (SPOILERS INCLUDED):
Despite the originality, a part of me still hates the "fallen angel love story" cliche, so that was difficult to get past. And though the mating aspect was necessary for the context of the story, it still made me uncomfortable.
At one point, Mia finds out that Michael cheated on her with another girl. She gets very upset, but not because of the fact that he slept with another girl. Honestly, it seemed like she couldn't care less about that. She cried merely because she couldn't have sex with Michael right then. How stupid is that? Or maybe that's just my opinion...
However, I loved the fact that despite Michael and Mia being super attracted to each other and Michael's sin being lust that he could hardly control, the two managed to stay together and "behave." I have no idea what the rest of the series will bring, but I really liked this aspect of the story and it was definitely a welcome change from all the other YA romance novels like this that are out there.
**I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my review
