Feather (Angels of Elysium Book 1)

I’ve read a ton of fantasy and this one had a very original plot. It was very refreshing and cohesive. i appreciate that!I felt the female protagonist relinquished her morals too quickly tho. I would have liked her to struggle with it a bit more. I also like more fire in female leads and Leigh is more of a gentle soul. Nothing wrong with that! Just not my preference. The other female characters had a little bite to them which I liked!I definitely recommend the book tho! The writing is very good.

This book should come with a huge warning sign for us sensitive souls that cannot handle endings like the one feather had. The only consolation is that the story is not over, which means that the huge depression this book is sure to give has hopes of being cured.I honestly wasn’t a big fan of the start. I felt that there wasn’t much there to grip me into the story, and while it got better later on when the actual meet cute and the romance started, I never fell completely head over heels. I don’t know why, more than perhaps that there were elements missing that I had wished to see. Leigh could have offered up a bit more personality, Asher and Leigh could have had more moments together to cement a bit of a stronger reason behind Asher’s actions later on, and I would have liked to see something more come out of the whole Eve drama. The book was still good as it was, especially with Jarod, his family secrets and the romance that ensued between him and Leigh. My only issue is that there was room and a lot of missed opportunities for it to be great.The story’s high point, and honestly my lowest point, is the ending. Books can give me good cries where I feel a thousand pounds lighter afterwards, but in this case it gave me the worst cry I had in a long time. My heart is not built for these kinds of endings, and even though the tears were proof of how great the romance was, it was also proof of that this kind of story just is not for me. Still, I am going to keep going with celestial with the risk of my poor heart. I am craving a HEA like a never before and I hope to god that the next two books can give me that, both for Leigh and Jarod and for the next two couples.

I usually try to wait a few days before I write a review so I can make sure I have a balanced perspective, but this time I cannot. The story of forbidden love, of sacrificing everything for the one you love. Olivia's world and characters are raw and real and full of angst and joy. I love how she sets the world of how things are and then gives us a heroine strong, bold, graceful, and gentle and willing to help change things for the better for everyone.Good books make us feel and (hopefully) we learn something along the way. Great books not only make us feel and teach us, but help us heal and grow and, most of all, motivate and challenge us to be better versions of ourselves.This is a great book.I'm looking forward to the next one.

From the first page this novel was amazing, such a powerful love story with complex characters that are seemingly polar opposites but who manage to meet in the middle. This novel manages to show not everything is black and white, life is lived within the shades of gray and it draws the point home with a beautiful story that is bittersweet yet very much worth the time it takes to read.The author’s writing style is very smooth, you can glean the characters’ personalities and their voices clearly, there’s several action scenes that are thrilling, the drama is unpredictable (trust me, you will love this) and the romance is epic, Jarod and Leigh are hard to ge out of your heart and head after the book is done, also trust me on this. This is a n adult, paranormal, modern Romeo and Juliet type of story with many twist and a lot of delightful steam.

This book has my heart. I absolutely loved the romance, as well as the beautiful writing in this. It isn't often I adore side characters, but this book does it and really has me attached to the characters that will be the focus of the second book.Olivia's writing truly immersed me in this story, from the loving friendship all the way to the heartbreaking moments. The angels with their rules and system were so incredibly interesting and I can't wait to see how she continues it in Celestial.My only con is that the book seems a little on the slow side during the middle of the story, but it is truly one of my favorite reads of the year and I can not wait to continue this series. I recommend this to anyone and everyone looking for a book that will give you ALL the emotions.

I haven’t read en angel paranormal story in a long time. Many of the ones I’ve read have been boring and disappointing. Which is sad, since I’ve had a fascination for angels since childhood. This story revived my hope in finding stories of angels that I will actually like.The pacing of the story is good. This is slow burn, and I would have liked a little more spice. But perhaps it would have gotten in the way of the story? What I really like is the unexpected turns the story takes, especially the end. I like that changing a broken system is such an important part of the story.Looking forward to reading Celeste’s story, she seems like my kind of heroine.

"...so full of light and color.”I am so sad I've waited so long to read this series. This book is beyond incredible. The beginning is a bit slow with the world building but once the main story began, I couldn't put it down; I read it in less than 2 days. The grumpy/sunshine trope was well done and the not so slow burn had me cheering them on even more. It wasn't as spicy as I was expecting but I can also appreciate referencing instead of being explicit every time. The pacing and mixing of action and romance and mafia tactics was very well balanced. The ending tore me apart and I am now eagerly starting Celestial.

I absolutely loved this book, it hooked me from the very beginning. What a beautiful love story packed full of emotion that warmed my heart even as it was breaking it.Feather was the first book I've read by this author but, it will not be my last. I loved the sound of the blurb, but I was not expecting such a rich story full of depth and feeling.Angels and sinners....... secrets, lies, betrayal, sins and injustice on one side, the purest heart and soul deep love on the other. Told from her pov, Leigh must help sinners redeem themselves to earn her feathers so she can ascend from Earth to Elysium as an angel. She needs over 80, so when a triple (one who will earn her 100 feathers) is placed in her path, she is determined to help him, despite the warnings that he is the worst of his kind. Many before her have tried and failed, but there is a lot more to Jarod than meets the eye. He doesn't want redemption, but the deeper Leigh gets involved, it becomes more about justice and love than the feathers she needs. I really loved both of these characters, there was so much depth to them and a lot more than I imagined.This amazing book will break your heart and make you think.  When I started listening to it, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Leigh and Jarod have buried themselves in my heart. This book was beautiful, thought provoking and devastating.  With twists and turns, at times it wrecked me.  I never saw that ending coming, however I'm still full of hope after the epilogue with the intriguing Asher.  I've laughed, swooned and sobbed,  I absolutely loved it. It warmed me inside even as it broke me. I cant wait for the next book in the series, Celestial, because I'm sure it will mend my broken bits...I hope!! 🙏🤞

Angels are real. God is not. But a version of heaven and hell do exist.As a fletching (an Angel that hasn’t yet gotten all of their feathers), Leigh has always enjoyed helping people redeem their souls.However, there are many aspects of Angel life that she doesn’t agree with. And when Asher, one of the seven Seraphim, comes to her guild looking for a bride, her friend convinces her that she should be the one. Because as the wife of a councillor, she could have some sway to change their outdated laws for the better.But she still needs 81 feathers and only has a month to earn them before the courtship is up. If she could help a triple redeem themselves though, that would solve all her problems. Even if triples all have blood on their hands and are considered the worst of the worst.Should be easy, right?I. Am. Speechless.Just. Wow.So many angels are a-holes it’s unreal. What an elitist and classist system!Leigh is one of the most pure and wonderful souls. It’s even reflected in the colour of her wings.And although Jarod is seemingly harsh and cruel to her at first, it’s partly because he harbours a secret, and mostly because he only trusts 3 people in his life. And believes they’re only there because he pays them.The progression of their relationship was beautiful. The time spanned was actually fairly short and yet it still felt like a slowish burn.I adored how Jarod wanted to be a better man for Leigh, and was ultimately so selfless in the lengths he would go to for her. Equally, Leigh loved him so fiercely that she just couldn’t fathom a life without him and was willing to give it all up so they could be together.That ending though! I hope you’re prepared for some heartache and a mini emotional rollercoaster.

ma'am you had no right to break my heart like that. I'm joking, yes you had the right and I enjoyed every second of it.I love a good slow burn romance, and it did deliver so good, I have no words for that. It is just chef's kiss. But let's forget the romance for a sec (never, lol), it was incredible, the plot, the characters, how much each of them had depth (you don't always get that, so I highly appreciate authors who put so much effort for this). I mean in general it was just so good, you know, everything I ever want in a book, a bit of humour, good characters I can relate/love just the way they are, and recently I started to love books which make me cry (I know it is not healthy but oh well). I wanted to say a few words about the ending, though. I totally spoiled that for myself by reading the description of the next book, so please do not read it. So yeah even after I spoiled the ending, I did cry, so yeah well done Olivia haha. Umm, and yeah, cannot wait to see where the future books will take me. And OMG can I get a list of the places with food they went to? If I ever go to Paris again, I want to try them out. Oh, and one more thing, I did not do my coursework just to read the book lol and I have zero regrets.

I won’t lie, I did go into this somewhat blind. A very good friend of mine had started the series and recommended it to me. I very much trust her judgement so thought I’d dive in.I have read quite a few fantasy books this year where angels do play a large part but none where the books are solely focused on angels. This was so refreshing. I loved the intricacies of the angelic system and how it was built out.We also get some of our favourite tropes:Enemies to loversFound familyMafia romanceI also love the take on how souls can be redeemed.I don’t want to say more because I did love going in not t knowing too much. Plus I loved how surprised I was at the end.

Silly me thought I didn't care too much about stories with angels. Olivia Wildenstein proved me wrong.It might be because I haven't read many books about angels (as I said, I didn't think it was my thing), but this was refreshing for me. In a dark, painful way.There was a lot of sarcasm, so the humour alone was perfect for me. It was such a light-hearted read and flowed so well that Wildenstein is quickly becoming one of my few palette-cleanser authors. Feather was like tea and cake after a long day <3But it was also heart-breaking. I don't want to spoil anything, but set some tissues aside for the end. I had so many ideas of what might happen, and the actual ending took all of those and beat them to death with a paperweight.For me, this ticked every box.