Sleeping Angel

Ravenwood Mysteries #3

by Mia James

April Dunne has survived murder, tragedy and the near-complete destruction of her life as she knew it ... now it's time to solve the Ravenwood mystery once and for all. To save her vampire boyfriend Gabriel, she has to identify the Vampire King. To save her friends, she has to work out what's really going on at Ravenwood school, in Highgate. To save her family, she has to uncover, once and for all, who really murdered her father and why. But it's possible not even being a Fury will be enough to save April Dunne herself ...

Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Supernatural

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2013

About the author

Mia James is the pseudonym of bestselling author Tasmina Perry and her journalist husband John Perry. Between them they have sold over one million books worldwide.

By Midnight, the first book in their 'Ravenwood' series, was highly acclaimed and made the Sunday Times top twenty bestsellers list. 'Darkness Falls' is the brand new sequel and both books are available on Amazon.com in the Kindle store. Sleeping Angel, the third and final part of the series will be available on Amazon.com this summer. They love hearing from readers so please get in touch at www.tasminaperry.com.

Reviews

[Ferdy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoilers

Rubbish… The characters were flat, the story dragged, the romance was weak and unconvincing, and the ending wasn't even an ending.

-I intensely disliked April, she was a boring-bratty-needy-Mary-Sue-loser. What I despised most about her were her double standards, she was disgusted and rather violent towards Davina when she found out about her murdering ways yet when she learned her vampire boyfriend (Gabriel) was also a murderer she felt sorry for him, and wanted to save him and told him it was in his past so that made it a-okay. Well, Davina murdered in her past too but the silly cow didn't forgive her of her crimes. So yea, she thought serial killer Gabriel wasn't evil because she loved him but anyone else who'd committed the same crimes as him was scum and deserved to die. I wish someone would have smacked her one and pointed out her hypocrisy.

-April's attitude towards her mum was vile, she was so stuck up, judgmental and harsh towards her. So what if she thought her mum cheated on her dad, it didn't give her the right to treat her like rubbish and constantly bitch about her. Naturally, Gabriel murdering innocents was fine, he deserved nothing but understanding, instant forgiveness and support whereas her mum supposedly cheating was unforgivable. How does that make any sense? What kind of fucked up logic is that? Ugh, April chose who to punish and hate depending on whether she was randy for that person or not. The sick cow.

-April calling her dad 'daddy' at her age was cringey and made her come across like a spoilt little princess. I hate characters that aren't children who still call their parents mummy and daddy, it makes my skin crawl.

-The romance was seriously lacking, it was only ever one sided. April's whole world revolved around Gabriel and how much she loved him whereas his feelings for her were lukewarm at best. When the driving force for the MC is the love interest then I expect the romance to be well developed and believable on both sides. Instead April was panting after Gabriel for no discernible reason and for some unknown reason he half-heartedly said he wanted her too. Also, the fact it was said that Gabriel's dead ex (Lily) was his one true love made their 'romance' even more crappy — why would April settle for being second best? I actually doubt she was even second best, Gabriel probably had a few other exes he had stronger feelings for. I despise heroines like April, she had no self respect at all, she knew Lily would always be number one for him. What girl would be okay with their true love having a bigger and better love with someone else? It was all so unromantic.

-Gabriel was hardly in it, he just popped in and out and barely left an impression, he was so flat and blah. His indifference towards April only made him more off putting especially when she was constantly chasing after him, he had no passion or emotion whatsoever. It was frustrating to read.

-Caro and Fiona were quite good characters, their friendship with April was sweet. I did however dislike Caro at the end when she got with Simon, it pretty much ruined her character for me.
Why would Caro be with him after he'd been shagging around with the enemy and treating her like rubbish for months? He didn't deserve another chance, but like most female characters she was happy to forgive all instantly despite being repeatedly walked all over.

-What the hell was with that lame ending? It wasn't even ambiguous, it just cut off in the middle of a scene as if the author couldn't be bothered any more.

All in all, it was a disappointing read. I'd only recommend it to those who want a generic PNR YA story with a dull heroine and an even duller hero/romance.

[Claire Gamblin]

Everywhere I look it's saying that the release date is 7th November 2013?!?! 2013? That would be over 2 years since the last book!!! And I can't check the publishers website because it's under construction!!!
There is no cover, there is no description! I need to wait ANOTHER year?
I also just realised it's the final book! WHAT?! WHY DIDN'T I KNOW THIS?!?!

Books will officially be the death of me...if the cats don't get there first!

[Michelle (Fluttering Butterflies) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed this series of books by Mia James. This is the third (and final?) book in the trilogy. Whenever I'm reading the books in this series I'm fully immersed in the world and the characters but when I picked up Sleeping Angel I was slightly worried as it had been awhile since I'd read By Midnight or Darkness Falls and I was afraid that too much time had passed and I wouldn't remember enough. Thankfully, after the first few pages, I fell quite naturally back into this story and I thought this was by far the most interesting and thrilling of the three books so far as everything started falling into place and long-standing questions are finally answered. This review will contain spoilers of By Midnight and Darkness Falls but not of Sleeping Angel.

I really loved getting back into this book. Sleeping Angel starts shortly after the events of Darkness Falls and April Dunne is dealing with the aftermath of her attack and the deaths of several people involved at Ravenwood Academy. She's living with her grandfather in Covent Garden, not really getting along with her mother but still madly in love with her vampire boyfriend, Gabriel. She's absolutely determined to finally uncover the identity of the Vampire King in order to kill him and save Gabriel's life. In doing so, she'll also be able to find out the answers that surround the death of her father and so many others and hopefully stop this vampire takeover that has begun at Ravenwood.

One of the things I like the most about this series is April's friendships with both Caro, a new friend, and Fiona, her friend from when she lived in Scotland. You can really feel how close April is with both of these girls and it was really lovely to witness how much Caro and Fee were willing to pitch in and help despite the danger to themselves. And in Sleeping Angel, some of the more antagonistic relationships in the past play a larger part as well and I liked that there was some doubt about characters' motivations.

The thing that is at the heart of this series is this relationship between April and Gabriel. Their relationship is the driving force of all the tension and the reason that April continues to drive forward in her pursuit towards finding the Vampire King despite the death and attacks that has chased April since her family have moved to Highgate.

The entire mystery of this book - the identity of the Vampire King, the conspiracy placed around Ravenwood, as well as some vandalism of April's father's grave - were all done really well. I was quite excited to pick the book up again whenever I had to put it down and it was all very thrilling. There were plenty of twists and turns throughout the book and lots of surprises around the big reveal. And while I did feel like there was a slight info-dump at the end to wrap up all the loose ends, I was very happy with the way things ended.

I really loved the friendships and relationships in this series, I loved the atmosphere of Highgate and around London, and definitely the unravelling of this mystery! Fab series.

[Turkan Taskin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great ending to a great trilogy. Love the protagonist, April and second protagonist, Gabriel. Mia James has a real talent for writing and i was hooked in throughout the novel. Her writing style made Sleeping Angel all the more suspenseful.

A tiny criticism I had was who the Vampire King turned out to be: April's Gramps. I cannot deny that i totally wasn't expecting him to be the antagonist, but I would have liked it a little better if the antagonist was someone else.

I also would have liked more April/Gabriel moments, because more than half the time, we hardly had any idea where Gabriel was. Other than that...

I LOVED the ending: April coming to terms with her mum, her mum, Silvia giving the Gramps' blood to Gabriel, and Davina!

A massive pro was Davina. I liked the fact that she didn't stay as a "bitch" throughout the trilogy. I think her character had been developed the most in this book.

I recommend this trilogy to people who especially like mystery, vampires, and horror.

Trilogy as a whole:
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Settings: 3.5 stars
Overall: 4 stars

[Jacquie Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems all the good stuff was left for the end. April is so dense it's annoying though, so the "twist" was clear before she got it

[nicola storrie]

Fantastic loved it

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting just got hooked just by the prologue

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

overall really enjoyed this series, was a change of pace from what ive been reading, but the ending wasn't an ending at all. kind of a cliffhanger.

[Bealesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inhalt: Achtung Spoiler, Band 3!
Die letzten Monate waren für April nicht einfach, sie ist umgezogen du ihr Vater wurde ermordet, Sie zerstritt sich mit ihrer Mutter und musste noch feststellen, dass sie kein Mensch auf der Schule von Vampiren ist, sondern die Furie, die Feindin der Vampir. Ihr Blut kann die Vampire töten, doof nur, dass ihre große Liebe Gabriel auch ein Vampir ist und sie sich deswegen nicht küssen dürfen. Außerdem bedrückt ihn etwas, dass mit seinem Vampirdasein zutun hat. Er will wieder zum Menschen werden und dafür muss der König sterben.

Ich denke über das Buch:
Ich habe bereits die ersten beiden Bücher gelesen und Rezensiert, hier und hier. Ich fand es immer interessant, aber überzeugen konnte es mich nicht ganz, denn es war lange das gleiche, es ging um das gleiche, es passierten ähnlich Dinge, dass hat sich jetzt endlich geändert.

Das Cover von diesem passt optisch gut zu den beiden anderen Büchern und ist auch in den typischen Buchreihenfarben gelassen, grün, rot und jetzt blau. Der Schreibstil ist wie in den anderen Büchern, man braucht ein wenig um hineinzukommen und dann geht es ganz gut.

Der Großteil dieses Buches ist auch noch den anderen ähnlich. Es gibt ein Hin und Her, der und der wird um Hilfe gebeten, man bekommt neue, ein wenig überraschende Allies und es gibt wieder Probleme mit Gabriel. Doch zum Ende hin, bringt die Autorin endliche Dinge ein, die mich schon von Anfang an beschäftigt haben. Meine Fragen, die seit dem ersten band nicht beantwortet wurden, wurden beantwortet, ich dachte schon, sie hätte das eine Thema ganz umsonst angeschnitten, weil nie wieder etwas dazu kam. Es löst sich fast alles auf.

Man erfährt in diesem letzten Abschnitt einfach unglaublich viel über die Familie und den ganzen Hintergrund, wie nie zuvor. Es sind endlich Daten, mit denen auch April arbeiten kann.

Das Ende ist meiner Meinung nach gut gewählt, weil es in einer Handlung stehen bleibt und den Ausgang so offen lässt. Doch lässt er einen natürlich auch mit vielen Fragen zurück. Doch durch die Fragen, kann die Geschichte selber fortführen, auch wenn es hier vielleicht doch ein wenig offensichtlich scheint.

Fazit:
Der letzte Band um die Ravenwood-Schule hat mich positiv überrascht, es gab endlich mal Informationen und es passiert etwas neues, etwas unerwartetes. Leider kam es erst eher am Ende des Buches, weswegen es von mir gut 3,5 von 5 P wie Punkten bekommt.

[Juli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mia James "Der schlafende Engel" ist der finale Band der "Ravenwood" Trilogie. Die Autorin hatte mich direkt durch die Tatsachen, dass die Handlung in London und an einer Schule spielt, auf ihre Seite gezogen. Leider konnte mich der erste Band "Die Schule der Nacht" nur teilweise begeistern, viel Geredet um den heißen Brei hat die Geschichte langatmig wirken lassen, allerdings hat sich die Handlung um einiges gesteigert im mittleren Teil der Trilogie. Diese Spannung konnte die Autorin auch im Abschlussband der Trilogie halten. Handlungstechnisch hat Mia James ihrer gesamten Reihe mit "Der schlafende Engel" ein Krönchen aufgesetzt, auf jeden Fall passiert hier Grandioses und Unerwartetes. Nachdem Aprils Vater brutal ermordert wurde, mehrere Freunde und Bekannte in ihrem Umfeld ihr Leben lassen mussten und sie entdeckt hat, dass es böse Machenschaften der Vampire in Highgate (einem Vorort in London) gibt und diese ebenfalls immer wieder in Ravenwood, ihrer Schule, zuschlagen, muss die Protagonistin April schnell handeln. Gemeinsam mit ihren Freunden und ihrem Freund Gabriel, in den sie unsterblich verliebt ist, versucht sie Lösungen für jedes Problem zu finden. Natürlich gestaltet sich diese Suche nach der Wahrheit alles andere als einfach und umso spannender und fesselnder wird es natürlich für den Leser. Ich habe diesen letzten Teil der Trilogie förmlich gefressen, weil ich ihn so gut wie nicht aus der Hand legen konnte. Eigentlich gibt es in "Der schlafende Engel" nur einen dicken Minuspunkt, nämlich das Ende. Dieses hat mir überhaupt gar nicht gefallen, nicht weil die Reihe schlecht endet, sondern weil die Autorin das Ende vollkommen offen lässt. Ich musste mehrfach blättern, um noch eine eventuell übersehene Seite zu finden, aber es gab keine, die Autorin hat den Leser tatsächlich ohne befriedigendes Ende zurück gelassen. Für mich wirkt es, als wolle Mia James sich die Möglichkeit offen lassen einen weiteren Band zu schreiben, oder zumindest eine Spin-Off Reihe und das hat mich irgendwie richtig wütend gemacht und aufjedenfall unbefriedigend zurück gelassen, deswegen muss ich leider einen Stern abziehen! Alles in allem ist die "Ravenwood" Trilogie, um die Protagonistin April Dunne, definitiv lesenswert und für alle Fans von romantischen Vampirjugendbüchern oder Akademiebuch-Fans ein klares Lesemuss!

[EmilyRose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning - Spoilers!

I was so happy when I got this book for Christmas. I have been waiting around 2 years to read the last book of the By Midnight series, and now I have.

The reason why I didn't give this book 5 stars was because of the ending. It was so open ended. All three books are about April and Gabriel trying to find a way for him to turn human. At the end, they have the kings blood, but we don't find out whether the cure works. You would think Mia James would let us know what happens. I hate open endings. I think the cure did work, I hope it did anyway.

The other thing I didn't like was all the unanswered questions I have. Mostly, what happens to Gabriel? Does he turn human? but also what happened to the vampires? Did Silvia's plan work? Did Jessica come back from hiding? I feel that the readers got some questions answered, but not all of them.

Things I did like.

The plot. I thought it was amazing. I didn't want to stop reading this book. I had to know what happened. There were lots of twists and turns. I was not expecting the ending. That was a big surprise. I didn't see Silvia being a vampire coming. When you read the books again, it is kind of obvious, but I never expected it. Well done James for a great plot twist.

I thought the identity of the king was great. In the first two books, you don't expect it to be her grandpa. He seemed like an innocent old man. He is anything but innocent in this book. We finally find out what his plan was, what he was doing to Gabriel for years and who killed Aprils dad. I really felt bad for April, finding out that her own grandpa was the one who killed her father.

This book was so easy to read. I haven't read the second book for a long time, but I didn't need to. You are reminded of what has happened over the previous two books, but you don't get pages and pages of recap which I hate. Picking up this book was like I read the other two books recently.

Overall, this book was definitely worth the wait. The only thing I didn't like was the open ending and the questions I have that were left unanswered. It would have been great to have had a chapter which was set in the future. That would have given us an idea on what happened.

I have enjoyed reading this series, and it is one I am likely to read again.

[Manu/flatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Über die Autorin:

Mia James ist in London geboren und aufgewachsen. Wenn sie dort nicht gerade Friedhöfe besucht oder durch Covent Garden streift (natürlich nur zu Recherchezwecken, nicht etwa zum Shoppen), sitzt sie schreibend an ihrem alten viktorianischen Schreibtisch, von dem sie den Eindruck hat, dass es dort spuken könnte. Mit der "Ravenwood"-Trilogie gibt sie ihr Debut als Romanautorin


Zum Inhalt:

Von wegen glamouröses Leben für April in London. Ihr Schule Ravenwood wird von Vampiren beherrscht. Sie verwandeln Ravenwood in einen düsteren Ort. Außer Gabriel, in ihn ist April unsterblich verliebt. Alles scheint außer Kontrolle zu geraten und das Böse wird immer mächtiger. Dann erfährt sie ein Geheimnis von ihrer Mutter das ihre Beziehung zu Gabriel für immer verändern könnte. Aber damit schweben beide in höchster Gefahr.


Meine Meinung:

Es handelt sich hier um den dritten Band der Reihe. Die Geschichte hatte mich gleich wieder gepackt, da ich unbedingt wissen mußte wie es weitergeht. April kämpft wie ein Löwe gegen das Böse. Doch ihr werden von allen Seiten wichtige Dinge vorenthalten und es ist manchmal echt zum schreien. Irgendwie scheint jeder irgendetwas zu wissen nur sagt ihr niemand was. Sie muß sich alles selbst zusammenreimen. Aber sie ist stark und gibt nie auf, zudem ist sie eine supertolle Freundin und versucht immer erst das Gute in jedem zu sehen. Gabriel ist mysteriös und verschwindet immer mal wieder. Das hält die Liebesgeschichte hier doch etwas im Hintergrund. Álle Charas sind gut ausgearbeitet und sehr authentisch. Besonders Aprils tolle Freundinnen, Fiona und Caro, haben es mit angetan. Aber auch Davina fand ich sehr gelungen dargestellt. Die Autorin baut Wendungen ein, die der Leser nicht erwartet, das hält die Spannung die ganze Geschichte über auf einem sehr hohen Level. Der Schreibstil ist schnell und actionreich und lässt den Leser nur so durchfliegen. Die Geschichte ist super durchdacht und es fügt sich alles sehr schlüssig ineinander.


Cover:

Schöne Farben, düster und mystisch, passt super zur Geschichte.


Fazit:

Toller, gelungener Abschluß einer spannenden Reihe, auch wenn ich mir gewünscht hätte, daß nach dem letzten Satz noch ein kleiner Abschnitt weitergeht ;)

[Alexandra Shoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having to wait ages between the second book and this one, I almost completely forgot about it until I got a notification that this book was finally out.
And after reading.. It was ok. A bunch of the characters I had kinda forgotten, but Mia James gives some slight background for most of them so the confusion does get lifted.

The book for me didn't really pick up until the last 100 pages or so, but they were action packed and I was glued to them, desperate to finally know the ending. The twist was nice, not one I would have really expected but I liked it. Just a shame it took so long to get there.

And the love story between April and Gabriel was kinda vague, especially since he was barely in the book. And the few moments he was you either swooned or wanted to punch him.

But all in all, it was an alright read.

[~☆starlight · Rating 5 out of 5]

After waiting a frustrating two years for this final conclusion to the trilogy I couldn't wait to devour it, and when I did I wasn't disappointed. One of the things I am really pleased about was that the vampire king was her grandad Id had suspicions from the start and was glad to be proved right. The conclusion of the story I thought was very satisfactory although I would have loved to know if the vial worked I can only guess it did much like the end of the shiver trilogy and whether Aprils mum succeeded in ending the war but I guess that's left for the reader to decide! Overall I was very happy with this book the only one downside I had was remembering all that had happened in precious books where there was a 2 year gap luckily I had them on hand to recap.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I waited a whole year for this book to be released and then 6 more months until I found it in my local book shops shelf. What a wait that was.

I have to say it wasn't worth the wait yes it was a good story and a lot of things happened blah blah but the ending was dreadful! I waited a year and a half for an ending like that? I almost cried because it was so dreadful, It really left us readers in the unknown.

If there is to be a fourth book I hope if doesn't take years again and I hope it explains what happened after Gabriel took the blood because I really want to know for some closure at least.

[Jennie Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

SIIIIGH!!! Well this book is better than the first 2. That's for sure! Although it's still a little disappointing.

April is still a complete airhead and for being this girl who's supposed to be a badass, she really is a complete sissy.

The positive about this book is it held my attention until the very end. The sad part, I had it all figured out before I got there.

[Aimee Ford]

hm. The publication looks a lot sooner than i'd've expected. How exciting.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

This release date seems wrong. According to Amazon, this is released in November 2013!

[George Penney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, but slow to start in my opinion. The ending annoyed me. Last book in the series means I guess we have to decide what happens next. Annoying, but gives you what you want to happen.

[Donna wakely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again 3rd and final book kept me gripped to the very last page, fantastic

[Leah Blacklock · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing ending to the series definitely well worth the read.