Warrior Angel: A Breathtaking Paranormal Romance Where Impossible Love and a Betrayed Knights Templar Battle Darkness to Save Mankind

Angel #1

by Margaret Weis, Lizz Weis

Once a dedicated soldier of the Knights Templar, Derek de Molay was betrayed and killed. So instead of an eternity in Heaven, he has decided to battle the Dark Angels of Hell. But as the war between good and evil rages, he is summoned back to the mortal realm to protect a woman standing too close to the edge of darkness. Rachel Duncan has never felt this way before. A mysterious man is intent on seducing her with expensive gifts and trips on his private plane, yet it is Derek, a breathtaking stranger, who tugs at her heart. With him, there is laughter, light . . . and love. But Derek tells an impossible, insane story, though deep in her heart she knows it to be true. Now Derek and Rachel must race against time to save the mortal souls of mankind . . . and each other.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Angels, Urban Fantasy, Contemporary

354 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Margaret Edith Weis is an American fantasy and science fiction author of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the Dragonlance role-playing game (RPG) world. She is founding CEO and owner of Sovereign Press, Inc and Margaret Weis Productions, licensing several popular television and movie franchises to make RPG series in addition to their own.
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, saying she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre". In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in part for Dragonlance.

Reviews

[Pygmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

*gag* *snerk*

Wow, at think at one point I borrowed this book and chucked it almost as fast. Too bad I couldn't remember and picked it up a second time. I was all excited thinking that it would be an interesting and exciting read because Margaret Weis' name is on it. But no, she just stuck her name there to help her talentless daughter along, because wow, this book reeks.

For one thing, the author has no sense of the divine. The angels of heaven aren't unearthly beings of great power and wisdom. They're silly, dumb, trite, forgetful...in other words, basically stock-footage humans joshing along like it's a grand old party except of course, some of the archangels are probably dastardly in a predictable I'm-Secretly-For-Evil sort of way. The Heavenly setup with Purgatory and whatnot does not convince me; the main guy being so pissed off at God that he'd refuse to enter heaven, but instead would fight demons in Purgatory as an angel commander for eternity? Laughable. In the Bible, when people encounter angels, they either don't realize an angel is present, or they fall flat on their faces in fright. Here, they are dumb carictatures who joke about God being a fab backgammon player.

The main guy gets stuck in a human body to spy on a human who's being targeted by demons (why? The angels have no clue. They're dumber than dumb. The author's whole idea of that war between heaven and hell is dumb.), so of course he glares and stares at her like a retard. At page 60 he calls her "milady", because he's still stuck in the 14th century. Embarassment squick right there.

I may just keep reading to see where the train wrecks, but wow, this is going to be painful. SUCH high hopes. Margaret Weis could've done something guilty-pleasure awesome with reincarnated Templar-Knights-as-angels. Lizz Weis? Did not inherit the genes.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like books with a fantastical element.

I don't care if they are called 'Paranormal Romance', 'Occult thriller', or even just plain ole 'Fantasy.

I saw this book by Margaret Weiss and I though 'Hey! I liked the Dragonlance stuff back in the day . . It might be good!'.

Here's the thing, you can have a fantastic element (in this case an angel), but its going to get a little boring if the entire point is that he can't use his freakin' powers!!!!

ANyway, it was well written, but disappointing

[Eve O. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually 0.5 Stars for the author's effort

I read this book for the first time when I was about fourteen and I remember thinking it a nice story. Now that I'm an adult and have read it, I realized it was not even close. If you just look at the surface like I did the first time, you'll think it a nice, if a little boring, story but it's really not. I was kid, there are a lot of nuances that you don't notice when you're a kid and don't know much about human nature or what manipulation sounds like. First, a little background: Derek was once a Templar Knight; the poor guy got tortured to death during the inquisition but he never broke and admitted to crimes he didn't commit like he's torturers wanted and he's really proud that while others broke, he didn't. But he was pissed at God for what happened because he felt that God had abandoned him and so he chose to go to Purgatory rather than admit he was in the wrong and go to Heaven. So, he became a warrior angel fighting demons in Purgatory until he is given an assignment that requires him to go to Earth and live as a human to guard a woman named Rachel, whose guardian angel disappeared probably killed by demons, and to find out what the demons or archfiends(I kid you not, they actually use the word archfiend)want with her. There are so many things wrong with this book, I decided to make a spoiler-full review, which I really hate doing but this is necessary.

1) The male character is a chauvinistic ass who thinks women are just pretty things to look at and that need to be protected by big strong men like him. I'll give him a pass because he lived during the 13th Century and doesn't know any better and he does learn better eventually. He's incredibly arrogant and particularly proud that he never broke under torture and that in his mind he did God proud. Honestly, he didn't do it for God; I think the guy didn't break under torture just for the sake of being able to brag about the fact that he didn't break under torture. Even though the archangel points that out to him, he still doesn't see it, that's how arrogant and stubborn he is; he thinks he's right an God is wrong. He's also incredibly bad at talking to women, considering he was a monk, not surprised, but he also has no sense of boundaries. The woman doesn't know him at all but he keeps being creepy and asking deeply personal questions even when she gets pissed off. He then questions the woman's intelligence because she can't see that she's just a little woman and he's a big strong man trying to protect her; why can't she see that? barf

2) The female character is a snob who doesn't realize or think she's a snob. She's also incredibly shallow, too ambitious for her own good and greedy. We are talking about a woman who is dating a client even though she knows she shouldn't that she's not even really attracted to. She's basically dating this guy on the single premise that he takes her nice places and buys her nice things. Every time she finds herself uneasy with him, she excuses it by saying he's rich, good-looking, and polite and she's just being silly. The guy never asks her where she wants to go; he'll just call her and tell her they're going to dinner in France tonight and he'll pick her up at 7. She sleeps with the guy after he bought her an expensive bracelet and she could tell he was expecting it, the sex turns out awful. She feels used and manipulated but the minute the guy says something nice to her, she lets it go and keeps dating him. The guy literally bought her and she felt a little uneasy about that and start thinking she's being manipulated (no duh!) but because he flatters her little, she thinks she's being too sensitive and imagining it. When the guy asks her to use her job to do some things that she even admits to herself is unethical, all he has to do is stroke her ego a little and she's in even though she knows it's wrong and she shouldn't. She brushes it off as her imagination when the guy subtly threatens her; hey, he's just joking. Turns out he wasn't and when she finally decides to back out, he doesn't bother being subtle anymore and shows his true colors. Then she realizes what her fool she's been and that now she's in deep shit.

3)The third thing I hated most about this book is how Derek kept blaming God for his problems. The torture thing I get why he might have felt abandoned but he also blamed God for abandoning Rachel. Are you kidding me? Rachel knew that what she was doing was wrong but she did it anyway, how is that God's fault? Another time, Derek is getting beat up by some demon thugs and again blames God for abandoning him. A freaking archangel tells him not to go where he's going because it's not safe but he goes anyway; and somehow that's God's fault.
This reminds me of a story my mom used to tell me about a guy that got caught in a horrible flood and is sitting on his roof waiting for God to save him. Two boats pass by and offer him help but he tells them no, that God will help him. He even turns down the help of a helicopter that passes by also. When the guy dies and sees God, he's pissed at God because God didn't help him. So God says "I sent two boats and a helicopter, what more did you want?"

4) Last but not least, the dialogue in this book was a total joke. It felt stilted and honestly did not feel at all like what people having a conversation would sound like. Twilight had better and more natural-sounding dialogue than this book did and that's saying something seeing as how Twilight was more of a narration-type of book than a dialogue-based one.

To conclude, this book was a really poor attempt at story-telling. The dialogue was awful, the characters were people that I really couldn't bring myself to care about and frankly I don't even know where the romance was supposed to be considering Rachel treated Derek like he was beneath her because he was just a doorman. She even got embarrassed when people from her building saw them talking together; because God forbid anyone see her frolicking with the doorman. Both Rachel and Derek in my opinion are the epitome of TSTL (Too Stupid to Live).In short the only likable characters in this book was the ditsy archangel and the cherubim that was a cat for most of the book. Quite frankly I feel generous for giving this book even one star.

Although there was one quote in this book that made me chuckle just to show you what the archangel William was like:
"Are you hurt badly? I can't tell
through all the blood," William
asked anxiously.

[Becki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, but the writing felt a little sloppy, and the angels seemed a bit cliche. It also felt a lot cliche to have the hero of the story be a blue eyed blonde and the villain be a dark eyed brunette. Despite the description of Derek, I pictured him with dark hair and blue eyes.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

So Godawful bad I couldn't even stomach the first 50 pages... If I could rate it into negative stars, I would.

[Claire Simmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy light read. A bit cliche and predictable, but not cringy. I imagine a lot of preteens would like this book.

[Kate Leonard]

Cute

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining book with pretty good world building but nothing too surprising happens. I would have liked more of the politics in heaven to understand the Derek's mission better.

[Samie Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warrior Angel By Liz and Margarette Weis

Rating : A great modern fairy tale, that’s easy to get into.

Okay we all see these books all the time in the stores. They are romance novels that have a tint of supernatural or fantasy to them. There has been at least a thousand of them in existence ranging from Twilight to Hunter’s Moon to Stardust. As with the ones just mention, they were about love stories between humans, vampires, were wolves and fallen stars. (just in case you didn’t know already) This on is a love story between a woman and a angel.

Warrior Angel is written by a mother and daughter pair of authors Liz and Margarette Weir. Who are they? I’m not sure is they even every wrote anything else. But they are good writers in this genre I have to say.

So first off let me say something else. This is book that is simple and strait forward. It’s not super complicated over flowing with relationships until the drama drags the book down, and choking the whole concept of the story to death, Then this is super important. This a clean love story. This is totally PG. It flows like a fairy rather than a few in this sort of supernatural love genre, that seems have to meet a quota of sex scenes.

Secondly there’s a true story. The story is about a warrior angel named Derek. In life he was a monk devoted to God so much that he died for god’s sake back in medieval days. But when he died, he never went to heaven. He went to Purgatory. He was not allowed into heaven. And with this discovery he declared his hate toward lord and all the lucky ones who in heaven instead of him. But is reluctantly he devotes his after life to being a warrior.

The one day he’s given a mission to go down to Earth to protect a woman who may be a key in Satan’s big plot to through the world into chaos. The mission seems random and he hates the idea of it, but as no choice. He falls to earth as a bellboy at the girls hotel. He soon finds she dating a rich man, who’s is not a man at all, but demon. He must find a way to protect her, but in the process the two of them fall in love. And for the first tome ever Derek learns what he had been missing from his life and afterlife.

Well I already mentioned the good, and I have nothing to say bad about it. It’s a cute sweet modern day fairy tale. If you like love stores. I totally recommend it.

Four Smoothies out of four.

[Caitlin W. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I checked this book out because I've enjoyed pretty much all the Margaret Weis I've read so far. This book proved to be the exception to that rule. It wasn't painful to read, but it was definitely not up to her standard.

We have Rachel, one of the few women in her company, a beautiful stock market maven who's not afraid to use her stilettos to stomp on people who try to muscle in on her personal space on the floor. I did find it refreshing that she wasn't interested in getting married and starting a family.

Then there's Zanus, Rachel's handsome and wealthy client, who starts a somewhat-forbidden relationship with her. She doesn't know that he is an archfiend. She just knows that he buys her things, takes her places, and asks her to make slightly unethical trades for a friend of his. He never asks for her opinion on things or seems to care about her, but she goes along with him for fear of displeasing her important client and losing her job, and because she likes the expensive food and gifts he buys her.

Derek is an angel. He was a Templar Knight in the 13th century, and was tortured to death in an attempt to get him to confess to crimes he didn't commit in order to discredit the Templars. He never confessed, and is very proud of that fact. So proud, in fact, that he thinks God turned His back on him, and that God should apologize to him for it. He refused to enter Heaven, and instead chose to battle demons in Purgatory. He is chosen to go back to Earth to keep an eye on Rachel and gather information, since her guardian angel went missing and the dark side is up to something. Being from a different time, he doesn't think too much of women or being sent in as a mere observer, but he seems to become very modern very quickly.

Though there is a "heavenly battle" framework to the book, it takes a back seat to the predictable, boring "love" triangle between the three main characters, Derek, Rachel, and Zanus. I use quotes around love because Rachel never really fools herself into thinking she's in love with Zanus. She's just in a relationship with him.

None of the characters are well-rounded enough for me to care too much about them, but I kept reading because I hoped that something interesting might happen.

It doesn't.

But, if you like romance and are looking for a light read, you may enjoy this book.

[Dann Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 2 star review in my book is one that I just cannot recommend.

I made it through the first ~1/5 of the book and just couldn't get into it.

The premise of a 14th century Templar, warrior veteran of the wars in Purgatory, sent to protect someone in the 21st century seemed promising. That the person to be protected was a very modern woman who was a successful stock trader was a twist with a lot of great promise. Although romance isn't really a prime genre for me, I have read some romance over the years.

But the characters in this case were just so much rhetorical cardboard. She's good looking. He's good looking. Lots of emotional sparks. But no real depth of character.

I bought this book due to Margaret Weis' reputation. I've enjoyed a ton of books that she wrote and this outing was particularly disappointing.

But I also bought it at a dollar store, so perhaps that should have been my clue.

A minor nitpick was the description of the trading floor as well as the description of the trader research process. Most trading is done via computer these days. The days of the packed trading pit are long gone. Also, simply looking at the aggregate trend of a couple of trading charts has never been a meaningful means of selecting which commodities/stocks to buy and/or sell.

[Rhythm · Rating 2 out of 5]

actually more like 1.5
Okay so I'll start with what I liked about this book -
Derek. Sampson. Angels and demons. Premise. Pace of the book. Derek. Derek. Derek.

Now for the things I absolutely hated - Rachel, Zanus - bad guy of course I hate him. As for Rachel -
Now we all know how there are a ton of books with kick butt women, this isn't one of them.
Or the books where the main female role is a girl who you like as she takes no crap from anyone, this isn't one of them.

You had all the makings of the latter but it just didn't add up. Rachel said two or three times, 'I don't want a partner controlling me, I just can't allow that in a relationship.' But then the bad guy Zanus constantly controlled her....

For full review go here:
http://readforyourlifereviews.blogspo...

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel Duncan - a smart aspiring play it safe, play by the rules stock trader who approaches her love life like she approaches her work at the Merc - strategically.
Derek de Molay- Fearless. Faithless, Angel. Driven by impulses, bitterly broken by betrayal, enraptured by passion, condemned to command in Darkness. Neither Rachel nor Derek were deserving of their destinies but Destiny was certainly deserving of them! I laughed, got angry, shed a tear & remembered love with this books gentle reminders on Faith & The Human Spirit. Warior Angel offered a plausible plot, a light paranormal twist of Heaven & Hell and a soul shattering bad guy. I would be remiss to not mention William - "hats" off to you! Hope to read more about Rachel & Derek someday! A good read!

[Aurora]

After centuries in purgatory battling the powers of evil, a Knight Templar is sent back to guard a young woman caught up in the intrigues of the world of high finance and the battle between good and evil.
Margaret Weis' subject matter could have made this book preachy and didactic. It is to her credit that it is anything but. Warrior Angel is a sweet love story about characters, be they human, angel or demon, who are deeply flawed but still redeemable ... well, all but the arch-fiend. He's pretty much a lost cause. The tale is both tender and funny, well stocked with a strong supporting cast of angels and humans who are compelling and completely believable.
I completely enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more about her angels.

[Kathrynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made a note inside the flap on this one: "A lot of typo's." Uh-oh. I remember a little bit about this one. Derek was a fallen angel sent to Earth to watch over Rachel who was being "courted" by a devil (Zanus). Zanus wanted to use Rachel's abilities to buy and sell stocks (globally) and cause chaos: wreak havoc on the world.

The whole angels and devils thing was kinda different.

[Reading Soul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, what can I say, this book sucked! I bought it thinking it would be really cool, but it ended up being super stupid and boring, but yeah, I have read it, and well, that is why it is on my list. But, I did not like it at all, it was just a waste of time, sadly!

[Cliff Wichmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good quick read. The writing style is keeps the action moving throughout the novel.

Its a Harper Collins romance.

The focus of the novel are an angel and a stock broker. The story details there developing relationship through a background of evil, demons and world chaos.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't really know what to say about this book. I bought it because it was Margaret Weis, but the only part that sounded like her, to me, was the prologue. The story never felt alive. It was flat and pretty much uneventful.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. I've read better, but I've also read worse. The story didn't grab me and I found the female lead to be a bit dim. I skimmed some of her more long-winded thought processes because they became repetitive after a while.

[Jim Moller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrid! If this was the first book I read by Margaret Weis I would be sad because I would have missed out on many great books. This book was so bad that if i didnt already know that she is a very talented author, I would never read anything by her again

[S. Rutherford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. With my research of Hell and demons and the archangels, I found myself more than enthralled by this story. It was well written, and a fantastic story-line. I greatly enjoyed this.

[Allison Fetch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the beginning of this book immensely, and the ending was fantastic. But the middle dragged too much and I got a bit bogged down. The premise was really fascinating and the characters were great. A nice read but a bit fluffy.

[TAMMY mchale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good but thought it might have a little more Templar Knight mixed in the story

[Daelith]

Got to about page 36. Just could not bring myself to pick this up again.

[Kareem · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the most beautiful books i ever read!!!!!!

[Lunasea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know, no paranormal romance this week, but I had it on hold and it came in.

[Leslie Crockett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not want what I thought but was happy with it story was a bit out there but the romance of Derek and Rachel was great.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

[Priscilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! I had a very difficult time putting it down. I am so glad I found this at the library!

[Arlene Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a very engaging paranormal romance with a super tough female lead.