Book Review: The Fallen Guardian
⭐️⭐️⭐️
(Tropes: Enemies to reluctant allies, revenge arc, Angel of Death, hidden powers, morally gray love interest)

The Fallen Guardian had so many elements I usually love—vengeance, a morally gray love interest, high-stakes fantasy, and a heroine haunted by her past—but unfortunately, this one didn’t fully pull me in.

Gracyn is fierce, determined, and driven by grief and revenge, and Lucien, the fallen Angel of Death, brings that tortured, mysterious energy. Their dynamic had potential, and I really wanted to fall in love with their journey. But the pacing just felt off, and I found myself putting the book down more often than I wanted to.

The world-building was dark and intriguing, and the themes of redemption and hidden power were solid—but that emotional spark, that urgency to keep reading, just wasn’t quite there for me. It felt like something was always about to happen, but never fully did.

It wasn’t a bad read by any means—just not one that left a lasting impact. If you enjoy slow-burn fantasy with complex lore and morally gray tension, this might land better for you.

A 3-star read for me—not a favorite, but I’m glad I gave it a shot.

DNF 21% in. Oof. I'm not surprised at all that the average rating for this is below 3 stars because just the small amount I read was hard to get through. Since I didn't finish it, there's a chance the world building gets better further along, but it's nearly nonexistent in the beginning. The way Lucien keeps repeating "the female", "releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding", and randomly getting aroused by the FMC in the most random/inappropriate times gave me the ick. I really tried to stick it out but after that I was completely disinterested. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

The Fallen Guardian has a great base concept! I love a vigilate, angels and demons, and a mystery. I think the largest struggle was world building, I think a lot more detail was needed to make the story less confusing and also help immerse us into this world. I was excited for this book as I loved the Angel series by LA Weatherly and felt this could be a more adult take on Angels but it did ultimately not connect with me because I felt confused and just disconnected from the story,

I absolutely loved this book! The cover had me hooked and I’m so glad I got the chance to read this!

Thank you, NetGalley, Dawn Chartier and Xpresso book tours for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the plot, and the twists! I did however have a hard time getting sucked into this one. Something about the dialogue made it difficult for me to feel invested. I didn’t feel the tension or connection I hoped for between the FMC and MMC.

DNF@ 18%

The world doesn't make any sense to me. And the writing and inner thoughts of the characters are repetitive and cringey.

I really wanted to love this one and was excited to see a new take on a fantasy romance. However, I struggled - I wouldn't say that it had anything to do with the writing or premise. I feel like maybe this book just wasn't for me right now, but I will likely give it another try in the future.

It took me a bit to catch on to the terminology in this story and to understand the class system of Seraph, Sadara, Wings, and Inciters and to gather that they were all varieties of Angels with different abilities. Aside from the world building kind of lacking the story was well written and had me in the edge of my seat the entire time I read it. Gracyn ""Cyn" or "Grace" all the same person by the way is the FMC who at the start of the story was a lost soul trying to belong to a group of anarchists called the Inciters. Before long she would be found by MMM Lucien, a Seraph who couldn't immediately tell what Gracyn was with his special Seraph abilities so he took her back to their headquarters. The chemistry between these two was almost instantaneous despite Gracelyn initially being Lucien's captive and gawd is it HOTT. If you enjoy found family, touch her and die jealousy, exhibitionism, enemies to lovers this is definitely an amazing read. You won't be able to put it down. Warning-the cliffhanger is absolutely excruciating! I cannot wait for the second book and you won't be able to either.

The Fallen Guardian is a Romantasy following the story of Gracyn James and Lucien Ward. I really liked the idea of the book and reading the description got me looking forward to getting started but unfortunately that’s where the excitement finished.

It was really hard to get into this one, there was little to no world building and the characters were never brought to life. As others have said this just fell flat and the execution wasn’t there. I feel there the FMC was all over the place and her character came across very juvenile in her conversations. This is a 2.5 stars from me

Thank you NetGalley and Dawn Chartier for the Arc

1.5 ⭐

I think, like many other readers, we saw a lot of potential, but it fell flat for most of us. It could have used more world-building, nothing made much sense to me at the point where it felt too superficial. I know we can't expect too much from a first book of a series, but I just wish it was a little more focused on the world-building. I couldn't get invested with the characters and their relationship to be honest. The dialogues felt weird and awkward.
So yeah, I wasn't expecting much and I'm mostly disappointed.

I have to admit, I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I picked it up based on the blurb and thought, “Why not?” But it wasn’t until after I finished that I realized this wasn’t a random entry in the middle of a series—it was the first book in a brand-new series. And while that’s exciting, it also posed some challenges as I went through the story.

While the plot had great potential, I felt like the worldbuilding was lacking. We get snippets of the characters’ backstories, but a lot of important details about the world, the Seraphs, and the Inciters were left underdeveloped. As the first book in a series, I expected a bit more fleshing out of this world, and I’m hoping future books will dive deeper.

The Fallen Guardian was an enjoyable read with an intriguing premise and potential for future development. While I appreciated the story and character dynamics, I felt the worldbuilding and character depth could have been more robust. With the way the book sets up future storylines, I’m curious to see where the series goes from here.

It had potential but fell sooo flat. The concept was decent but the overall story and characters felt under developed. There was no world building. I couldn’t pinpoint the date/era until it was mentioned. The dialog consisted of one sentence conversations and felt superficial, awkward and juvenile. There was no flow. “His phone started ringing on the coffee table. He walked over and picked it up.” The FMC was going through it. I mean she was all over the place and when a new life altering event happens or new information came about it was “I can’t think about that now” and then on to the next scene. Character development was poor and there were randoms. Collin? Just randomly popping up every now and then. Drake? I didn’t have feelings about it because I didn’t know him well enough. I think we were supposed to be sad but there was just too much going on and not enough detail or time spent with each character to form attachments.
I was just all over the place and not great.

This book had a lot of potential for me but fell flat, I’m sorry! 2.5-3 stars.

First, I really needed more world building and description. This took place in Baton Rouge in the future, but how did we get to this future? It just made no sense to me. There was no description of the city, sights, sounds, anything. There was not even physical description of the characters.

Second, the relationship between the FMC and MMC was very juvenile. They had been sleeping together and he asked her to live with him and he saved her life and she’s like “omg boyfriend?!” Slow down! It was lame and annoying.

Finally. I truly was not invested in the characters or the outcome. I just didn’t get attached to any character or the plot.

I saw a lot of potential with this book but it fell flat for me.

The main characters had very bland personalities and just no connection. The dialogue and chemistry felt forced, it happened too quick for it to be believable.

The world building needed a lot more detail and depth but it was interesting enough to keep my attention till the end. There was one plot twist about Grace and her background that had me genuinely surprised and I would maybe tune into book two just to see how it plays out.

ೃ⁀➷ Thank you NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the ARC ♥︎

I was so excited to get this ARC from NetGalley!
The Fallen Guardian has a cool angels-and-demons concept.

But honestly, this one just didn’t click for me. It had a lot of potential, but it felt underdeveloped. There was basically no world-building. The dialogue felt choppy and awkward, mostly one-liners that didn’t flow naturally. And the romance side of thing!?!?
Super rushed. I wish there had been more showing instead of just telling.

That said, the story did have some unexpected twists that kept things interesting, and since it’s the first in a series, I’m curious to see where it goes. I just wish it had a little more depth to really pull me in!

Thanks to Netgalley and Dawn Chartier!

Really cool world, and an enjoyable read. I enjoyed all the plot twists and the romance. My only critique is that this book had too much dialogue that felt unnecessary or distracted me from what was going on. At times, it felt more like a pure romance than a fantasy romance.

To start off, i'd like to say that the plot idea for this book was really good. I read the blurb and really enjoyed the idea for the book.
The book started off quite well, there was a good introduction into the characters and the main dilemma was solidly explained, however, after that, it just felt like the book was getting more and more rushed. There was little to no world building, very little character building, and i feel like the character development was not all that good.
This is also a more personal thing, but I didn't really enjoy the fact that the characters stayed in one place for most of the book. The plot didn't really expand much and i felt like that really limited the book's potential.
Unfortunately, i really did not enjoy this book.
As always, however, thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book, all opinions are my own.

honestly loved this one! it had me from the very beginning and I thought the premise was really creative and interesting. excited to see what the rest of the series holds in the future! can’t wait to read more!

I was really excited to receive this ARC from NetGalley. I am a massive Paranormal Romance fan, it is my top genre and I love to find new books to explore. The Fallen Guardian offers a take on Angels and Demons. This book immediately made me think of Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series. They share a lot of similarities but that's a compliment! There are some issues with dialogue throughout, generally awkward and a little off. The story takes some interesting turns, providing plenty of surprises. I think the romance and bloodline plotlines could use some more attention (development and explanation) and maybe more showing instead of telling. They both seem very rushed, and not entirely laid out. This is the first book in a series and leaves off on a bit of a cliff hanger so I can't wait to see what will happen next!!

Overall: 4/5
Spice: 3/4
Tropes/Themes: Forced proximity, hidden identity, tragic backstory, Multiple POVs, Angels & Other Supernatural Beings.

"Why did he care what the hell she was? Was it her outrageous will to fight? Her soft yet firm curves beneath his hands? Or the way her wavy hair reminded him of autumn leaves? He wasn’t sure about any of it..."

Okayyyy, I see you, Lucien 👀! This was such a fun read! Once I started, I had a hard time putting it down.

The main character, Gracyn, grew up on the streets with one goal in mind: vengeance for her murdered family. Running with a vigilante group, she’s determined to find her father and uncover why he did what he did. Lucien, the "Angel of Death," is a seraphim. Haunted by his own past, he’s hunting down this vigilante group. Eventually, their paths cross, and things aren’t what they seem. They end up working together toward a shared goal.

I really enjoyed the side characters, too. I was rooting for two of them—hopefully, they figure things out soon, lol. The magic system was easy to follow, and I’m curious to see how things unfold, especially with everything that was revealed towards the end. Plus, I need to learn more about the "Wings" because the foreshadowing was definitely suspicious, and no one seems to know what they’re really about 🤔.