Heavenly Desire

I've just finished Heavenly Desire by J. L. Sheppard, a great book about love and sacrifice, among other things. Thank you to NetGalley for granting me access to read it!

4 Stars!

NOTE: Heavenly Desire is a new adult/adult novel with a few sex scenes towards the end. I'd say 17+ year olds could read it but everyone is different and can handle different things. Also there's an abusive thread running through part of this novel. Although, it never happens in real time in the book, there are flashbacks and recounts of it.

Heavenly Desire is the third book in the Elemental Sisters series. I'd say you should read books 1 and 2 first, though. I didn't because I didn't have time to (NetGalley arcs are only available for a little while). It was fine to read on its own but you'll get more of the story if you read all three, I think.

I read this book for the "Book with a scary cover" challenge on the Life And Lit Boo!kish Bingo Challenge on Facebook. I thought the shadow behind the guy looked like a creepy ape, although I'm pretty sure it's meant to be the lead male character who's an angel.

The Elementals series is written in 3rd person. While I understand why this was used, I think, it would have been nice to have had the story from the main character's perspectives. This would have made me feel closer to the characters.

Heavenly Desire is about Clyde, an angel and Jade, otherwise known as Ashley. Clyde is told to protect Ashley by his superior angels because she's unknowingly, an Elemental. What he doesn't expect, though is to fall in love with her...

Spoilers below...

At the beginning of Heavenly Desire, Clyde is introduced. He's an angel, up in heaven, looking down on the world when we meet him. There are some details from the previous books too, like how he thought Jenna, Ashley's sister, was "his" to mate with. This gave me enough of an introduction into the world and story to understand what was going on, however as I said above if this review wasn't for NetGalley, I would have definitely read the other two novels first.

After we're introduced to Clyde, we see Ashley. She's an American pastry chef working in London. Clyde is sent to watch over Ashley by his superiors when it's revealed that her guardian angel, Asher, became Fallen and turned evil. Clyde then becomes her new guardian angel. The angels tell Clyde,

"You are to ensure her safety. Take her to her sisters and do not under any circumstances leave her",

which denotes that Clyde is to make sure Ashley is kept safe, no matter what and delivered to her sisters in New York. He's not allowed to leave her either. At first he's annoyed about this but as he gets to know her he becomes her friend. As friends they tell each other secrets. Like how Ashley's adoptive mother died and how her adoptive father abused her because he couldn't live without his wife.

This friendship, however quickly becomes something more intense. I enjoyed this but I know that some people don't like it when characters fall in love quickly. Although, I wouldn't call this instalove, we know the main couple from the first couple of chapters. As this is a romance, we know the couple are prominent throughout.

When Clyde and Ashley get to New York, they're caught unawares by Asher, Ashley's previous guardian angel before he became Fallen. He wants to capture and hurt Ashley.

"The Malums were after her. Asher had attacked her"

shows that Clyde is the only one Ashley can trust. There is a war brewing between the Malums and the Elementalists. We don't really get much information of this war in Heavenly Desire, though, and as I haven't read the previous two books I don't feel I can explain it. All I know from this book is that Asher was once a guardian angel but he's become a Malum, one of the fallen.

After this, Ashley meets her two siblings. She has more but they haven't been found yet. There are some secrets discovered about their family that I don't want to spoil here.

Jenna is the older sister and Jaclyn is the next eldest. Jenna, as an Elemental sister is married to the King of Demons, Lucas and Jocelyn is married to a werewolf called Landon. The sisters have some funny moments discussing their other halves. And the men have some funny moments discussing their women too. All they want is to protect their females, however sometimes they go a little to far.

Heavenly Desire is ultimately about finding love and not letting it go. Angels aren't meant to fall in love, it's forbidden, however strongly Clyde and Ashley feel about each other. Is it love, though? Will Clyde give up being an angel for Ashley? Will he have to give up his role? You'll have to read to find out...

What did I like about Heavenly Desire?

I liked the witty banter/talk Ashley and Clyde had. It was as if they'd known each other longer than they actually had. This may have been why the romance seemed second nature between them.

I liked how all the characters seemed to bring something different to the story. Some were funny, some were caring, some were overprotective, some were evil etc.

I liked how the second half of the novel really focused on whether or not Ashley and Clyde would be together.

What didn't I like about Heavenly Desire?

I didn't like being thrown in the deep end with no information from books 1&2. That was my fault but I wish NetGalley would write what number a book in a series was. That way it would make it easier to choose and read the previous books before.

I didn't love the use of third person. I would have liked to have seen first person, mostly from Ashley's POV with maybe a few chapters from Clyde's POV. Clyde is an angel, which don't exist so the author could have written from that perspective without much issue, I think, even though he is a male character.

Overall, I really liked Heavenly Desire. I thought it had a good balance of romance and action. The characters were easy to tell apart, I found. I was never confused as to who I was reading about, which sometimes can happen with 3rd person stories. That's why I'm giving Heavenly Desire 4 Stars!

Will you be picking this up? Have you already read books 1&2 and liked them? Let me know in the comments below...

I totally loved this book. I can't wait to read more books from this author. Thanks to NetGalley, For this free copy . My opinion is my own.