2.5-3 stars 
 I really adored Isaac Rothe. His brute strength, ruthless skill as a XOps, his deadly percision and determination all while doing it with a quiet Southern gentle charm and impeccable manners to boot. Gah. His 'yes ma'am's and 'no ma'am's' just gave me major feels. I love this guy. I just wish his story with Grier got more focus in this. Their romance took a back seat in this and seemed more of a secondary arc which is a shame. The romance and steam in this is rather tepid which kind of surprised me. Fast and quick isn't generally Ward's style in the sex department. Ward can do some real hot and steamy and I think here she took the easy route with the fast and furious. The sex scenes and over all romance was very tame. There was a lot of sexual tension goin on between those two, I felt it could have been taken to a new level and delved deeper instead of all the surface we just got. It came off very tame and very rushed. Plus I'm getting tired of seeing the hero fall for the heroine within a matter of days, call me cynical but it's not believable especially given the fact that these two don't know each other much by the end of the book but are confessing ILY's . Eh... 
 My other issue with this is that I felt the book focused a little too much on Grier's family past and history with the XOps and connection to Matthias. That made me lose interest. I'm all for espionage and interesting twists in stories and villains who scare me shitless but here...it just lost all edge for me. I found myself getting tired of reading about the big bad Matthias and his ever-present grim reaper complex and suicidal thought process. RME. Give it a rest. I'll be honest and admit that I wasn't planning on reading this one, I had originally skipped it but gave in because a) it's Ward b) the next book in this series just came out and it just happens to be Matthias's story. My curiosity got the best of me so I went back and read this before attempting to read the 4th installment. I was skeptical about Matthias being the focus in the next book and after reading this, I'm still not impressed. I'm not overly thrilled that this guy was even given a second chance. Why? Really don't get the big deal over this guy. While technically he's the bad guy in this book, I was waiting for him to win me over, intrigue me, make me want to know more about him and he just...didn't. And I'm always one who roots for the under-dogs, the bad boys who get a chance at redemption. I'm just not sure if an entire story is deserving of him. He bored the crap out of me in this book. But he does sound sexy but as a character he fell completely flat. 
 I loved Grier Childe. Really strong, incredibly smart, quick on her feet attorney with a compassionate heart. She did come off a *little* too perfect and polished at times. I kept picturing that bad ass female prosecutor from Law & Order SVU, Alex Cabot (loved her!). I couldn't help but picture her as Grier in this. I thought Grier and Isaac had some major chemistry. Loved their interactions and how easily they could 'read' one another. Seeing Isaac fall so quickly for her and pretty much move heaven and earth to protect her was really great but again seemed a little too contrived and fast and easy. They should have been the primary focus in this story and unfortunately they weren't which made the overall story unsatisfactory for me. The whole thing between Grier and her father just took up way too much real estate in this for me and became tedious to read through. I really didn't care for all that background filler story with Alistar and his connection with Matthias. Issac pretty much disappeared in parts of this much to my frustration. 
 And having to sit through Devina's therapy session would have been laughable if it wasn't so utterly ridiculous. Seriously Ward? Are you kidding me? Her and her OCD hoarding problem can take a flying leap. Boo-freaking-hoo. She's a sadistic manipulative predator I'm not rooting for her ass or even remotely entertained by her given what she's done to Jim, Adrian, Eddie and oh millions of others. Yeah no. While I understand we need to get her POV given her play in this game between good and evil, Ward showing her more vulnerable insecure side is just too convoluted for me and maddening. I could understand seeing her thought process and how she works but as far as showing human emotions and wanting to be loved and accepted? Fuck no. If Ward's intention is to show Devina has a flawed human side fine, but I can't ever bring myself to sympathize with her. Ever. 
 While I love anything written by Ward, this series is not my fav work by her. It's not as addictive or enthralling as BDB series but it has it's moments and I love how it's full of terrifying suspenseful moments. I still think the strongest out of this Fallen Angel series is Veck's book, Envy. Unfortunately as I suspected Matthias didn't win me over enough to pick up his book so for now, I think I'm gonna take a break from this series and maybe later on come back to it. If Eddie, Adrian or Jim ever get their own story I will definitely come running back in a heart beat.