Book Labyrinth: No One's Angel by Kelly Walker

No One's Angel by Kelly Walker
Release Date: September 6, 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 390
Series: n/a
Review Source: Netgalley

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
If you are looking for an intense, passionate love so wrong it is right, a story about losing your way but clawing desperately at any chance to find your way back, about hanging on to your last shred of sanity and trusting someone enough to let go of your fears, look no further. No One's Angel's angel is a New Adult (NA) Contemporary Romance about a girl learning to fight back and a boy learning to let go.

Tess used to spend more hours than she'd care to admit playing her favorite computer game, using the nickname Angel. She could pretend her life was different, and she could pretend Arion was just a friend. But a girl needs more to keep her warm at night than pixels, and she traded her virtual heaven for a real-life hell. Now she's on the run from a past she won't talk about, and the only place she has to go is the doorstep of the friend she's never actually met.

When Angel disappeared from their nightly games, it nearly destroyed Arion. He threw himself into work and women, but he can't help knowing the one-night stands will never compare to the angel who haunts his dreams. At first, when she shows up soaking wet and scared-shitless on his doorstep, he thinks his prayers have been answered.

But the more Arion tries to keep Angel close, the more her fear drives her away. If they are ever going to have a chance for a future, they'll first have to deal with the past that hasn't forgotten her any more than she's forgotten it--and Arion will have to learn how to let her go.

My Thoughts:
While I can’t say I truly liked this book overall, there are definitely some good points to it. The writing style flowed well, and I really liked how Angel (Tess) and Arion (Axel) met as gamers, and that their relationship was one that blossomed online. The author also did a great job with showing the fear and power that Nick had over Tess -- it felt very real.

What I didn't really care for how fast Angel and Arion got together romantically. It felt overwhelming for Angel to run from a horrible situation with one guy to a romance with someone else straight away, even if she did have history with Arion. Granted, Angel did have qualms about the situation, and it wasn't all smooth sailing, but it still felt sudden to me. Arion was actually a bit of a boring love interest, I thought. Even though we get his POV it never felt like we got to know him deeply, especially since he's a bit of an unreliable narrator, knowing and doing things without talking about them to the reader.

I also found that some things in the book felt a bit unrealistic, like the set-up with the police. There were things that happened that didn’t feel natural because there weren’t any hints or mentions beforehand. I think this book is very close to getting 3 stars, but I found it a bit too problematic. It doesn’t help that a story like this feels formulaic by now, and you need to really rise above it with a stellar plot and/or incredibly fabulous character building to make it stand out. I feel like a lot of New Adult authors need to realize that there are other ways to get people together besides having the guy protect a girl from assault. I’m a bit frustrated that this was the case here, considering Angel and Arion have such a fabulous and colourful history with their gamer friendship. Overall, not a title I really enjoyed, but I could see the potential in it.

The Cover:
Typical NA cover, I suppose, but I like it alright.

Rating: