In a dark and seedy underground of burned-out rock stars and angels- turned-vampires, a revolutionary neuroscientist and a fallen angel must pit medicine against mythology in an attempt to erase their tortured pasts…but at what cost?
Olivia, vampire and fallen angel of desire, is hopeless…and damned. Since the fall from Eden, she has hungered for love, but fed only on desire. Dominic O’Shaughnessy is a neuroscientist plagued by impossible visions. When his research and her despair collide at L’OtelMathillide- a subterranean hell of beauty, demons, and dreams-rationalist and angel unite in a clash of desire and damnation that threatens to

and Falling, Fly by Skyler White
Urban Fantasy
March 2, 2010
Paperback, 352 Pages
Berkley Trade

Why I read: I asked the author for a review because the premise of the book really intrigued me.

I don’t want to say a lot about the story, because part of the fun reading this book is having no idea where Skyler White is going to take you. She gives you two characters at the end of their rope. Olivia, the immortal vampire and fallen angel is tired of being desired. Her body conforms to any mans desire, yet she has never desired herself. She can only feed when a man desires or fears her, and with her body’s betrayal, she has no problems feeding. She believes if she can find someone to love all of her, she can get her wings and go back to heaven. But time and time again, men get too close, and get scared away.

If I could turn in his arms and tell him every poisoned thing I am, and still smell desire, not rank fear – if he could see and love me – could I slip through him, out of human flesh and time, back to angelic wings and freedom? This is my threadbare hope.

Dominic is a neuroscientist and his job rules his life. He battles visions of past lives and loves, and is determined and obsessed with finding a scientific cure to his “illness.” Others in the immortal realm call him a “reborn” one that lives life after life, and is able to bring forth the memories over and over again of past loves and losts around puberty. He is embarrassed that he can not control these “delusions” as he calls them.

Dominic gets offered a hefty sum of grant money in exchange for researching a vampire coven in Ireland. Dominic goes with the expectation of using science to break the facade of those who think they are vampires. Olivia is ready to return home, sick of the real world, and ready to go back to hell, with her people. Where she is returning to is the same place Dominic is to work, a hotel they refer to as Hell. The two of them meet and go on quite an amazing journey.

and, Falling Fly is such a unique book although at times difficult to read. There were times I was totally absorbed in the story, and many times in the middle of the book where the pace became quite slow and I had to push myself to continue. Skyler White writes with amazing description as she alternates between first person Olivia and third person Dominic. At some points I couldn’t help but smile at the beautiful way Skyler White writes, and at some points I was frustrated and just wanted a more straight forward book.

Although Olivia and Dominic have two different mind sets about the world they live in, they have something in common – love and fear.

“So what exactly do you fear?” I ask him. I already know the answer.
I wait for him.
He smiles grimely. “Love, I guess.”
And it’s true. He fears it because he has already suffered it – the entire pattern of birth, and love, and death. The endless agony of losing those he has loved. The grief his deaths have caused those who loved him. A terrible and primal love drives him to protect himself, his family, and his lovers from that pain. I have never wanted anything as ferociously. And I am the angel of desire.

and Falling, Fly gives you a story of hope, love, fear and desire. It offers something different in the paranormal genre, and I look forward to more from Skyler White.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recent Reviews:
Parajunkee’s View – 3.5/5
That’s Queen Bitch to you – B
Goodreads

Skyler White’s Website.