Publishers Weekly
09/12/2022
For this lighthearted paranormal rom-com, Barth (Hottie on Her Shelf) introduces a trio of Niagara Falls Nephilim (half angels) who doggedly protect humanity from demonic forces. Lately, Rhys Boyce and his team have been extra busy: the Keeper of the Key to the Gates of Hell has died unexpectedly, leaving the key to his mortal niece, recently laid-off art teacher Maisy Norgate. Now working as a cupcake decorator, Maisy always looks for the silver lining, but she’s frustrated by her baffling inheritance from an uncle she never knew. Rhys quickly educates Maisy about her responsibilities to humanity—and it becomes much easier to believe his wild stories after escaped demons try to kill her. It’s Rhys’s task to insure her worthiness as the new Keeper, and though he initially doubts that someone so cheerful and sweet will be able to stand up to the armies of hell, Maisy soon surprises him with her gumption and determination. It’s a cute, breezy take on a classic paranormal setup. Readers will be excited to see all the Nephilim find their matches in the series to come. (Nov.)
Kirkus Reviews
2022-09-07
A struggling artist’s sudden inheritance opens her eyes to a world of angels, demons, and an attractive but curmudgeonly Nephilim in Barth’s paranormal romance.
Maisy Norgate dreams of becoming a full-time painter, but she’s closer to being a starving artist. Working at a coffee shop and rooming with her best friend to help pay the bills don’t seem to be enough to satisfy her: “It was a job, though, so she couldn’t complain….Life was too short to wallow in badness. Better to focus on the good.” One day, Maisy learns she’s inherited something from a recently deceased uncle she never even knew she had, which turns out to be a mysterious skeleton key that comes with a surprising number of strings attached—one of whom is a man named Rhys Boyce. He’s a Nephilim (half-angel, half-man) whose mission is to protect the Keeper of the Key that opens one of the Gates of Hell prisons. But Maisy, his new charge, knows nothing about this dangerous world, so he must convince her that demons are truly out to get her. Maisy accidentally loses the Key and now has a mission she never asked for—and it’s one that could lead to the end of the world. She only has two weeks to complete her transition to becoming a Keeper and to find the Key before all Hell breaks loose. Over the course of this entertaining paranormal romance, Barth ably presents a well-developed, sexy romance between grumpy Rhys and sunshiny Maisy. The overall lightness of the narrative softens any sense that the pair are truly in danger despite the odds stacked against them, the high stakes involved, and the presence of several well-paced action scenes ending in blood. Still, the pair do face the emotional peril of opening their hearts and becoming vulnerable to each other. By the time the finale rolls around, there are a few intriguing narrative threads that remain untied as well as a cast of charming secondary characters that will hopefully reappear in future volumes.
Fans of light supernatural love stories will enjoy this promising series starter.
