fishgirl182

Envy is the third installment of Ward's Angel series where good and evil continue to battle for the fate of earth's souls. The fight this time around revolves around Detective Thomas "Veck" DelVecchio, Jr. from the Caldwell PD. Readers of Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series will remember Veck from Lover Unleashed. Veck's a suspect in a vicious attack on a suspectes serial killer and even he's not sure if he did it. Internal Affairs officer Sophia Reilly is assigned as Veck's partner in order to keep an eye on him and finds herself drawn to the intense detective. All the while, Jim Heron and his merry band of angels try to outsmart the demon Devina and win one for the good guys.Another great read from J.R. Ward! Knowing that I wouldn't have another Ward book for awhile, I really tried to read slow and savor this one. There are some great characters and big developments in Envy. Veck is a complex and imperfect hero. The son of a notorious serial killer, he's been in the shadow of evil almost his whole life. He's tortured, afraid of how much of his father is inside of him and afraid of what he's capable of. Out of all of the books, I think Veck's outcome was the one that I was most unsure of. It was really easy to believe the internal conflict he was going through and, for awhile, I had my doubts about which way this one was going to go. Sophia is likable but isn’t a stand out personality. She's got the standard, smart, tough as nails cop thing going on. The heat between Veck and Sophia is scorching and there are some very steamy love scenes. There is also Avery funny interlude at Victoria's Secret that made me laugh.Meanwhile, Jim’s obsession with Sissy Barten threatens to cause a rift in the team. I am not sure how this whole thing with Sissy is going to pan out, since it seems like Jim has some not quite platonic feelings for her and she is A) dead and B) only 19. I have confidence in Ward though and am interested to see where it goes. There are some big and surprising developments on Team Angel and I am sure we’ll be seeing the continuing repercussions of it in the future. Devina’s still up to her dirty tricks. She’s such an interesting character, a mix of vulnerability, neurosis and undeniable evil. She is both fascinating and frightening to watch.Keep and eye out, too, for the BDB cameos/mentions. I love that the two worlds cross over from time to time. And what's up with Caldwell? It seems to be full of paranormal action and deliciously hot men running around! I would like to move there, please.Overall I was extremely happy with this book. I wish I didn’t have to wait another year for the next one. Maybe I should re-read Covet in the meantime...