New from Erin McCarthy - FALLEN

has a new book, FALLEN, available from your favorite bookseller now! This is the second in her Seven Deadly Sins series and shouldn't be missed. Here's a blurb from Erin's website:
New Orleans, 1880s. Sent to watch over the decadent city, the angel Gabriel loses himself in the liquid pleasure of absinthe. So when his mistress, Anne, is murdered—and all evidence points to him— a foggy Gabriel cannot be sure he didn't do it. His penance: to be forever denied love. Should he seek pleasure with a woman, she'll know the depths of despair.
New Orleans, today. Hoping to unlock that unsolved mystery, forensic scientist Sara Michaels, Anne's great-great-granddaughter, meets the ageless, tormented Gabriel. To work together would mean suppressing their mutual attraction—he can't allow himself to touch Sara, for her own sake.
And for Sara, already familiar with the dangers of addiction, Gabriel poses the ultimate threat to her self-control. But can the desire burning between them turn into their salvation—or lead them both to destruction?
My review:
FALLEN, the second book in Erin McCarthy’s Seven Deadly Sins series, shouldn’t be mistaken as a continuation of the introductory book, MY IMMORTAL. This book stands alone and is written around an entirely different sin (gluttony), in the form of addiction. Angel Gabriel St. John is a watcher, whose purpose on Earth is to protect humans in the dark, sinful city of New Orleans. When despair and pain become too much to bear, he turns to the mind-numbing pleasures of absinthe and opium. One morning after an evening of excesses of the mind and body, Gabriel awakes to find his mistress, Anne Donovan, murdered in her bed. Gabriel has no recollection of the night and soon finds himself transformed into a fallen one, doomed to the immortal life of a demon.
The book moves forward in time to present day, with Gabriel sober and working on a book about Anne Donovan. He's determined to find out what happened to her. He joins forces with Sara Michaels, whose mother Jessie was killed in an identical manner to Anne. After her mother’s violent murder, Sara turned to pain medication to mask her grief, so she too is familiar with addiction. Sara finds herself strongly attracted to Gabriel and he’s equally attracted, but refuses to act on the undeniable passion between them, leaving Sara to feel the ache of rejection. Gabriel has his own reasons for denying them both pleasure; he knows that Sara will endure a lifetime of deep despair should they give in to their desires.
When it becomes apparent that someone intends to harm Sara, Gabriel realizes that he will do anything to keep her safe, even at the risk of losing his only chance at redemption. What Gabriel doesn't know is that Sara is keeping a secret of her own.
As one would expect of any book from Erin McCarthy’s vivid imagination, FALLEN has an abundance of dark intrigue and intense sensuality. The dialogue between Gabriel and Sara draws readers into each and every scene and her descriptions allow the mind’s eye to see every detail with clarity. Flashes from past to present together with old newspaper articles serve to give the story depth and set the foundation for Gabriel and Sara's passionate story.
I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy a deeply emotional romance. Be sure to keep an eye out for the next book in this series, THE TAKING, with the sin of choice being greed - guaranteed to be another winner!
Thank you, Erin, for giving me the opportunity to read FALLEN!
Laurie