From Goodreads: Ava O’Brian is dealing with more than a teenager’s typical temptations of right versus wrong. Ava is unaware she possesses a rare and unique gift, a soul with the ability to influence. Unfortunately, Satan will stop at nothing to gain control of her special ability.

Ava’s faith is seriously shaken when she is the sole survivor of the car accident that kills her father and twin brother. When she relocates and faces the ultimate temptation in Samuel Perry, her mysterious classmate living on earth since 1798 to tempt and damn mankind, Ava isn’t sure she can resist.

Sam must decide if he will lead Ava straight into the devil’s trap or place his immortal existence on the line in order to keep her alive.

What ultimate price is Ava willing to pay for love? What if it means giving up her life or turning over her soul straight into Satan’s hands for the boy of her dreams?

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The prologue of this novel is beautifully written and drew me into the story in a heartbeat.  Needless to say, I liked this novel a lot!  Kuehne is a gifted writer and to say I was mesmerized by the prose and the storyline would be an understatement.  I liked the ideas of dark angels controlled by Satan, and I really loved Sam’s character.  Although he’s a dark angel, he does seem to come over the light and remain there throughout most of the novel, which will automatically endear him to the reader’s heart.  Although confused and fighting his own nature, Sam is a wonderful representation of a dark angel gone rogue, and I loved his relationship with Ava.  I spent much of the novel on pins and needles as the prologue set the stage for the novel, and I was convinced that Sam was inherently evil from the very start—so although I fell in love with his character, it was with much trepidation because… who wants to love a backstabbing evil menace?  And that’s as much as I can say about the prologue and the novel without giving away anything… so you’ll just have to read the novel to find out if Sam is truly good or evil.

I must admit that I found the changing between points of view a little awkward in the beginning, as most of the story is told through Ava’s first person narrative, yet occasionally the narrative changes to third person and we learn more about Sam’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences while away from Ava.  This was a little strange as I’ve never come across a novel that shifts points of view like this before, yet while I would rather have had the entire novel written in first person, from both characters, this writing technique does not take away from the novel in any way.  If anything, it is a testament to Kuehne’s writing capabilities as she flawlessly switches between the points of view.

This novel is set up for a sequel, for which I am ecstatic, mainly because I want to know more, and was left hanging, but also because I did become a little confused when the angels of God came on the scene near the end.  I have many questions about them, and therefore cannot wait for the sequel so that I have a more rounded picture of both sides of the angels. 

Now, obviously the synopsis and much of my review talks about the angels of Satan and God.  While these two factions are the main premise of the novel, rest assured that this novel is not highly religious itself, and it is not preachy in any way, shape, or form, so do not let the fact that Satan and God are mentioned stop you from reading this great novel!  Three and a half stars!

I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.