Lawson’s review of Into Thin Air by Cindy Miles
Paranormal romance released by Signet Eclipse November 6, 2007

Blurb:

A twelfth-century warrior-turned-Guardian Knight, Gawan of Conwyk is about to finally become mortal. But then he finds a beautiful woman by the side of the road near Castle Grimm-she is his soulmate, and it’s up to him to save her life.

Ellie doesn’t remember who she is or how she got to the north of England. Together they set out to solve the mystery of her almostdeath, but neither Ellie nor Gawan is prepared for the soul-searing passion they discover…

Excerpt.

Gawan of Conwyck has been around a LONG time. A twelfth century warrior who died during the Crusades, he’s spent the last nearly thousand years as a Guardian. Protecting innocents and helping those to heaven has been a good life, but Gawan is ready to retire and live out the rest of his life as a mortal. His heavenly superiors have other ideas for him and one night on the road home to his castle he finds a beautiful woman by the side of the road.

Gawan takes her to safety and he finds out that she’s completely lost her memory and doesn’t know anything about herself, including her name or how she got to the North of England. She’s also already half dead and as his last charge, he needs to find out where she is so that her spirit can be reunited with her body and she can survive. Taking the name Ellie from Eleanor of Aquitaine on a tapestry on the castle walls, Ellie does what she can to regain her memory.

As time runs out on Ellie’s life and Gawan’s retirement comes closer they work to solve the mystery of who she is and what happened to her. What’s worse is Gawan knows his fate has been changed when he discovers his passion for Ellie is more than just a sudden attraction and Ellie realizes finding love where you least expect it is perhaps the best way to get happiness out of life.

Miles’ first book, Spirited Away was a cute, fun read. However, this book dragged through parts and it wasn’t as charming as it’s predecessor. Gawan is a good enough guy, but for an Angel he doesn’t really seem to think without his manly parts getting in the way. At least where Ellie is concerned. He’s worried about her, sure, but he constantly thinks about kissing her, and other things, when he should be saving her life. And wouldn’t a 12th century warrior turned Angel speak with a few more modern phrases? Especially since he’s an Earthbound Angel.

Ellie is overly fascinated with Gawan’s antique mode of speech, his warrior tattoos, and his long hair. She has some odd things that she says as well, and she thinks about Gawan’s physical aspects more than the fact that her own life seems to be in the balance.

The love story seemed rather forced, since the reader is told pretty much straight off that they’re soul mates. Or they are Intended for each other. Ellie has a mark on her upper lip that only Gawan can see, and the first time they kiss. . .it’s definitly hot, but it’s a bit much with the whole Intended thing. And the fact that since Ellie is halfway dead (mostly dead?) as she regains bodily consciousness she disappears into thin air.

As Gawan finds answers to Ellie’s problems, they also have to deal with the multitude of ghosts that inhabit his castle home. Though helpful and wanting to see Gawan happy and Ellie fully alive, they are all rather annoying. Always nosy, don’t leave anyone privacy and basically meddlesome, they took things away from the story and it made the live people a bit more bearable if only for the fact that the ghosts were told to go away.

There was a charming young ghost named Davy, who didn’t get annoying, and Andi and Tristan from Spirited Away make an appearance, which helped some, but one of the knights also became annoying when he named himself guardian of Ellie’s virtue. Though Ellie and Gawan are attracted to each other, they’re adults (even if one is half dead and the other is an angel) and they’re both willing, this young guy has to step in to protect her virtue. As frustrating as that can be, there was some decent enough chemistry and things kept getting thrown into the works to stop things from going to far. Ellie disappearing, the ghosts, the guardian knight. . .by the end of the book it was enough already!

The pacing was off considering it took so long to get anywhere, and each time things heated up, there was something to stop it. The constant repetition of the Intended thing, Gawan being an Angel and Ellie liking the way he called her girl (but it sounds like gel and that drove her wild), the guardian knight who acted like the 21st century was the 12th, etc. made this reader roll the eyes way too much to make this an enjoyable read.

Grade: D