Re-Read Challenge: Kiss An Angel by SEP

My April entry for Nath's Re-Reading Challenge is Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

Seneca recently wanted some SEP suggestions and I recommended KaA, my first SEP ever. KaA is also one of the first romances I read way back in the day, over 10 years ago.

So what did I think after 10 plus years for a book that I always felt fondly for and oddly enough never re-read?

Wedding Day

Pretty, flighty Daisy Devreaux can either go to jail or marry the mystery man her father has chosen for her. Arranged marriages don't happen in the modern world, so how did the irrepressible Daisy find herself in the fix?

Alex Markov, as humorless as he is deadly handsome, has no intention of playing the loving bridegroom to a spoiled little featherhead with champagne tastes. He drags Daisy from her uptown life to a broken down traveling circus and sets out to tame her to his ways.

But this man without a soul has met his match in a woman who's nothing but heart. Before long, passion will send them flying sky high without a safety net...risking it all in search of a love that will last forever.

Well first of all, back when I was a younger, I loved the fact that Daisy had a pet tiger. LOL I love animals, always have, and that was the biggest draw for me reading this as a teenager.

Fortunately, I'm older (if not wiser-LOL) and I appreciated Kiss An Angel for a completely different reason (although the pet tiger still kicks ass, imo).  KaA is a truly well-written story.

So Daisy Devreaux is the illegitimate daughter of a Russian-American diplomat and a model.  Raised by her flighty mother who always wanted to be in the limelight (even if it meant stealing the limelight from her daughter), Daisy grew up with a low opinion of herself.  She wasn't as pretty as her mother and she definitely wasn't as charismatic.  Raised and educated unconventionally, Daisy's father also has a low opinion of Daisy.  And when Daisy lands herself in a heap of trouble after her mother dies, her father gives her two options:  jail or marriage to a man of his choice.  

Daisy chooses door #2 and is less than impressed with her prize.  She marries a cold, humorless, merciless circus manager.  And Daisy is afraid of animals.  LOL

Ok, I have to be honest, I loved KaA, just as much as I did the first time I read it.  I still loved the animal aspect and didn't find it silly at all.  SEP did an excellent job of showing how Daisy interacted with the animals and how that reflected Daisy's personal growth.  Daisy was a girl that never had to be serious in her life and all of a sudden she has responsibilities and she's standing up for things she's believing in.  Daisy definitely made this book.

Alex was just the whipped cream topping on a decadent dessert.  He starts off cold and kind of cruel, not making any allowances for Daisy's former lifestyle.  Which is good for Daisy.  But Daisy's innocence and pride eventually wear down Alex's walls and he begins to thaw.  And he's not perfect.  Far from it.  He doesn't something really bad towards of KaA that takes a very strong woman (which Daisy definitely is) to understand and forgive.

And when these two were driven apart by Alex's stupidity, I still had that squirmy feeling in my stomach that I did when I read this the first time.  You know the feeling, wondering if the h/h are going to end up together or not.  *sigh*