Guest Post and Giveaway: Chasing My Angels by Janine Ashbless, Author of The Prison of the Angels

Today, I'm really excited to be hosting a guest post by author Janine Ashbless and a promo on her latest dark paranormal romance release, The Prison of the Angels (The Book of the Watchers #3), as a part of the ongoing VBT. If you check my blog and the reviews of the previous two books, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of this series. The Prison of the Angels is the long awaited conclusion that I can't wait to dig into very soon! Meanwhile, the guest post by Ms. Ashbless was quite intriguing and I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to leave a comment to let us know. :) The giveaway includes a paperback of The Prison of the Angels and a $20 Amazon GC, so don't forget to enter via rafflecopter below!

Chasing My Angels

Every novel in The Book of the Watchers trilogy has drawn upon my travels. My fallen angels zap around the planet in the blink of an eye, so I’ve got to get the details right! While writing Cover Him with Darkness I dragged my parents off to Montenegro, where my heroine Milja grows up and the passionate and vengeful Azazel lies imprisoned under the mountains. For In Bonds of the Earth I persuaded Mr Ashbless that we needed two weeks in Ethiopia, where Milja goes to free the Angel of the Written Word.

When it came to writing the final part of the trilogy, The Prison of the Angels, I didn’t have time to do a research trip but I did call on old travels. It was obvious that Milja would be spending a lot of time in Rome; one of her main antagonists throughout has been the secretive Catholic organization Vidimus, and her would-be-lover Egan is a priest within that order. So she has to go to Italy and delve into the tunnels under the Vatican to see what they’ve hidden away there. It’s a city of ancient holiness, glorious beauty and terrible, ruthless bloodshed – all themes appropriate to my angels.

Incidentally Milja encounters some of the greatest angel/sex art of all time – The Ecstasy of St Teresa by Bernini:

The other big setting I used for this novel is Norway, where Milja and Egan and Azazel head to free the First of the Fallen, the one who played the serpent in the Garden of Eden. He’s been remembered under the guise of a Viking god in that country. The Norwegian setting is almost the opposite of the Roman one – we’re talking huge open spaces, nature not civilization, and dark pagan rites.

But of course when it comes to a war between loyal and rebel angels, nowhere on Earth is safe for my characters. Even angels can be brought low … and then it’s up to mere mortals to try and save the day!

xxx

Janine

In Bonds of the Earth by Janine Ashbless

In Bonds of the Earth
The Book of the Watchers #2

Janine Ashbless
Erotic Paranormal Romance 
Published in 2017 [ARC review]

H/h - Azazel/Egan Kansky/Milja Petak 
Setting: Present time Europe and Africa.

Read in April-July, 2017.

My rating:

                                                     [spoiler alert]

I have no idea where to start, seriously! The Book of the Watchers series by Janine Ashbless is SO complex and absolutely amazing that I’m just....... speechless really. This series is rich in story telling with a great research and a marvelous writing style where the author blends many dimensions, of facts and fictions, together in such a way that the only thing I can say for this series is WOW! I had to read In Bonds of the Earth at a snail’s pace just to savor each chapter.

I’ve never read anything by the author prior to this series. I picked up book 1 of the Watchers series, Cover Him With Darkness, because 1. I was in search of a good angel-demon type book and 2. I loved the title. And boy it sucked me right in from the start; from the moment when little Milja met Azazel the Fallen, bound in a dank, dark cave, for eternity... awaiting another eternity. Azazel is called a demon, a fallen angel, Prince of Darkness or Satan as I found in some sources. I’ll personally stick to the story itself because many of these notions discussed in the book connected to the Book of Enoch is rather vague to me. But that didn’t hinder my enjoyment at all. The whole story behind Azazel and his many brothers’ fight with the good angels and how they were then entombed in various places in the world is told in book 1. It was such a fascinating story, with excellent visuals, such as Azazel’s fight with St. Michael and the destruction of his human family.

Milja, a girl born in a small mountain-bound village of Montenegro, has known The Prisoner since her childhood. The Prisoner was there always. Many had been in charge of him over the uncountable years, her father the priest, being the latest. Milja’s mother was already dead, so her father has been the center of her world... until the day she started having dreams of The Prisoner, whom she’d only met a few times; always with her father by her side. Her father has forbidden her to ever communicate with the prisoner, let alone release him, no matter how much he begs. Yet, the sad, heart-wrenching dreams of him in pain, absolutely misery of many, many years tore at Milja. Then one day, when she was around 20, she does the unthinkable. She goes to the cave alone to meet him for the first time in years since she went to school. The Prisoner was always in her thought, in her dreams, so much so that she only had one boyfriend but couldn’t even maintain that relationship. She knew by then who she belonged to, and she decides instantly that she’s going to release him.

Cover Him With Darkness by Janine Ashbless

Cover Him With Darkness
The Book of the Watchers #1

Janine Ashbless
Contemporary/Fantasy/Paranormal/Erotica
Published in 2014

H/h - Azazel the Fallen/Milja
Setting: Present time (with elements of time-travel).

Read in November, 2014.

My rating:

                                                    [spoiler alert] 

I’ve been dying to write a review for Cover Him With Darkness by Janine Ashbless, The Book of the Watchers #1. The 2 reasons why I wanted to read this was, that it apparently had a fallen angel in it, a theme I really love and the title caught my eyes.

Now, prior to reading this, I had no idea Cover Him With Darkness is a line from the Book of Enoch, that connects to the fallen angel, Azazel and how he was banished for eternity for corrupting the human race. My idea about these references is vague at best, which is why I’ll stick to the story itself. I did some internet search while reading this book, to learn more about Azazel. His is even more vague. In some places he’s called a fallen angel, in some a demon, in others he’s even referred to as Satan. The only thing I got from it all that you’re not supposed to consort with the likes of him, especially if you’re not equipped to play with his fire. LOL Fortunately, the book itself did a good job of giving me an idea of him, albeit fiction-wise. He was a tough to like character, let alone love. I have read some fallen angel stories before, but the fallen angel in question had won my heart nonetheless. I wasn’t even sure how Azazel can be a ‘hero’ when he’s such a brilliant douchebag! But WOW, the flow of the story was so good that I had to keep reading to know what’s coming next.

Cover Him With Darkness is a fast-paced story that tells you about a girl named Milja of Montenegro, and how her life changes dramatically when she releases ‘The Prisoner’ of her childhood memories and broken adult dreams.