Title: Galen
Author: Jaclyn Osborn
Series: Sons of the Fallen, Book 1
Genre/s and tags: Adult, Paranormal, Angels / Demons, Urban Fantasy, MM Romance
Publisher: Self
Publication date: June 15th 2021
Synopsis
Simon just wants to run his antique shop in peace.
But then he finds a small mysterious box that’s (probably) haunted, and his shop is broken into by the hottest man he’s ever seen who then steals said creepy box. Now demons are after him and his only hope is to trust the tall, muscled, combat-boot-wearing thief who claims to be the son of a fallen angel.
Galen is charged with protecting humanity from dark forces. Cursed with Wrath, he’s hot-tempered and spends his days fighting demons and trying not to kill his six brothers when they irritate him.
His number one rule? Never fall in love. But then he meets Simon, a clumsy human who asks way too many questions and is—unfortunately—a total demon-magnet, and he starts breaking his own rules.
What’s inside the box, and why do the demons want it so badly? One thing is for sure… Simon can kiss his peaceful, ordinary life goodbye.
Review
Everyone has been recommending this series to me for a while. Whenever I’d mention one of my favorites – Necessary Evils – or a book on my tbr – Monstrous – people were like, “You have to read Sons of the Fallen!”
And it’s not that I was avoiding it. I wanted the series to finish first, which it recently has, so I can read them all at once (and a certain series by Nikole Knight involving angels may have…scared me for life. Just a little bit. So I was a smidge hesitant to jump into another book with a massive holy war.)
On January 1st I downloaded book one and promptly finished it in two days, making Galen my first book of 2023! So what did I think?
I loved it, obviously. My friends rarely steer me wrong, and in this case, they were very, very right about this family of sinful Nephilim.
This book’s strength is definitely in the characters. I have honestly never been so excited about a multicouple series before! Each of the brothers has such a distinct character and personality that I cannot wait to get inside their heads. (More Raiden and Gray please!)
Between our two leads, Simon really stole the show for me. How he was written felt so realistic. He responded to a completely outrageous situation the way I think any real person would, often putting on a brave face when internally he was absolutely scared shitless.
Galen was a bit harder to love, mostly to him being a stubborn ass, but we forgive him for it because Simon does. He really was an interesting character once he started to open up a bit more. It was easier to understand his reasoning for holding Simon at arm’s length upon hearing what he’d gone through.
The author did a great job making him and all the brothers relatable without humanizing them in the traditional way. Part of understanding them is acknowledging they are not human and never have been. The way they have lived and experience life will forever separate them from us, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t people.
Cover: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Writing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Plot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 |
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Quote that made me laugh:
“‘I fuck hard. I don’t do gentle.’ Yep. Rest in peace to my ass.”
Fictional Wanderings 