Review of ‘Aurora’s Angel’ by Emily Noon

Wow! I’m almost at a loss of what to say because I’m worried I won’t do this book justice. I have wanted to read this book for a while. I had purchased it almost a year ago but never seemed to have enough time to read it. This is a large book and is almost three times the size many lesfic books normally are so I knew it was a time commitment. When I was asked to review this book for https://lezreviewbooks.com it gave me the push I needed to finally read this. I’m so mad at myself for waiting so long. What was I thinking?! This was everything I love in a good fantasy book and I would give it 6 stars if I could.

While the author calls this a dark fantasy book, I actually feel it is more high fantasy with a mix of urban fantasy romance. While there are some parts that are dark and violent, I find a lot of dark fantasy books to be depressing and this book is not depressing. Some parts are sad, yes, but many other books have some sadness. In fact, I would say what this book really is, what this book is really about, is a good old romance. This is a romance wrapped in a fantasy setting and I loved it. It’s funny but before I read this book I was reminded that this was a finalist to win a LAMBDA award this year. That is pretty impressive and when I finished this book I went to look up the finalists for best fantasy/spec-fic. But guess what? This book was not there. It was not sitting next to ‘The Priory of the Orange Tree’ (but what a battle between these two books that would have been!) as I expected. Instead, this book is sitting next to Jae, Ullrich, Hale, and others for ‘best romance’! I could not help but smile because LAMBDA was right; call this whatever type of fantasy you want because what this really is, is an epic romance.

All that talk about awards and I didn’t even get to mention that this is Noon’s debut. That makes this book all the sweeter really. When you are reading a new author for the first time and you know you are reading something really special, that is just such a great feeling. Noon is extremely talented and not only is this the best fantasy book I have read in a while, but it’s also the favorite book I have read all year. It has been a long time since I have read a fantasy book where the heart really is romance. This was sweet, steamy, and passionate, and everything I want in my romances.

But don’t worry, there is plenty of action to keep you entertained. The book does start a little slow, and there is traveling like in most fantasy books, but once the story gets going it is a grand adventure. This is a world where shifters and humans live. There is a portal to Earth so that is how humans have mixed into this shifter world. What that means is that there are animal shifters such as wolves, tigers, winged shifters, and last but not least Dragons!! You put dragons in just about any book and the geek in me cannot wait to get her hands on it. I loved this world that Noon created. A mix of old and new and it worked well for me.

Not only was the world Noon created well done, but I loved the characters. Aurora is one of my favorite types. She is a complete badass, but with a heart of gold. I love characters like that and she is going on my favorite character list for sure. Her love interest is great too and while she is not the type of badass Aurora is, she has her strengths in her own way. Put the two characters together and they balanced out perfectly making a couple you have to root for.

If there was any doubt, I absolutely recommend this book. This lesbian fantasy romance book is epic in the best possible way. At almost 700 pages, you will get your money’s worth and go on a grand adventure for love. I would especially recommend this to fans of ‘Breaking Legacies’ and ‘The One Who Eats Monsters’. If you liked either of those books I think chances are very high you will love this too. While I was completely satisfied with the ending, I feel like Aurora’s life is just ready to start a new chapter. I sure hope Noon will consider another book in this world. This is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.