Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: February 1st 1996
Purchase: Ebook • Paperback

This book is slightly old, but it’s so. freaking. GOOD. I fell so hard for the characters, their love, and their story. It’s a book about finding love, and finding love in the last person you’d ever expect to find love in. It’s a book about setting aside one’s pride to have a chance at happiness. Oh my goodness, this book is just divine. It’s got a heroine who learns and grows and toughens up, but still has a heart of gold. It’s got a domineering, alpha-male hero who’s a total jerk but you love him anyway (especially when you see his soft side starting to show). And there’s a circus! With animals!

Daisy Devreaux and Alex Markov are arranged to be married. They’re total strangers, but Daisy’s father has arranged their marriage anyway because Daisy has no money, and Alex owes her father a favor. And so they have to marry, at least for six months. The beginning of the book starts off with Daisy and Alex at the altar, and Daisy… has completely forgotten her groom’s name, and can’t even finish her vows. That right then made me laugh and fall in love with Daisy. And the book continues to be humorous and light-hearted. Daisy and Alex are both in a situation they don’t want, and while Daisy, being the old-fashioned girl that she is, wants to make the best of their marriage, despite them not even liking each other. But Alex is mean and cold-hearted and certainly doesn’t care about what Daisy wants. I wanted to hate him, but I never did. Alex was a jerk to Daisy, but he was honest and yeah, okay, sexy as hell too. 😉

Alex mostly was a jerk to Daisy because he wanted to scare her off and make her leave their marriage, but Daisy never does. She’s dumped into a marriage she doesn’t want, forced to work in the circus with Alex, but she’s a fighter and won’t give up so easily. Alex starts to be impressed with Daisy, but of course, he won’t show it. He works her hard, but she works even harder, and she falls in love with the animals in the circus. And slowly, she starts to fall for Alex too. But Alex has a painful past, and he doesn’t believe in love for himself. He truly believes that he doesn’t have the capacity for love, but Daisy has set her mind on making him believe he can love, and love her.

I actually came across this book on the Heroes and Heartbreakers website when I read this post about favorite phrases that come from romances, and Kiss an Angel was one of the featured books. Alex, being the über-alpha that he is, is prideful and slightly arrogant (in the sexiest possible way, mind you). He’s never had to bow down and beg for anything or anyone, and he’s not about to start anytime soon. But being with Daisy, growing to care for her, has made him open his eyes, and heart, just a little.

I’m begging you. Daisy said that all the time. The same words that had poisoned Sheba Quest’s spirit two years ago when she’d pleaded for his love rolled off Daisy’s tongue without a second thought. In the morning she’d stick her toothbrush in her mouth and call out, “Coffee! Please! I’m begging you!” Last night, she’d tickled his earlobe with a soft, sultry whisper. “Make love to me, Alex. I’m begging you.” As if he needed to be begged.
But begging didn’t threaten Daisy’s pride at all. It was simply her method of communication, and if he were ever foolish enough to suggest that begging might be demeaning, she’d give him that pitying look he’d come to know so well and tell him to stop being so stuffy.

And then, when Alex makes the biggest mistake of his life, and hurts Daisy in the process, things change for him. I cried like a baby at this part. Alex fucks up, he loses the best thing that’s ever happened to him, but he makes amends. He knows he made a mistake and he tries his hardest to fix what he did. And he has to forget about his pride, because it’s holding him back.

Alex spoke in tight, hard tones. “You know what the irony in all this is. Daisy’d do it. She wouldn’t even think twice about it.” He gave a rough bark of laughter that bore no trace of humor. “She’d be on her knees in a second because she’s got a heart beating inside her that’s strong enough to take on the world. She doesn’t care about honor or pride or anything else when the well-being of the creatures she loves is a stake.”
He turned his face upward, and his mouth tightened with scorn. Although he was on his knees, he had never looked more glorious. He was every inch the czar. The king of the center ring. “I’m begging you, Sheba,” he said flatly.

Even with the humor and adorable animals in Kiss an Angel, it’s a heartfelt, poignant book about transformation, and how love can heal and mend even the most broken of souls. “I’m begging you” is such defining phrase for Alex and Daisy. It’s Daisy’s go-to phrase, something she says lightly, but it’s a phrase that Alex can’t even imagine uttering before he meets Daisy. And you absolutely must read this book to see how Alex and Daisy have helped and changed each other in so many ways. Their love story is beautiful.

He began kissing her tears away, and she rubbed her fingers over his cheek. “You really love me, don’t you?”
“I really do,” he said huskily, “and this time I want you to believe me. I’m begging you, sweetheart.”
She smiled through her tears. “All right, then. Let’s go home.”

These were all the quotes that were featured in the H&H post, and after reading those, how could I not want to start reading Kiss an Angel immediately? This love story is truly an unforgettable one. I laughed and cried and laughed some more, and it was just a roller coaster of emotions.

5+ hearts! One of my favorite books of all time!