A Real Angel

by Cassie Miles

She was his once-in-a-lifetime.

Rafe Santini had a job to do: to stop an outbreak of a deadly virus. His duties didn't include making love to his earthly assistant, Jenna Denardo. In all his years as an Avenging Angel, Rafe had never once been tempted by sins of the flesh. Why now, when thousands of lives were at stake?

Would he be her lover?

For all her skill as an animal trainer, Jenna knew nothing about taming the heart of an angel. But if she was ever going to solve her friend's murder, she was going to have to tame Rafe. The sexy stranger seemed to know all the right moves to capture a killer. Unfortunately, he'd also captured her heart.

Genres: Romance

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 24, 1997

About the author

Cassie grew up in a small town at the very tip of southern Illinois. A tomboy, she spent most of her time outside and got into big trouble for breaking the trellis while climbing out her second-story bedroom window.

When her family moved to L.A., major culture shock ensued. She discovered that grapefruits grew on trees, television offered more than two channels, and all the other girls had breasts. While hiding out and waiting for her chest to develop, she read voraciously, raiding her mother's bookshelf for Mickey Spillane when she finished all her Nancy Drew novels.

Another move took her family to Denver, the place Cassie still calls home.

She graduated from North Central college outside Chicago, got married, and returned to Colorado where she worked in personnel at the Denver Post and lived in a mountain cabin without running water. Upon learning she was pregnant, a return to civilization seemed prudent. She settled in Denver, raised two amazing daughters, and started writing for Harlequin. After her divorce, she took a break from romance and wrote straight suspense.

During her frantic years as a single mom, writing books and working odd jobs to supplement her income, she hardly had time to breathe, much less to dream. Then something remarkable happened. She fell in love with a tall, sexy man who was an aerial photographer and the author of tough-guy mystery novels. Fortunately, he loved her back. She found her real-life hero, inherited three more grown kids and three grandchildren.

Cassie started writing romance again, loving every minute of a life filled with laughter, crazy road trips, sailboats, and journeys to Oregon with long walks on rocky beaches.

Not too long ago, the love of her life developed inoperable pancreatic cancer. With supportive friends and family standing by, he died at home.

Cassie now lives alone, surrounded by beautiful memories. She has no regrets and considers herself lucky to have found her soul mate, the man with whom she shared a perfect love.

Pseudonym/s: Kay Bergstrom

Reviews

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenna is a animal trainer working on a movie set where they are filming Adam and Eve, she has Eddie the stuntman die in her arms from what she thought was a heart attack.
Rafe is an avenging angel sent down to find answers about Eddies death because he died before his time. Rafe has to shift into human form to take the role of the new stuntman and to discreetly find answers to who killed Eddie. Soon sparks fly between Jenna and Rafe and he has no choice but to tell her he is an avenging angel sent to do a job and once the job is complete he will be going back.
There were laugh out loud moments when Rafe was shifted into human form, as an angel he didnt feel the effects of wine but as human form he became drunk VERY QUICKLY... Jenna gave him 4 aspirin for his headache and he didnt know to swallow them, he chewed them then ran for multiple drinks of water...
This story was suspenseful, enjoyable and a fast read. It had a very nice flow that kept me interested throughout...

[Dawn Gehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Rafe was an avenging angel sent down from Saint Michael to investigate a murder. Jenna was a animal trainer who had her animals on the set of a movie when Eddy was poisoned. He died in Jenna's arms. Rafe has to figure out what happened. He was an angel who kept his feelings for the opposite sex under control. When he met Jenna all bets are off. he is falling in love with her. Will he stay and be with Jenna or will he let his feelings go and stay the avenging angel that he is.......

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Working with animals had been something both Jenna Denardo and her mother Kate were good at. Hollywood had called them to do a movie, but only Jenna went. With the death of the stunt coordinator in her arms, Jenna was concerned about her animals and herself until the arrival of a new stuntman. Upon meeting Rafael Santini, she knew there was something special about him, finding out his secret could never change her initial reaction to him. Used to taking on more high profile situations, Rafe was surprised when Saint Michael asked him to look into the death of a stunt coordinator, but finding out that this was a murder with the presence of evil convinced him to do his best work. As an avenging angel, Rafe had certain abilities, like making himself human, and after meeting Jenna and getting to know her better he started to believe that maybe there was more to being human than just not showing his aurora on film.

This is an older Harlequin Intrigue, I dug it out of an old box and just read it. This is a quick story, the characters are ok, the story line is good (could have been better) and like a lot of Harlequin stories from that time period, it felt long and drawn out in some parts and then rushed and over to quickly. It speeds through the romance, puts too much emphasis some of the lesser characters, but it is still a good distraction and an angelic hero, don‘t see those to often.