When a circus came to our suburb, it reminded me of a book I had read the year before. Being set in a circus is a pretty unique setting for a romance novel, so it stuck with me. I borrowed loads of books from the library the year before, and try as I might, I couldn’t remember the name of the author or the name of the book. So, in the book section on Amazon, I typed in the search words ‘circus Alex icon Russian’ and to my delight, Kiss an Angel came up in the results. I didn’t think I really needed to reread the book, but something about it kept bothering me, so I borrowed it a second time, and despite some problems I had with the story and some of the characters, I still had enough of something to go on. dig in enough to read it all over again.
Daisy hasn’t had an easy life. She is the illegitimate daughter of a high-society exhibitionist and promiscuous mother, whom she has accompanied around Europe, acquiring an unusual upbringing in the process and trying to blend into the background. When her mother dies, Daisy finds herself with a ton of debt and no formal training or skills to support herself.
Her father, a historian of the Romanovs, offers to help her financially, but there is a problem. She must marry Alex Markov and live with him for six months, or the agreement offering her cash assistance will be withdrawn.
With no other options in sight, Daisy reluctantly allows herself to be dragged through the process.
The only reason Alex has allowed himself to be involved in Daisy’s father’s scheme is because he is heavily indebted to him from an event that happened many years before. Otherwise, there is no way and no one else could have coerced Alex into getting married, period.
Then a marriage begins between two strangers who don’t want each other to appreciate each other’s physical attributes but otherwise have absolutely nothing in common.
Alex is determined to be out of the deal at the end of the six months, or preferably much sooner, if he can make living conditions so abominable for the pampered, spoiled, self-absorbed Daisy that she leaves him. Alex directs and performs in a traveling family circus. Daisy is afraid of even small dogs, so she faces many personal challenges when she is asked to help care for the circus animals.
Alex expects Daisy to resist any hard work, but she surprises him by flourishing in her new surroundings. It is the first time that she has taken on the responsibility of living on her own without following her mother’s shadow and she is learning to love having a sense of personal achievement and job satisfaction.
Daisy’s presence in the circus community sparks some jealousy from Alex’s ex-lover, as well as a teenager who has a huge crush on Alex, both of whom set out to hurt Daisy and her developing relationship with Alex.
Alex expresses to Daisy that he will never love her and that he never wants children. So things get interesting as the circus travels its performance circuit.
Daisy’s character is endearing as she truly has a heart of gold. It just takes a long time for someone to figure that out. She has always been very pure and, throughout the book, she discovers that she has strengths. At the beginning of the book, she is terrified of animals, but towards the end, she has the entire menagerie of circus animals eating out of her hand.
Alex’s inability to see Daisy’s true qualities is frustrating at times. She has so many secrets and problems from her past, combined with her attitude towards her forced marriage situation that she often seems to be a callous, unfeeling, brooding, volatile, ruthless, cold block of ice. It takes time for his exposure to Daisy to thaw him out. Alex is definitely not the most romantic of heroes initially, but her transformation happens from her and the reader sees more and more glimpses of her as he develops.
Kiss an Angel brings together some unusual elements in a romance novel. There’s a contemporary arranged marriage, a telepathic animal, and a circus, but when a story stays with you long after you finish the book, you can say the story has worked well.