Title: The Only One
Series: End of Days #3
Author: Meg Collett
Audience: New Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Formats: E-book and Paperback
Cover by: Adrienne McNellis Photography
Editor: Elizabeth Phelps
Released: June 30, 2014
In the final installment to the popular End of Days series, Heaven still belongs to a mad tyrant, and Michaela is losing her battle to save the dying world.
But the tides are turning.
With Gabriel’s fallen army, Michaela can finally start a war with the holy angels, which means she has to take care of the Watchers once and for all. What Michaela doesn’t realize is that her best friend has his own vengeful plan for the Watchers.
Even amidst a war, Michaela and Gabriel bask in a sliver of happiness. With every touch and kiss, Michaela discovers a new home in Gabriel’s arms.
Yet happiness is ever fleeting, and Michaela learns of a vision that foretells of the greatest sacrifice she’ll ever make for Heaven. But what is sacrifice in the face of tyranny and madness? It’s a lesson Michaela may not live long enough to fully understand.
My Thoughts
First let me say that I love when an author knows when a story should end. Are there still questions and stories I want answered from the End of Days series? Sure, but I appreciate the fact that I may never know those stories and may never have those answers. It’s okay that I don’t have them. There’s a particular magic that forever remains a part of a series when an author does not write it into the ground. I’m glad that Meg let us keep the magic.
I had to take a break from the book to get myself in order. I mean seriously, some major stuff happened that pulled me emotionally all over the place. To be merely mortal, Collett wrote Michaela with such ethereal grace and knowledge befitting her status as a the General of Heaven. There were times all through this series that I couldn’t find myself on the same page as Michaela because her reasoning was above what I could justify. That being said, she did what she had always said she would do: protect Heaven. I loved that she put her duty as the General (and ultimate protector) of Heaven above her own happiness.
Now to the men in her life…Gabriel. I loved his love for Michaela. And him being all super bad ass now? I’ll take that too. However, I will say that I used to love Gabriel the most. I think that has waned in favor of someone less in competition for her romantic affections than Gabriel. Yes, I’m talking about Loki. The sads. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll just say this: I really, really liked the way Loki was written and I appreciate his storyline as well.
Clark…What can we not say about Clark? Sometimes I want to shake him because he’s being a little prat, other times I want to smother him in awesome hugs because he’s growing up into something resembling a responsible adult. Overall, Clark has remained mostly Clark. Of course he grew, the thing with Sophia being one of the biggest reasons for that growth.
In closing, I want to touch on the battle that has been brewing since The Hunted One. Over the course of the series we’ve gotten touches of battles that were, in their own way, real battles worthy of an angel. I was hoping for something more climatic and very “end of days-ish”, but of course what I was wanted would not work with what Michaela was trying to accomplish. She wanted peace, that was her goal and that meant, in a moment where she could kill, she turned to forgiveness and flipped the tables worthy of her role as General of Heaven. If I had written it, I would have killed everyone and the book would have been a mess. Just more evidence that Collett knows better than me what her characters should and shouldn’t be doing. The final battle is what it should have been and Michaela acted as an angel should. Bravo for her!
When it’s all said and done, I am honored to have a chance to read this series. It was a well-thought out and well-executed series with all the details that one could ask for in a story of Angels and a possible End of Days.
My Rating for The Only One:
**I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.**
Meg Collett lives deep in the hills of Tennessee where the the cell phone service is a blessing and the Internet is a myth of epic proportions. She is the mother of one giant horse named Elle and two dogs named Wylla and Mandy. Her husband is a saint for putting up with her ragtag life. End of Days is her first series.