By 
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 in my head. I borrowed loads of books from the library last year, and try as I might, I couldn’t remember the name of the author or the name of the book. So in the books section on Amazon, I typed in the search words ‘circus Alex icon Russian’ and to my delight Kiss an Angel showed up in the results. I didn’t think I really needed to read the book again, but something about it kept bothering me, so I borrowed it a second time, and despite some issues I had with the story and some of the characters, I still had issues. enough of something so you can read it all over again.
Daisy has not had an easy life. She is the illegitimate daughter of an exhibitionist and promiscuous mother of high society, whom she has accompanied across Europe, acquiring an unusual upbringing in the process and trying to go unnoticed deep down. When her mother dies, Daisy finds herself in a heap of debt and with no formal training or skills to support herself.
Her father, a Romanov historian, offers to help her financially, but there is a problem. She must marry Alex Markov and live with him for six months, or the deal that offers her monetary aid will be withdrawn.
With no other options in sight, Daisy reluctantly gets swept up in the process.
The only reason Alex has allowed himself to get involved in Daisy’s father’s scheme is because he is greatly indebted to him for an event many years before. Otherwise, there is no way and no one else could have forced Alex to get fully married.
So a marriage begins between two involuntary strangers who can appreciate each other’s physical attributes but who otherwise have absolutely nothing in common.
Alex is determined to get out of the deal at the end of the six months, or preferably much sooner, if he can make living conditions so abhorrent to the spoiled, pleased, selfish Daisy that she will leave him. Alex directs and performs in a traveling family circus. Daisy is afraid of even small dogs, so she runs into many personal challenges when asked to help out with the care of the circus animals.
Alex hopes Daisy will resist any hard work, but she surprises him by flourishing in her new environment. It is the first time that she has assumed the responsibility of living for herself without being carried away by the shadow of her mother 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 deep 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 to have children. So things get interesting as the circus runs through its show circuit.
Daisy’s character is endearing as she truly has a heart of gold. It just takes a long time for someone to realize that. She has always been very pure and over the course of the book, she discovers that she has strengths. At the beginning of the book, he is terrified of animals, but towards the end, he has the entire collection of circus animals eating out of his hand.
Alex’s inability to see Daisy’s true qualities is frustrating at times. She has so many secrets and troubles from her past, combined with her attitude toward her forced marriage situation, that she often appears to be a cold, callous, haunting, volatile, and heartless block of ice. It takes time for his exposure to Daisy to unfreeze him. Alex is definitely not the most romantic hero initially, but his transformation occurs and the reader sees more and more glimpses of her as it unfolds.
Kiss an Angel brings together some unusual elements in a romance novel. There is a contemporary arranged marriage, a telepathic animal, and a circus, but when a story stays with you long after finishing the book, the story can be said to have worked well.