Review: Original Sin by Lisa Desrochers
From Goodreads: Luc Cain was born and raised in Hell, but he isn’t feeling as demonic as usual lately—thanks to Frannie Cavanaugh and the unique power she never realized she had. But you can’t desert Hell without consequences, and suddenly Frannie and Luc find themselves targeted by the same demons who used to be Luc’s allies.
Left with few options, Frannie and Luc accept the protection of Heaven and one of its most powerful angels, Gabe. Unfortunately, Luc isn’t the only one affected by Frannie, and it isn’t long before Gabe realizes that being around her is too…tempting. Rather than risk losing his wings, he leaves Frannie and Luc under the protection of her recently-acquired guardian angel.
Which would be fine, but Gabe is barely out the door before an assortment of demons appears—and they’re not leaving without dragging Luc back to Hell with them. Hell won’t give up and Heaven won’t give in. Frannie’s guardian exercises all the power he has to keep them away, but the demons are willing to hurt anyone close to Frannie in order to get what they want. It will take everything she has and then some to stay out of Hell’s grasp.
And not everyone will get out of it alive.
Original Sin is the second book in Lisa Derochers Personal Demons Series. Fans of book one will delight in the follow up that puts Frannie right back in the middle of Team Hell or Team Heaven. Circumstances have changed as Gabe leaves Frannie’s brother Matt as her guardian and takes off back to Heaven to keep his wings. No sooner than Gabe poofs (or whatever angels do, do they poof?) away, demons show up looking for Luc.
Lucifer is not happy that Luc didn’t finish his job and wants to make a spectacle of him in front of his demon brethren. No one disobeys the King of Hell. However, the demon sent to take Luc back home… to hell… is faced with the problem that Luc is human now thanks to Frannie’s sway, and tagged for heaven. He can’t drag Luc back to the Pit.
Frannie misses out on some major clues that things are wrong with her bestie and the plot thickens. There were more demons on the case than anyone knew. Instead of taking care of Frannie, guardian Matt is busy oogling Lilli, Lucs new neighbor. When Matt is not working on losing his set of feathers, he is so busy frowning upon his sister and her demon boyfriend to notice much of what was going on.
Original Sin is dramatic, scary, and even better than the first story. No Sophomore slump for Desrochers, and I am looking forward to the novel formerly known as Hell Bent.
One thing I love about this series is the author pushes the boundaries of what people think should be in YA Fiction. You have an epic struggle for the ownership of a unique soul, a love triangle, a girl lusting after an angel and dating a demon, and what sexual scenes are in the book while handled delicately are extremely steamy.
If you missed book one Personal Demons it is in your local indie now. Original Sin will be available next month!
I received this book from the author’s agent for review.
Review: Beautiful Dead (Book 1 Jonas) by Eden Maguire
Something strange is happening in Ellerton High. Phoenix is the fourth teenager to die within a year. His street fight stabbing follows the deaths of Jonas, Summer and Arizona in equally strange and sudden circumstances.
Rumours of ghosts and strange happenings rip through the small community as it comes to terms with shock and loss. Darina,Phoenix’s grief-stricken girlfriend, is on the verge. She can’t escape her intense heartache, or the impossible apparitions of those that are meant to be dead. And all the while the sound of beating wings echo inside her head! And then one day Phoenix appears to Darina.
Ecstatic to be reunited, he tells her about the Beautiful Dead. Souls in limbo, they have been chosen to return to the world to set right a wrong linked to their deaths and bring about justice. Beautiful, superhuman and powerful, they are marked by a ‘death mark’ – a small tattoo of angel’s wings. Phoenix tells her that the sound of invisible wings beating are the millions of souls in limbo, desperate to return to earth.Darina’s mission is clear: she must help Jonas, Summer, Arizona, and impossibly, her beloved Phoenix, right the wrong linked to their deaths to set them free from limbo so that they can finally rest in peace. Will love conquer death? And if it does, can Darina set it free?
Beautiful Dead has every element that I dislike seeing in a paranormal work. The book is about zombies but maybe I am missing the point. It seems like a lot of authors are taking from supernatural elements and renaming them into something they are not.
The teens die in a mysterious way and are reanimated by an overlord who gives them a year to the date of their death to solve the mystery of their murder. To me this feels more like necromancy especially with the supernatural elements that the author gives the said zombies. Time travel and magic over time. Each teen has a ‘death mark’ that is tattooed onto the spot of skin where they are killed.
I think I would have liked the book more if the author had left out the word zombie and had only called the characters the “Beautiful Dead”. I was not able to connect with the characters in any way and some of the character names seemed to pull me out of the story a bit. Such as having a boy named Phoenix and a girl named Arizona, I could only think of Phoenix, Arizona while I was reading.
Darina who is the main character you follow through the world is still alive. She helps the Beautiful Dead to find out from the living information that may be used to solve their murder before they pass on for good. I felt she was a very bad example for teens. She only cared for the boy who died, even more than caring for herself. I also disliked that yet again in a young adult novel the parents are lame, and hard, and on the point of being abusive. Not every kid has crap parents.
In the end I do not think I will be reading book two. I struggled over this review trying to find some silver lining to share with you but I am unable to do so. I suggest from the same publisher reading either Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble or Bran Hambric by Kaleb Nation. Both of these works are good examples of what Source is trying to convey with their Teen imprint.
