Devil's Daughter (Lucinda's Pawnshop #1) by Hope Schenk-de Michele, Paul Marquez, Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

Lucinda is the owner of a pawn shop which has the power to appear anywhere in the world. Only those who are going through some kind of moral conflict can enter; once inside, a dark object calls out to them. This object will have the power to greatly influence their lives.  As the devil's daughter, Lucinda collects these objects at the behest of Satan.  Because she is also the daughter of Eve, Lucinda still has a human soul and heart and this means that sometimes she's able to cast wrench into the devil's plans. Lucinda has been playing the long game for quite sometime but when Dominic makes his way to the shop, Lucinda finds herself tempted by a human for the first time in a long.  The fact that he is able to enter means that despite is apparent goodness, there's something dark about him as well.  Will Lucinda have the courage to explore her feelings or will she get caught up once again in one of her father's demonic schemes?

I honestly had by doubts about this book.  I read the description several times and because I kept coming back to it over the course of several days, I decided to read it.  It's a decision I absolutely do not regret.  There have been lots of tales about Satan and his evil plans for this world and so it wouldn't be fair to say that the Devil's Daughter is unique but yet, I found it a compelling read and simply could not put it down.  I love the idea that the devil can not act directly and so is forced to create far reaching plans, moving people around like pawns on a chessboard, instead directly influencing humanity.  Free will in this universe is paramount, making the evil that we do entirely of our own creation.  Yes, each person reaches a critical moment when they must choose between right and wrong but the choice at the end is always theirs.  It is however worth noting that there are times when the authors stray and become somewhat didactic as it relates to things like pre-marital sex and the importance of believing in the divine.

This notion of free will and the potential intrinsic evil of mankind only really becomes a problem for me when the authors bring up the holocaust.  The authors claim that Hitler was influenced by the devil and this is what lead to the holocaust.  Lucinda blames herself in part because she didn't see the plan coming together until it was too late.  Appropriating an atrocity in this fashion is never going to be acceptable because it reduces human lives to a plot point. Given that intrinsic evil is something the authors explored there's no reason supernatural machinations needs to apply to Hitler.

On some level, I found each of the characters interesting.  Lucinda and her self doubt about her own goodness based on her parentage reminded me of the question of original sin.  Even Eve, who didn't physically appear in this book finds redemption when the writers suggest that Eve isn't the one was cast out of heaven, nor did she eat fruit from a forbidden tree.  Eve chooses to join Adam on earth after being raped by the devil.  The authors didn't directly paint what happened between Eve and Lucifer as rape because it is rape by deception but at no point did they imply that this act isn't an extreme violation. Nathaniel, the enigmatic angel fascinated me the most.  He's a fallen angel and yet he promises to watch over Lucinda.  I very much get the feeling that he was assigned to fall to guide and help Lucinda.  I really want to know his backstory more.

Walking in the Midst of Fire (Remy Chandler #6) by Thomas E. Sniegoski

Remy Chandler has a new case – an Angelic General has been murdered. Apart from anything else, killing a powerful angel isn’t exactly an easy task. But more worrisome, if he doesn’t find out who did it, Heaven’s not going to look they’re just going to point fingers at the newly released Lucifer.

Which will mean war. And it doesn’t matter who wins a war between Heaven or Hell, Earth will be reduced to cinders in the process.

But in searching for the real murderer, Remy is involved in the convoluted plotting of an ancient figure from his past and has to make some very hard moral decisions. Especially since the angels and the fallen are not all that different from each other

I love how this book is written. In every scene we have some excellent description – but not too much. We havbe action that flows perfectly with blood-fizzing excitement without glossing over what’s actually happening. We have an amazing sense of epic – and this series needs the epic. The protagonist is a seraphim who is frequently fighting to save the world from the indifferent forces of Heaven and Hell – it needs epic. It needs lots and lots of epic. And it delivers – it’s one of those books that can very much be on-the-edge-of-your-seat reading.

Beyond the epic, this book also has some really impactful emotional scenes. It has some utterly tragic scenes, some really painful scenes and a whole lot of enraging scenes as well. I think it’s a mark of excellent writing and character development if you can well and truly loathe one of the characters (that is, if the character is written to be loathesome, anyway. I’ve read a few books where I’ve loathed the protagonist and I’m pretty sure that was unintended) because it means you’re so emotionally invested in the characters and the story that you can feel rage for the wrongs perpetuated.

This has that in spades – Remy is such a real character, such a human character (ironic, because he’s an angel) that he’s easy to connect to. His compassion, his honour, his emotion and his goodness are really powerful forces throughout the book which, along with the heavy amount of epicness in the story, makes me really want to get behind him. At the same time he’s very practical, he knows what compromises to make and what people to tolerate – even while, at the same time, having firm lines he will not cross under any circumstances. It’s an excellent balance of practicality with hard moral limits.

He also has some excellent interactions with other characters to really flesh them out and humanise them even if they don’t have much time on the page. His still apparent grief over his ex-wife, his fun relationship with Linda with both his doubts and the excellent bond and banter between them. His friendship with Mulvehill, his contact with Francis – it’s all very real

And they’re developed in their own right – seeing Mulvehill come to terms with the supernatural world is a powerful storyline of self-growth, discovery and determination. Seeing Francis, Mentagin, Squire and Heath together made for some awesome comic relief while still developing these relatively unpleasant characters – while still have the strength of Francis’s journey and underlying development – the fallen angel who isn’t sure what is right or what he should do.

There’s some wonderful development of the already incredible world building but – again – it’s so well written that we get all this new information without infodumping or it being awkward or convoluted – it works. If anything I will say it’s a little sparse in explaining the whole concept of the guardian of light magic and the guardian of dark magic – we needed more explanation as to what they actually were and how they came about. I did like that the white magic guardian was the actual aggressor. We also got some excellent development of the demons – both their origin and their actual legitimate grievance even if it doesn’t make them any less evil. It makes them evil for a reason – an understandable reason – rather than just “rawr, demons.”

Dracula's Secret (Blood Wings #1) by Linda Mercury

In the 15^th century, Vlad II, Vlad Dracul, is struggling to keep his home, the unstable and war torn land of Wallachia safe – and part of that requires a second heir should his eldest son die. But his wife gives birth to a daughter and they face the harsh choice of exposing her to the elements – until he looks at the new born child and sees a strength in her beyond anything he imagined – or would dare cross. They raise her as a son, Vlad.

Who would later be known as Vlad Tepes. Dracula.

And it is as a man that Vlad lives down the centuries until the terrible events of the Second World War, where Vlad fakes “his” own death and is reborn as Valerie Tate – free from her past but laden with a mission; to find redemption for the horrors she unknowingly abetted.

Lance has his own sins to atone, deeply hidden in his past that stretches far further than his human façade would suggest. He is caught in his own redemption, trying to maintain a shelter for the homeless and dispossessed, no matter who they are; a novelty in world where the supernatural is shunned and persecuted. But an act of kindness brings him to the attention of the national media and to the compelling beauty Valerie, one of the last vampires

And of Radu Dracul, Vlad’s brother – who has ambitions of his own.

Early in this book I was quickly hooked seeing the massive potential it had. Imagine, a female Dracula, raised as male, living her entire life – centuries – as male and then finally having the chance to present as female. The debate as to what was truly her and what was the act, how comfortable is she assuming a female role – how much of it is liberated desire and how much does she miss of the persona she has maintained so long? How much of her is Valerie? And how much is Vlad Tepes?

Then there’s the conflict with her brother Radu – the combination of love, shared experience and bitter hatred, vengeance and a need for redemption.

There’s Dracula’s involvement with Nazi Germany and her desperate need to redeem herself. There’re fallen angels seeing a way back to heaven, nascent angels seeking to offer guidance. And across this is a backdrop of a vast world full of a huge range of supernatural beings seeking to enter politics and find legal recognistion. Even a battle to try and keep a homeless shelter open in the face of fierce opposition and lack of resources

There is vast potential . There is so much that can be done with this story.  I couldn’t wait to see how all these wonderful, myriad issues would be brought together. There’s so much that could be done with this…

…so let’s do none of it and just have a purple-prosed romance, ‘kay?

*sigh*

The very potential of this book and the incredible world and premise that has been established just makes the actual book produced so much more disappointing! It’s not that some of those issues are all absent – we definitely touch on a few – but only shallowly because by far and away the dominant focus is on how very very hot Valerie and Lance find each other. Which is very very hot indeed. Extremely hot. I cannot stress how sexy they find each other. I mean, the first time they see each other we get three solid pages of description and how very compelling they find each other. This is before they speak a word. This is before they even stand within 10 feet of each other.

And it keeps going and going and going and going throughout the book. For every 4 lines about something else, there’s a line for how hot they find each other. They can’t move without framing their groin or cocking their hip or stroking a hand down various places as an invitation or to draw attention. And some of the prose is so very very very very purple. For example here is a description of her taking off his glove:

Hooking a fang around a fold in the leather covering his middle finger, Valerie tugged and sucked until his glove peeled off of him. Her mouth undressed his hand in a slow strip-tease. She heard his heart accelerate as the glove surrendered to her oral prowess. 

Is this actually sexy to anyone? Because I found it hilarious and have been quoting it aloud to make people giggle. Or there’s a scene where she gives him her car keys:

She pulled out keys, complete with a battered leather Mustang fob, and dangled them in front of him. They chimed like the church bells in the dark. Her smirk still-extended, wickedly delicious fangs. His mouth watered at the thought of those 350 vintage horses under his fingers waiting for his command.

It’s rare that I have come across such overly elaborate wording and there’re few books that have achieved this level of purpleness. And while it can certainly be entertaining from a comedy point of view, it does rather derail the plot of the story – and certainly any attempt at theme.

I want to read this book. I want to love this book. I don’t want to feel like a prospector desperately seeking the nuggets of story and world among the dross of purple dripping sex scenes (also, an aside, but this man’s foreskin is described as purple. Purple. Foreskins shouldn’t be purple. If your foreskin is purple you need to seek medical attention.)

The romance between Valerie and Lance is not just frustrating because it’s a rather clichéd (love at first sight, conflict which is convoluted and doesn’t develop, characters knowing each other for a few days and now being willing to die for each other and throw away decades long goals) romance written in brilliant purple prose that consumes vast chunks of the book. And it’s not just frustrating because of all of the depth we didn’t get and the storylines we didn’t pursue. No, it’s ALSO frustrating for the way it breaks its own story

Lance starts out with a passionate dedication to keep the homeless shelter open for all – supernatural and otherwise. Half way through and with a few sessions around the bedroom and absolutely no-one cares about it any more. And then we get John – or we don’t get John. We have some flashbacks with him in lance’s childhood, then absence, then sudden presence and he and Valerie are living together – why? How? What? When did this happen? Why did this happen? WHO IS THIS PERSON AND WHY IS HE EVEN HERE?! All of the political machinations devolved into a simple fight scene and odd ascension moment that just left me kind of lost because none of it was developed or truly explored in between the eternal turgidness, moistness and humping.

Review: Kasadya: Hellhound Awakened by Karen Swart

This book is one of the more original concepts I’ve come across in a long time. Demons in hell who have escaped their bondage in all their myriad forms and seek to corrupt and control humanity, feeding on their sin. The Fallen, angels that fell but sought forgiveness being tasked with defeating these demons and protecting humanity. And these Fallen come in so many forms – different kinds of fae, vampires, werewolves, even things like harpies and griffins. There’s immense diversity there. And then the hellhounds, created expressly to bring down the demons and level the playing field. It’s an amazingly rich world

Kas, as a young hellhound is an interesting character. I won’t say she’s unique in anyway, but she has some conflicts, not least of which is her frustration that she and hers must sacrifice themselves for humanity that seems driven to pursue self-destruction – and the unfairness of her being punished for what her ancestors did.

The story itself follows an incredibly interesting path with many different twists and turns, each unveiling and entirely new chapter, a new section of the world, and following Kasadya’s path from neophyte to formidable warrior in a world that is rapidly changing.

Unfortunately, despite all this good potential, the book fell very flat for me for me.

Firstly, this felt like several books rolled into one, like a series was compressed. We begin with a typical YA school setting; Kas has gone to supernatural school, she doesn’t like it, she’s bitter about her parents, there are mean girls, her teacher is mean but she’s oh-so-special-and-good.

Then we move and there’s a new threat (demons in… clubs?) and they need to train for that… but then we move again and she’s now growing and changing as a gladiator… then we move again and she’s training and fighting with a human team… then we move again.

Too many stories and none of them were developed as much as they could have been. They felt shallow and not properly built upon, almost like the author starts writing a story then suddenly switches to a different one, then suddenly she gets bored of that and moves to another one entirely.  They’d have been better served stretched out over 3 books to have greater impact, development and world building.

The second major problem is the main character’s voice. She starts as a whiny teenager, stropping and tantrumming around, drowning in angst and OMG IT’S NOT FAIR that makes her intensely unlikeable. It doesn’t help that the dialogue is, in general, pretty stilted and not very natural. And then after 2 years in the gladiator pits… she’s the same person! She’s more dangerous and lethal but her voice is the same and nothing ruins taking a level in badass like a character suddenly declaring “OMG!” Not “Oh My God”, literally “OMG”. Even Buffy would have a hard job passing that off as cool and dangerous snark. The only real growth we get out of her is a level of cockiness and a need to stare everyone down.

The story just ends up filled with loose ends and random inserts that never develop into anything because the story keeps changing. She makes friends at school, who then disappear. We have some obligatory Mean Girls, because every school must have Mean Girls who hate the protagonist on sight, but only one remains relevant and her animosity is still baseless. We have a love interest – who ceases to become relevant almost as soon as he’s introduced, and then a love triangle that does likewise and then the brother of one of the love triangle members which, again, doesn’t maintain relevance. The story changes so quickly and so shallowly that I can’t follow or becoming invested in any of these storylines in any major way.