Personal Demons {ARC review} * * * * 1/2

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Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

- fantasy, YA -

reviewed by Tara SG

received for review from Book It Forward Tours

Book Order (Personal Demons)

1. Personal Demons * * * *
   
2. Original Sin (July 2011)
3. Hellbent (May 2012)

Links

Author’s Website : www.lisadwrites.com

Amazon : paperback / eBook

Add To Your GoodReads TBR List

This book in 6 words:

perfect mixture of angst and paranormal

Why did I read this? And am I glad I did?

I had seen a few good reviews for this and so I went ahead and signed up for the ARC tour. I’m really glad I read this! At first I was worried about reading another angel book, however, I LOVED that we got to see the demon’s POV. This is also creates my only problem with the book… I didn’t really like Gabe. But you know me, I pick teams early and Luc stole my heart instantly. I also loved the pacing. Any time you thought you were getting a break from the action, you got hit with another battle.

The characters and writing style are what won my heart. Not only am I impatiently waiting for the next in this series, but I will be picking up other things by this author.

Brief Summary

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She’s spent years keeping everyone at a distance—even her closest friends—and it seems her senior year will be more of the same…until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can’t seem to stay away from him. What she doesn’t know is that Luc works in Acquisitions—for Hell—and she possesses a unique skill set that has the King of Hell tingling with anticipation. All Luc has to do is get her to sin, and he’s as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance.

Unfortunately for Luc, Heaven has other plans, and the angel, Gabe, is going to do whatever it takes to make sure that Luc doesn’t get what he came for. And it isn’t long before they find themselves fighting for more than just her soul.

But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay…for all of them.

- via GoodReads.com

Plot/Pacing/Writing Style

As I mentioned above, I wasn’t excited to read another angel/demon book. The author took the battle for a girl’s soul and spiced it up. I really loved learning more about her version of how a soul became “tagged” and I REALLY loved watching how it played into normal teen angsty issues.

The pacing was perfect. I read it all in one sitting and never once felt bored. Don’t expect to be able to put this down near the end. While there isn’t a huge cliffhanger, you’ll be wanting to get your hands on the next book!

I LOVED the author’s writing style! The descriptions were gorgeous and I was completely sucked into the story. Luc having the ability to scent sins added a beautiful dimension to the world. The teenagers were intelligent and funny and yet still sounded like teenagers (which I really love to see). The author was able to not only make laugh out loud multiple times, she also made me cry.

Characters

Frannie is fantastic. I was worried that I wouldn’t like a “good Catholic girl”, but don’t go into this thinking that the book is preachy, because it isn’t at all. I really enjoyed reading Frannie’s POV. I felt like she talked like a teenager that I would have liked to have been. She doesn’t really care what others think of her. She cares deeply about her family. And she has a dark secret that she uses as an excuse to keep everyone out.

Luc is my currant favorite YA male lead. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that we get to see the demon’s POV. He was hilarious and arrogant. Watching him fall for Frannie was fun and painful. He doesn’t really understand his new feelings and he doesn’t like not being able to get his job done.

I wanted to like Gabe, but didn’t. I think a lot of it has to do not getting to see his POV and is mostly due to my love for Luc. I think his “cheating” by using his powers made me feel like Frannie’s feelings for him were false.

Favorite Quotes

Mmm… nothing like a little eye candy in the morning to get the day off to a sweet start – and possibly rot my brain.

- Frannie

She turns to me and smiles, and I’m suddenly struck with how unbelievably alive she is. Not that all mortals aren’t alive by definition, but there are degrees of aliveness. Some people are mostly dead, even when they think they’re alive. Frannie’s not one of them.

- Luc

“If the devil had a car, what do you think it would be?”

The mischeif in his voice is unmistakable. “A black Shelby Cobra GT500.”

My gut jumps a little. “What year?”

“1967.”

- Frannie and her grandpa (I found this really funny because it’s my husband’s dream car)

There’s no crying in baseball and no love in Hell.

- Luc

Recommendations

If you like fantasy YA, you really should give this a try!!

Going Deeper – EXTREME SPOILERS!

Only read this if you’ve read the book! Frannie is afraid that Luc only loves her because of her gift and Luc doesn’t think it matters why he started to fall in love with her. While I completely understand Frannie’s fears, I don’t believe she made him fall in love with her. She may have wanted him to be human so he could be with her and changed him in that way, but she didn’t want him to love her until way after he was smitten. I’m thinking this will be an issue in the next book and I’m not looking forward watching them fight over this. What do you think?