Look, at least part of this is my own fault because I didn't realise this book was part of a series when I borrowed it from the library. So I had no idea who the characters were, what their history was, and what their motivations were. As much as it frustrates me when authors like Janet Evanovich put a two page info dump about the main character at the start of EVERY BOOK IN THE SERIES ("My name is Stephanie Plum, I live in Trenton, I have brown curly hair and blue eyes and I should probably work out more but LOL NOPE I'll just eat doughnuts instead. I'm kind of a train wreck and I pretty much suck at my job, but two hot guys want to bone me, so I'll go ahead and call it a win. Also, at least one car will get destroyed in this book"), at least it helps readers who can't be arsed to flip to the title page and see if it's part of a series to understand what the hell's going on.ANYWAY. Mostly I was bored and wanted this book to be over. I thought about DNFing it about a hundred times, but was already half way through before that thought occurred to me, and that seemed like I was past the point of no return. So I kept reading. I didn't care about the characters, I didn't really care about the plot, and I'm pretty sure I gave it an extra star for the fact that it contains a dog that can communicate using barks and Scrabble tiles. Maybe if I hadn't jumped into the middle of the series, things would have been different. But they're not. I can easily say this was the darkest of the novels in this series to date. I normally do not read dark themed novels, but, Ann Aguirre finds the light no matter how dark themed it gets. Once I joined our angel/demon Corine Solomon on her journey to Sheol, I was amazed at the descriptive powers of Ms. Aguirre's pen. The scenes became alive and you could visualize the characters.The quest was to save her best friend, Shannon. We met Shannon earlier in the series, so we know how deeply Corine feels for her. Having her kidnapped by demons was not something our Corine could sit by and not try to save Shannon.Along for the journey is Chance, Corine's boyfriend who also possesses the gift of 'Luck.' We get to learn a great deal more about him and why Corine is so attracted to him.This is an adventure novel. Written with dimension and care. I hope that Ms. Aguirre keeps the series going for a long time, but, maybe a wee bit lighter? Corine deserves a break, perhaps in the heavens?
What do You think about Devil's Punch (2012)?
Loved Aguirre's version of hell. Can't wait for the final book
—Rebekah
