Comic : Bookmarks

I’ve learned this the hard way.

Comic : Circular Thinking

The story of our life. I can’t see a way out of this!

Comic : Relationships

It’s hardly noticeable from here, but the book in the last panel has two letters on its cover : HP.

I’m sure you can figure out what it is 🙂

Review : Personal Demons

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
Pages : 365
Genre : YA, Paranormal Romance
Series : Personal Demons, book 1
My Rating :

What it’s about :

Frannie has been raised to be a good catholic girl, yet events of her past make her want not to believe in the existence of God.

When two new guys join her school, Frannie is surprised to have them immediately drawn to her – and to be drawn to them both, too. On one side there is sexy, dark, dangerous Luke; on the other, sexy, beautiful, charming Gabe.

And both have plans for her, plans that will force Frannie to face her path and question her beliefs once more.

My Thoughts :

Okay, so this book was clearly not for me. And I always feel bad giving a somewhat bad review when my disappointment so obviously comes from the fact that the book and I, we are clearly mismatched. I don’t think we could even be friends. Neighbors, maybe. Casual acquaintances. But nothing more.

I have no doubts there are plenty of readers out there who will love this book : it’s hot, sexy, steamy, with a lot of “ooohs” and “aaaahs”, and a love triangle that could rival the best out there. It’s romance in its hottest incarnation.

The plot, in itself, is interesting. Having Heaven and Hell battling for the soul of one girl, for a reason that is still unknown in the beginning, was an idea that had a lot of potential. I imagined an epic story between the forces of good and evil, with Frannie at its center, probably fighting for her own free will. I would have loved that.

But, because I am not a romance reader, this is basically what happened :

As I often mentioned in the past, I am not a romance reader. I love when romantic interactions are a part of the novel : romance, love, relationships, they are all part of life. But when the romance is at the core of the book, it doesn’t work for me. So even though I had a lot of fun at the start of the book, I was quickly annoyed by Frannie’s yo-yo dance between the two guys, and the obviously steamy scenes that followed.

If I think of my personal rating of the book, it would probably be lower; but I had to recognize, the book also had some strong points, hence the “in-the-middle” rating :

• The premise is interesting and keeps developing through the story, sometimes in predictable ways, sometimes in surprising ways.
• The author’s writing is engaging and quickly pulls you in.
• There are a lot of fun scenes, especially in the first half before the real drama begins, that gave me a smile and a giggle.
• The author did a great use of the mythological aspects of the religion, sticking to its core while adapting it for her story in an original way. Not all books are successful in this aspect (yes, I’m looking at you The Goddess Test) but Personal Demons is a success on that front.

So while I managed to finish this one, I have no idea whether I’ll read book 2 or not. It’s really not at the top of my list. But if you love paranormal romances, hot mysterious guys with a dark side, twists on angels and demons and sexy steamy scenes, you’ll probably find Personal Demons to be a great fit for you 🙂

Series Reading Order :

1. Personal Demons
2. Original Sin (coming July 5th 2011)

Comic : Nonsense

There are things in this world, that are just too awful for my mind to process correctly.

Comic : Reading everywhere

 

Do you read in some unusual places? Or, do you read when you’re not supposed to?