Thursday, 5 June 2014

Demon At My Door By Michelle A. Valentine


This was a fun, fluffy and dark version of  'The Time Traveler's Wife'. Even though it was a paranormal novel, I occasionally had to remind myself that the aim and path we were on was to stop a demon that was days away from claiming her soul. The story as it progressed became airy and fluffy with serious undertones closer as got to the end.

Ms. Valentine is a good writer and she gives you stories that you can float along and feel comfortable with but they rarely  have those blow your mind moments! This was another of those good stories but it was also flat. Nothing really spectacular happened and while I was interested to the see the end I could have skipped a few pages to get there.

As it relates to decisions, the final ones were kinda crappy and made the entire novel seem redundant. I am baffled as to her final choices and completely unaware of what made her come to those decisions. I understand setting the stage for a book 2 but this finale was not it. It's like we unwound the entire book 1 to make way for the next in the series.

On the plus side, I liked the main characters of Natalie, Rick, Stewart and eventually Taylor. In my mind, I've already made them up to be a super demon fighting team. Each character has and brought their own elements that helped to enhance the experiences within this story.

There are a few discrepancies, especially in Stewart's world with his abuse and true identity but I can't really disclose those without spoiling the plot for potential readers. All I can say is that he must have not been beaten enough because the Stewart at the end of this novel wouldn't have the marks the Stewart at the beginning received.

I like the occasional bad boy, so you can just imagine how in love I was with Rick. I had already put the pieces of the puzzle together with his entrance so I got over his big reveal and reveled in his version of bad. Currently, I would want him to find another chick, who helps funnel that bad side that brings the sexy smirk I love so much, instead of the ever doubtful Natalie who really does not have much care for her soul  as she thinks. The girl seems to have no trouble bartering it away regularly like it's a piece of beef jerky.

I got to respect Taylor a little more at the end of this story but we barely got any time with her so I hope that book 2 will see us interacting with her more. Where Lilim is concerned, I know we will be seeing her again, I just don't care much about her character right now.

Stewart has always eluded me because he was too bland and all american to hold my interest. So I didn't care to note his reactions and personality as the story progressed. He too however got more interesting in the end and also brought another major discrepancy with Taylor being all besotted to him in light of her revelations. It became one paranormal style college drama.

There is no penetration sex in this novel so it's heavily NA based but that's fine. I do hope though that book 2 gives us some demon sex cause it looks like it would be a good one. Once again though another discrepancy formulated with dude levitating. Why? Gravity seemed to be holding you just fine all the other times.

The final fight in this novel was hilarious more than serious because it was straight out of a 'Looney Toons' cartoon. I wouldn't be surprised is they drew for an anvil hammer as they kept summoning weapons out of thin air like a video game. That was too much fiction even for no limits, deal making demons. It also brought up the discrepancy of who can see these demons, as a character with an unclaimed soul, who wasn't marked for death, was impervious to them freezing time and that went against every thing we were lead to believe over the course of this novel.

There is an abundance of loose ends in this novel and juxtapositions a mile long! I was however kept engaged, intrigued and interested as I made my way through the chapters to the final decisions and lines drawn in the sand. I loved the early banters with Natalie and the 5 year old demon, as well as, the times spent in the present trying to break the contract with said demon.

Natalie kept this story interesting, fierce and most importantly, moving. Even if we were thrust right back to the beginning by the end, there wasn't a break in momentum and the story kept steady to the end as we went against the rules on the countdown to doom.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16300439-demon-at-my-door

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