Wednesday, March 12, 2014

DEMON LOVER by Kate Hill



Publisher: Changeling Press
Date published: 1-9-14
BIN: 00106-00046  
Erotic Romance, Paranormal, Dark Fantasy
E-book
Reviewed by Helen
Weblink: https://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=46
Obtained via publisher
Rating: 3.5




John Standcliff is a demon in hell, suffering endless punishment for five murders he committed. The blurb and inside the book say that happened in 1656. The front matter of the book says 1675. From time to time he’s summoned to Earth to kill a murderer and send them to Hell. This time he’s sent back to his home town where there’s a new murderer attacking women. Corinne Rogerio is visiting her policeman brother to research the murders John committed. The attraction between them is instant, but any hope of happiness is impossible.


This is a gripping, fast-paced story with a nice twist to the angels and demons theme. There are several surprises inside the book and they’re all very well done indeed. I did guess the murderer fairly easily but there’s plenty of tension before the final scene to keep the reader’s interest. The sex scenes are hot and well written and the suspense is handled well too.

It was the little things that pulled me out of the book, like the date contradiction above, and the fact that the book specifically says John is given a crash course on life in the twenty-first century, yet in places it seems like an old book from the 1980s. No one has a cell phone. A message is delivered by a person, as a written note, not by email or text message. There are seven children and three babies in the day care center, yet only one person watching them and no mention of people helping out needing a Working With Children Check. This is one of Changeling Press’s Tenth Anniversary books so I’m wondering if it was first written ten years ago. In that case there’s absolutely no excuse for the 1656/1675 confusion. But I would have expected a note on the book saying it was a reissue.

In conclusion my opinion is that the author has written a good book but it just needs a little polishing to bring it up to where it deserves to be.


This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.



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