Personal Demons~ Book Review

by Lisa Desrochers
read May 2011

Paperback Edition
Published by Tor Teen/Macmillan
Genre~ YA Paranormal Romance
ISBN 13 Hardback~ 978 0765328083
Source~ Sent for review by publisher

Rating~ 4/5

Review
Lisa Desrochers is an author local to me, so I was happy when I was offered the opportunity to review her book! Check back next week, I will be offering up a giveaway of a brand new copy!

Personal Demons is the first novel of a planned trilogy chronicling the life of Frannie, a mortal human, Lucifer (aka Luc), a demon sent to tag her hell for Hell, and Gabriel (aka Gabe) an angel sent to save her from Luc and tag her for heaven. The premise of the book was a welcome new twist to many of the books I have read in this genre. The idea of demons and angels roaming the Earth tagging souls for Heaven and Hell is intriguing.

The story is told from the alternating point of view of Frannie and Luc. I really felt the book lacked something by excluding the point of view of Gabriel. Maybe we will see more of Gabriel’s POV in future novels. I was also not a fan of the names of the characters. Frannie was never a favorite name for me and to call a character who is a demon, Lucifer, and the angel in the story, Gabriel, just lacked creativity for me.

The story though, is intriguing. The battle for Frannie’s soul is exciting and the discovery of what makes her so special unfolds nicely. Some might find the love triangle a bit tiresome, but I enjoyed it. I liked seeing Frannie form feelings for both boys, but in different ways.  The characters, even the supporting ones, are rich and believable.  None of them fell flat.  I really felt like the author captured the essence of teenagers.

A few plot twists were predictable but not unwelcome. It is the kind of book that sucks you in and makes you not want to put it down. Quite impressive for a debut novel.

One last thing I didn’t like was the cover art. I’m never a fan of seeing models posed as the characters of the book because I like to use my imagination, but I can usually look past it. With these models though….they look about 30 and are supposed to be playing high schoolers. But then again, Luke Perry was about that when he was in 90210 wasn’t he?  Generally speaking, cover art is not in the hands of the author, so I won’t hold it against her. 🙂

Overall, an enjoyable book. I hope to read the second book in the trilogy, Original Sin, in July when it comes out.  The third novel, Hellbent, is due out May 2012.

Visit the authors website here.

~Jenn

EDIT: I Spoke via email a bit with the author and she emailed me this link to a blog post regarding her decision on naming her characters.  It is something that others have questioned as well. http://lisadesrochers.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-defense-of-clichesand-original-sin.html

I love it when authors are down to earth and can take the good and the bad with regard to reviews.

~ by jennifermorrill on May 16, 2011.