Terri Garey

I enjoyed Devil Without a Cause so when A Devil Named Desire, the second book of Terri Garey’s The Devil’s Bargain series was offered to me, I couldn’t resist. Tired of Gabriel’s lectures on love and lust, Sammy B Divine seizes an opportunity when in despair, Hope tries to commit suicide. In her moment of weakness Samuel extracts a promise from the web designer, the location of her long lost sister for the dissemination of the Key – the incantations that open the gates of hell on show more Earth – on the world wide web. It is a move guaranteed to attract the attention of Gabriel and force the angel to confront the same temptations that caused Samuel’s downfall. The devil’s plan works perfectly, Gabriel is stripped of his wings and the right hand of God is now a mere mortal. There are consequences for Sammy though when his son, Cain, is kidnapped by the Leviathan and Gabriel is the only one who can save him, for how can Sammy expect Gabriel to forgive him and make the ultimate sacrifice.

It seemed at first there were two distinct stories happening with A Devil Named Desire, but it soon becomes clear they are unified by the themes that weave in amongst the plot – forgiveness and friendship. These are played out amongst the relationships between Hope and her sister, Charity, Cain and Telsa, Sammy and Gabriel, and their respective relationships with The One. I thought this showed a lot of skill on Garey’s part to manage these seemingly disparate threads yet draw them together into a cohesive life lesson for all the characters. There is a lot going on under the surface of what could easily be dismissed as just another paranormal romance novel.

The PNR storyline between Gabriel and Hope actually gets a little lost in amongst Samuel’s story I think. The insta-love is manipulated by the Devil and The One so it doesn’t feel particularly genuine and I am not sure the right hand of God is really a good match for a woman who (accidentally) killed her parents, drove her little sister away and tried to commit suicide. Still, the fact that Gabriel is willing to become mortal to be with Hope is satisfyingly romantic. For me though, it was Samuel’s relationships that had my interest.

Samuel, the Devil, is the ultimate bad boy, a master of manipulation and deceit who is nevertheless losing his taste for the wickedness and chaos he used to revel in so indiscriminately. His relationship with Nikki Styx (who makes a cameo appearance in this book) has changed him and he is having trouble adjusting to his shifting perspective. Lashing out at Gabriel is supposed to make himself feel better but instead Sammy regrets his impulsive decision even if he can’t admit to it. I really like how Garey has developed Sammy into such a complex and contradictory character, not only is it a unique idea, it makes him a fascinating protagonist, unpredictable and surprisingly sympathetic. His bitterness and pain is understandable given the circumstances but it’s satisfying to see him slowly let go of that piece by piece.

There is enough lust, romance and gorgeous men to keep any fan of the PNR genre happy and a storyline that will satisfy those who enjoy something with a bit more depth. A Devil Named Desire works well as a standalone though I think it helps to have background knowledge of Sammy B Divine’s character found in Garey’s Nikki Styx series and the previous installment of The Devil’s Bargain. I am already looking forward to finding out where Sammy goes from here. show less

This is the second book in the Nicki Styx series, and it will be the last one I read. After a sluggish first book that I was iffy on, I did start this one. Sadly, I had to force myself to finish it. This one was mired in loose ends, unbelievable connections, and a rather forced premise.

First, the plot was all over the place. Nicki has not even come to grips with her "knack" (as it's referred to in the book), but now there's long-lost twin Kelly, thrown into the mix. I get that Nicki now show more kinda understands the "interconnectedness" of all things during her brief stint in the light, but it was a bit of stretch that the doctor who saves her life and now wants to date her *just happens* to be married to her long-lost twin. And Nicki's reaction on the whole thing ran too long. I get it. It's a huge shock to find out you have a long-lost twin when you believed you were an only child. But it took her nearly to the end of the book to deal, and even then, I'm not sure she had. But instead of trying to work through it, Nicki's reaction was of a petulant child ... through the entire book - it became more than irritating.

Also, a theme that kept popping up was that while Nicki was adopted by loving parents, Kelly bounced from foster home to foster home and never had any one (cue sad violins) AND she was in a terrible car wreck. Since the twins were given up at birth, I have a very hard time believing that Kelly wouldn't have been adopted. And there's no real explanation as to WHY they were separated because apparently they were *supposed* to be kept together. But we're just supposed to accept that Kelly grew up in foster care and no one ever knew about her. Alright. But the whole "Feel bad for her because no one loved her" got old fast.

On top of long-lost twin Kelly (as if that wasn't enough shock to Nicki's system), biological mother enters. Bio mom prefers to be called "Peaches" - really? Peaches? There was no clear explanation as to why when her name was Lila, except references to a peach smell and lots of pink clothing. But that seemed like a stretch. Anyway, Peaches tracks down long-lost sister. Now they're both on their way to meet Nicki. Except bio mom dies in car crash first and comes to Nicki as a ghost, but because she's a newish ghost, she's confused and doesn't recognize Nicki, but knows she's dead. Again, something that's never really explained.

Then we have Bijou, the mysterious "mother" of Peaches and "grandmother" to the twins, who *just happens* to show up at Peaches funeral. The twins pay for the funeral and have Peaches buried in Atlanta because apparently there are no other relatives. Yet, someone contacts Bijou? Again, not explained how that works either. And the whole Bijou is Leonard thing - weird. And again, not really clear what the point was other than maybe an attempt to give the story yet another twist. But it failed. It didn't work and was just dumb.

But before we learn the who Bijou-Leonard scenario, enter dead rich guy and his mistress, "Psycho Blonde." We then learn that Nicki can only see female spirits and Kelly can only see male spirits. Very yin/yang. So Kelly helps dead rich guy enter the light, even though he was not a nice guy and blatantly cheated on his wife. But Psycho Blonde does not take this well because she wants/needs his soul to burn in hell, literally. So Psycho Blonde now starts popping up periodically to screw with Nicki.

Then enter Sammy, who we learn later is the Devil in disguise. He's trying to tempt Nicki to the dark side. And he'd prefer her because apparently her "knack" is stronger than Kelly's. WTF?! We went from yin/yang to yin/ya with no clear explanation on why one of the identical twins, even though they share the "knack", would be stronger or weaker than the other. The only thing I could connect was it had to do with Nicki being raised in a loving home while poor little Kelly was the orphan no one wanted.

On top of the schizophrenic plot, the characters actually got weaker and one-dimensional. Both Kelly and Nicki became 8 year olds with two modes. Angry or whiny. No depth at all. Joe might as well not even been there, and I was actually rooting for him to get in the cab. I have no idea what he would see in Nicki, because frankly she was irritating. The only half-way interesting character, Evan, dropped out of sight completely, except a few brief conversations with Nicki.

Outside of the whole good vs. evil never-ending war, I think the point was to show the larger "interconnectedness" of the world, i.e., the message Nicki got when she went into the Light. But this book failed miserably to do so. If you want to read a book that seamless interconnects seemingly random scenes/events/characters together into one fluid plot, then read Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and leave this book on the shelf. show less

Bought for Myself
Overall Rating 4.25
Character Rating 4.50
Story Rating 4.00
Future Member of the Snort Club (I think)

NOTE: I was hesitant about picking up Dead Girls are Easy because I read Devil Without a Cause. I loved Sammy, so I wasn't sure how I would react to Nicki. My friend Christi said I had to read them because Nicki was my kind of leading lady. As always, Christi was right!

What I Loved: Nicki Styx! Terri Garey has written a smart nontraditional beauty. Nicki isn't afraid to speak show more her mind even though she has insecurities and a whole heaping mess full of problems. I love those kind of characters that can keep a sense of humor while tackling things that just pop up in their lives. From Dead People to long lost relatives, Nicki manages to handle everything with her own unique brand of humor and hutzpa. Also love Evan, Nicki's BFF! He is so full of awesome! The following quotes are from him....

He tore his gaze from Christian Lacroix’s spring collection to take a good look at my face. “Oh, dear Lord. It’s Kelly Osbourne the morning after. What happened to your mascara? Your lipstick is all smeared.”

“He should’ve told you.” “Then why didn’t he?” Evan threw up his hands. “Honey, if I knew the answer to that I’d either be a straight man or a shrink. And I’d much rather have the two hundred bucks an hour.” “Two fifty,” I said glumly.

What I Liked: Not in love with Joe the boyfriend/doctor. It really isn't his fault I am not in love with him. I am still really trying to wrap my head around all the circumstances surrounding him. However, I have a feeling I will come to love him very much!

Complaints: None!

Why I gave it a 4.25: This was such a fun beginning to a new series for me. The story, plotting, pacing, and characters were all fantastically done! show less

Attrazione infernale, di Terri Garey, è il secondo volume della serie urban fantasy “Nicki Styx”, irriverente ventottenne amante del vintage e con un’avversione sconfinata verso tutto ciò che è ordinario e normale.

Nicki, a seguito di un problema cardiaco, ha affrontato, neanche un mese prima, un viaggetto piuttosto turbolento verso la Luce. Per qualcuno, però, non era ancora arrivato il suo momento e di conseguenza è stata rispedita indietro con un un’esperienza pre-morte al show more limite del fantascientifico e con un piccolo extra: parlare con le anime dei defunti con faccende in sospeso.

In realtà, da quella che lei reputa una “pessima” esperienza, Nicki ha guadagnato anche qualcosa di bello: Joe Bascombe, suo medico e poi compagno.

La sua vita sarebbe finalmente felice con il suo fidanzato, il suo negozio di vintage, il suo socio e migliore amico gay Evan. Certo, il problema di vedere anime in giro è piuttosto rilevante, ma Nicki è testardamente coraggiosa e, quindi, nonostante gli sbuffi, non nega a nessuno il suo aiuto; nemmeno ai morti.

Il problema, purtroppo, è che per chissà quale ironia della sorte (siamo sicuri che si debba parlare di “Sorte”?) l’ex moglie di Joe – e non ancora ex fino a momento della firma dei documenti – è anche sua sorella . Gemella.

Le due ragazze sono state date in affidamento da neonate e non hanno mai saputo nulla l’una dell’altra fino a quando Joe non ha mostrato una foto a Nicki con la ragionevole certezza che si trattasse della sorella. O fino a quando una donna, Lila Bourdreaux, non decide di recarsi da Nicki in cerca di aiuto: la sua auto è finita fuori strada e sua figlia è rimasta dentro, senza aiuto! Ma come spiegare a Lila Bourdreaux che, in realtà, è morta? E come mai, sua sorella, si trova in quella macchina, in fondo ad un burrone?

E' così che si avvia questa seconda avventura di Nicki Styx. Lei, Joe e Kelly, l’ex di Joe e sua sorella gemella, nella stessa casa. Nessuno potrà dire che Nicki non soccorre chi ha bisogno di aiuto! Fare sempre agli altri ciò che vorresti sia fatto a te. Ma come far uscire la sua sanità mentale intatta da questa allucinante situazione?

Il romanzo ci conferma che l’autrice sa scrivere e che le sue idee non cesseranno mai di stupirci, pagina dopo pagina. Il suo stile è esilarante, irriverente e assolutamente “chiassoso”. Proprio come Nicki che, fra un attacco di bile nei confronti dei fantasmi maligni e un colpo di gelosia nei confronti di Kelly che continua a confonderla circa le sue intenzioni con Joe, si sentirà più volte lusingata dall’idea di farli fuori tutti. Per il bene del suo cuore difettoso, s’intende.

E se a tutto ciò ci aggiungiamo un Diavolo tentatore che non le da tregua, una ritrovata famiglia con un passato così carico di scheletri nell’armadio da spaventare chiunque e una schiera di fantasmi ben decisi a mandarla al manicomio, sembra chiaro che gli ingredienti per rendere questo libro assolutamente squisito ci sono tutti. Soprattutto se consideriamo che, finalmente, avremo tutte le risposte che cerchiamo per quanto riguarda il passato delle gemelle e il loro abbandono. Avremo le risposte a tutti i nostri “perché”.

Non mancheranno anche picchi di tensione lievemente drammatici, ma l’autrice gestisce il tutto con insolita maestria per essere alle sue prime opere. Sicuramente, viste le premesse, non tarderà a farsi una schiera di fans. Ora, però, non resta che attendere di leggere le prossime mirabolanti avventure della nostra eroina dai capelli rosa shocking. show less