Devil's Punch

Devil’s Punch is the fourth book in the Corine Solomon series by Ann Aguirre.

Devil’s Punch starts couple of months after the events in Shady Lady (third book). Corine is back in Mexico, she is rebuilding her pawnshop and trying to live with the consequences of her actions in Shady Lady. Chance has left everything behind and has followed Corine to Mexico; he is doing his best to win her back. Things are going well between them, Chance is opening more and slowly Corine is letting her walls down. But her peace ends when she learns that Shannon has been kidnapped by demons and was taken to Sheol (Hell). Feeling responsible for Shannon’s predicament Corine knows she needs to rescue her. Abandoning all her plans she leaves for Sheol in show more company of Chance.
Corine knows the demons are using Shannon as bait and she is walking into a trap, but she doesn’t care, for her best friend she is willing to do everything in her power to bring her back safely, including giving her life. But nothing could have prepared her for what she encounters in Sheol.

I really don’t know where to start with this review, so I’m going to start with my first words after I finish reading Devil’s Punch, those words were: WOW-WOW-WOW!! I’m not kidding that was what I said when I finished it. But let me tell you something else, those words came out of my mouth after five minutes of being staring at the last sentence of the book in state of shock, I was completely speechless and I may have had some tears in my eyes.

I don’t want to give much away, let’s just say that Corine went through a very difficult and strange transformation in Sheol, she became an even more complex character and the way Mrs. Aguirre accomplished her character’s duality was masterfully done.

Chance, oh dear Chance. I have to be honest with you, I didn’t like Chance and after meeting Kel in Shady Lady I didn’t want to see Chance again but in this book he was the better and improved version of Chance, one that slowly made me like him and even cheer for him, almost to the point of forgetting a “bit” about Kel (not completely). In this book Chance gave his best for Corine and was left with an uncertain future, one that broke my heart a little bit.

I have loved Shannon since she was first introduced in this series and in this book I loved her even more. She also went through a strong transformation, she is not longer a teenager she is a woman and a very kick ass one.

Characters we loved from previous books like Kel, Chuch, Eva and Booke were conspicuous by their absence and Jesse Saldana was only present through telephone conversations.
Many new characters, good and bad were introduced; from them I felt in love with Greydust and had mixed feelings about Ninlil. New friendships were formed and betrayals were committed.

Devil’s Punch had a completely different feeling compared to previous books in the series, it felt new and refreshing; Devil’s Punch is set in an different world, a world so vivid and realistic that now, days after reading it I feel as if I went to Sheol. I just need to close my eyes to picture the streets of Xibalba, the Queen’s Palace or the different demons’ castes.

Devil’s Punch is a non-stop-action-page-turner that will have you glued to its pages. With its many twist and turns it will take you on an emotional roller coaster, one with a final stop that will leave you panting for breath and wishing for a time travel machine to take you to March 2013 to the release date of Agave Kiss, the fifth and last book in this series. The only thing left for me to say is that Mrs. Aguirre has done it again.

I can’t recommend you enough this book, this series and this author in general. I have read all of Mrs. Aguirre’s books and I can honestly tell you that all of them are amazing books.
I recommend you to read these books in order to fully experience and appreciate the magical world Mrs. Aguirre has created with her words. show less

What I like about the Corinne Solomon series is Corinne Solomon and her quirky friends. During this book, because of Ninlil, we lost Corinne's pov for quite a long time. It was an interesting idea, but a gamble, and a gamble that failed for me because I neither enjoyed Ninlil nor the demon city. I didn't enjoy this book anywhere near the way I've enjoyed the rest of the series.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I love how Corine keeps growing and always stays loyal to her friends, even though her decisions can't always keep them safe.

As shown by this book, where she must travel to Sheol (the demon realm), after her best friend is kidnapped. She has plenty of misgivings before the journey, but she could never have foreseen all that will happen. I suspect some of the events of this book are probably going to have some extremely far-reaching consequences.

Chance has moved to Mexico to be with Corine and although their relationship is progressing slowly there time alone together is all cut short when Corine finds out her best friend has been kidnapped by Demons. The pair quickly find out that the kidnapping is to get Corine to jump into the demon realm and take her place on the throne.

I was really sad that the ending of book 3 SHADY LADY left some of Corine's closest friends without any memories of her. Although they finally get their memories back so much has happened and so much has been lost that it still leaves you really sad at the end of DEVIL'S PUNCH. The setting of book 4 takes place pretty much fully in on the Demon plane. I cant say I enjoyed it as much due to the fact that show more everything changed so much from what I'm used to reading about Corine. The world building is really great and the new characters were interesting but it just didn't feel like the other Corine books. The situation with Chance pretty much falling head over heals for the Demon Queen really bugged me. I understand a little bit because of the overall situation but come on, he is in love with CORINE and he didn't see anything seriously wrong with his behavior? I just had a really hard time with that overall and it made me lose faith in him. There is a lot of high emotion throughout the book and I did find myself bawling in a few parts. It will be interesting to see where Ann takes the series next.

DEVIL'S PUNCH was not my favorite of the series but a lot did happen to move the series along and I will be reading book 5 when it comes out. show less

The premise: ganked from BN.com: As a handler, Corine Solomon can touch any object and learn its history. Her power is a gift, but one that’s thrown her life off track. The magical inheritance she received from her mother is dangerously powerful, and Corine has managed to mark herself as a black witch by dealing with demons to solve her problems.

Back home, Corine is trying to rebuild her pawnshop and her life with her ex Chance, despite the target on her back. But when the demons she provoked kidnap her best friend in retaliation, Corine puts everything on hold to save her. It's undoubtedly a trap, but Corine would do anything to save those she loves, even if it means sacrificing herself….

My Rating: Good Read

Once I was finally able show more to sit down and really commit to reading (harder than you'd think, these days, but that's not the book's fault), I found myself pretty engrossed by Corine's journey. All the things that I didn't think I'd like coming out of Shady Lady ended up being super powerful developments in Devil's Punch, giving me an ending that has me gasping for more. I find myself wondering how this series will read once it's over and done with and I can go back and read each book back-to-back, and that I'm even considering it is a mark of high praise. Still, this book takes several dramatic shifts in terms of characterization, and while those shifts make sense, they're also tough to swallow. Everything straightens out at the end, but not without scaring those we've come to care about. I have no idea where the next book in the series will go, but I do know that I can't wait to find out.

Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. It's a pretty epic book in terms of endings, and you should also expect spoilers through book three, Shady Lady. The full review may be found in my blog, which is linked below, and as always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Ann Aguirre's DEVIL'S PUNCH

Happy Reading! show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

DEVIL’S PUNCH is the game changer book for the Corine Solomon series. Normally, I love it when authors take big risks to shake up their series, but I think in this case it might have been too much. Without spoiling anything, two huge events transpire; one that drastically alters the tone of this book, and another that will drastically affect the tone of the next book.

Praise is due once again for the writing which is as immersive as always. We get to visit Sheol aka Hell in DEVIL’S PUNCH, which provides plenty of opportunity for Aguirre to transport her readers with numerous delightful descriptions of various demons, underworld cities, and some very enchanting clothing options. Also show more enjoyable is the romantic decisiveness that Corine finally shows. She has made her choice and sticks with it. The early chapters with Corine and Chance re-learning each other were remarkably tender and very romantic. Chance finally let his guard down and revealed a lot about his past and it helped him endear himself to me in a way that he hadn’t managed in the previous books. And if the rest of the book could have stayed in that sweet spot, this would be another 4 bat review.

I can’t say I really enjoyed the changes made to either Corine or Chance in the course of DEVIL’S PUNCH. To be fair, with Corine, there were several hints from the previous books that led up to this change, but it was such a departure that, combined with the new setting, made DEVIL’S PUNCH almost feel like a book from a different series. Very little page time is spent in Mexico, and most of the supporting characters are no shows. So while I’d give the first half a 4/5, I unfortunately have to give the second half a 2/5. I don’t really know what’s going to happen in AGAVE KISS when it releases in March 2013. Several issues will have to carry over, which I’m not thrilled about, but hopefully, the oh-so-good stuff from the previous books will be back too.

Sexual Content:
A few sex scenes show less

Wow - was this book title spot on or what!!?? When I finished reading it, I really did feel like I had been punched in the gut by the devil himself. Holy emotional roller coaster Batman! I LOVED it! I am starting on Agave Kiss immediately!