Personal Demon

This is the 8th book in the ‘Women of the Otherworld” series, and is a blast. I greatly enjoyed reading it. Unlike some series, where the author tries to throw a little bit of each of the previous characters into every book, this one doesn’t have unneeded mention of characters that aren’t involved. Yes, there are nods to previous books and prior characters make an appearance when it makes sense. But it does make sense.

This particular book is the first in the series that has two narrators. Every previous book has been told from the first-person point-of-view from the female protagonist. This one also has a male first-person POV (and not the heroine’s love interest) that was included because there were some elements to the story show more that can’t be told from her eyes. She would have no way of seeing some of the things that happen; instead of telling them second-hand, or fabricating a reason for her to be present, Kelley used dual-narration. I really like it. I think the narrating style works well. The story told by Hope (the heroine) is truly only half the story; adding Lucas’ half really makes the book.

I don’t know that I would call this book my favorite in the series. Hope is not my favorite of the characters (though not my least favorite either) and so the book’s not quite the same as the books where I really connect with the narrators. Lucas, however, is a favorite, and so I love his sections. Even without this being my favorite, however, Personal Demon does make the short list of my favorite books from the past couple of years. show less

I wasn't sure I'd like Hope at the beginning. I didn't know what to make of her, I didn't want to read about another super-powerful demon, I was worried she'd be either too powerful or the thing that hindered her power would be too crippling. I ended up liking her. She's, well, normal, or as normal as you can be as a half-Chaos demon, tabloid reporter, former debutante. The drawback to her powers is that she likes the feelings of chaos, harm, death, and she doesn't like that she likes it. Instead of turning that into some moral tale, Hope has to learn how to live with it, enjoying what she can despite her ethics, while still keeping in control and not causing the chaos she desires.

I also liked Hope working for the Cortez Cabal. I like show more Benicio Cortez. Okay, fine, he's a sorcerer but I like him. I don't like Karl and his wolfness being all possessive. (Least favorite werewolf trope? Close to it.) In many ways, I liked the supernatural gang. I could understand why they sought shelter with each other and fought against the cabals; they don't have much choice in their lives.

I was so bummed about Jaz being the bad guy. I liked Hope having fun with him, with this guy who laughed and wanted to have fun. I liked her relaxing and just letting it be. She may be a supernatural, but she's young and she deserves fun. Jaz was fun.

One thing I wish was different was her name. Hope is Indian and there's a thing about how her name doesn't reflect it even though her looks do, but I wanted her race to be just sort of matter of factly there. This might be me wanting this to reflect my friends of Indian descent and their names, but it also seems it would be easier to not have people constantly comment on her name and ethnicity not going hand in hand. show less

TW/CW: Sex, death, murder, torture, fantasy violence

RATING: 3.5/5

REVIEW: This is the 8th book in my Women of the Otherworld reread! It’s shocking how much of the books I’ve forgotten over the last ten years.

This book was…not my favorite. It wasn’t a bad book, but to be honest I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had just been narrated by Lucas and Hope and Karl had been left out entirely. I wasn’t a huge fan of Hope and her relationship with Karl did pretty much nothing for me whatsoever.

The story itself, though, was interesting and moved quickly enough when it wasn’t bogged down with bland love scenes between Hope and Karl (yeah, I didn’t like them. ;)).

Despite my issues with it, I’d still recommend this show more book, if for no other reason than it’s part of a great series and the parts narrated by Lucas are great. 🙂 show less

Hope Adams's demon heritage has given her the ability to sense the supernatural--and a disturbing taste for chaos and darkness. Being a kind and compassionate person is particularly hard for her, when the greater the cruelty, the greater the high she gets from it. To pay off a debt to the Cortez Cabal, she agrees to infiltrate a supernatural gang in Miami. But she begins to find being on the wrong side of the law a little too exhilarating...Will she be able to pull back from the lure of chaos-highs, or will she give in to her demonic heritage?

This book would have been a hundred times better without the interference of Karl, Hope's former partner and lover. He is snarly, domineering, thirty years older than her, and completely show more emotionally unavailable. So of course, he's her love interest. I disliked him and I really disliked that she put up with him. In the short story that introduced these two characters, they had banter and sexual tension. In the novel, there's no banter and no sexual tension--just intermittent hook ups and constant power plays from Karl. Ugh!

The non-romantic plot in the novel is much better. It focuses on Lucas Cortez, who works with Paige Winterbourne to create a grass-roots, community-driven alternative to the Cabals. Most paranormal romance books have some sort of ancient organization that secretly rules the world: vampire councils, Hunters, that sort of thing. The Cabals fill that same role, of an organization both keeping supernaturals safe and secret and using their powers for their own less-than-innocent ends. But unlike most authors, Armstrong doesn't use the Cabals as short-hand for a shadowy villain. As self-serving and controlling as they are, the Cabals have shaped the supernatural world for centuries, and simply destroying them would lead to an even worse situation. Each novel in this series has explored the power structures of the supernatural world a little further, and it seems like matters are coming to a crisis point. I'm very interested to see what happens next. show less

This is actually my favorite book in the series. I can certainly understand some of the other reviewers distaste for the Hope and Karl relationship, but that's part of the reason why I love it. They certainly aren't the kind of pairing that generally permeates paranormal romance and that adds a layer of complexity that I really appreciate.

As the title suggests, Hope brings in a level of internal conflict that had been missing since Bitten. I didn't even realize it was missing until reading Personal Demon, but when I found it, I knew exactly what it was.

That internal conflict along with the action, intelligence and sexually charged scenes (wow!) made putting the book down nearly unbearable.

This is definitely a must read for anyone who enjoys this series. It is quite different from Kelley Armstrong’s earlier books because instead of having just one female narrator we have one female, Hope Adams (chaos half-demon) and one male Lucas Cortez (sorceror and reluctant heir to the Cortez Cabal). I did wonder why we needed to see Lucas’s side of things right up until a major plot development which will leave both him and Paige with a lot to worry about in future books.

Most readers probably won’t know who Hope is, though she is briefly mentioned in Broken. She has her own short story in the anthology ‘Dates From Hell’ so I would advise people to read this before reading Personal Demon.

This book brings a few of the show more series’ minor characters to the front of the stage and in doing so we get to learn a little more about Pack history and a little more on what it’s like to work for a cabal.

As for Hope, I didn’t really connect with her though I did feel sorry for her having to struggle with her ability to not only detect chaos but to feed off it as well. This made her feel guilty, getting a thrill out of something bad. I was more interested in Karl Marsten, werewolf thief; Troy, personal bodyguard to the head of the Cortez Cabal and the Cortez family itself.

Overall, its a good read with death and conspiracy popping up everywhere you look. I'm looking forward to reading about what happens next for Lucas and the Cortez family. show less

Eighth in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. The main character in this book is Hope Adams. Adams is a debutante with the exotic looks of her Indian mother. She learns as a young woman that she is a half-demon, and her power is detecting and feeding off of chaos (strong emotions). Not knowing how she was reading strong thoughts and being drawn to them earned her some time in a mental institution. Now she feeds the chaos as a tabloid reporter chasing down alien abduction stories and working for the interracial council of the supernatural races. She accepts an assignment that takes her to Miami to go undercover into a gang that wants to challenge the cabals. She is greatly attracted to one of the young gang members, Jaz, while show more still trying to deal with her strong feelings for the werewolf Karl.

After reading so many books in this terrific series, I've decided Armstrong should take as her motto, "Writing rationally about the irrational". Her plots are well thought out, and so are her characters, who mostly behave like, well, rational adults. They plan things out, yet act when they must, using all their intelligence, talents, and more. The supernatural characters all have powers, and there are consequences to those powers that are often difficult to deal with, and that shape the characters and their destinies.

The purpose of all creative writing, in my mind, is to define what it means to be human and explore its limits and strengths. Armstrong does this well in her series by showing the limits of power, and the choices that power forces on us. And along the way she is darned entertaining. Highly recommended. show less