Demon Bound

Fourth book in the Guardians series and its Jake's! I adored Jake in [b:Demon Night|1543965|Demon Night (The Guardians, #3)|Meljean Brook|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1280028953s/1543965.jpg|1536223], so I was thrilled that the next book in the series was his. Jake is one of the younger angels. Turned during the Vietnam War and let out of his training early, Jake is a little more enthusiastic than the older guardians. He often lets his mouth run away from him and is forced to pay five dollars to Ethan for saying something offensive. In this story, he starts working with the guardian Alice. During her human life, Alice made a bargain with a demon that she would bring him Micheal's heart. Fearful of being forced into fulfilling that show more bargain, Alice has never gotten close to many of the other guardians. At the beginning of this story, Alice's fears are being realized. The demon has gotten impatient for Alice to finish their deal and Alice is getting desperate to find a way out of it.

I really adored this entry in the series. Jake's out-going and enthusiastic nature was a great contrast to the modest introvert that was Alice. Watching Jake get attached to Alice and having to constantly pay her five dollars for saying stupid shit was pretty amusing. Alice's treatment for hysteria during her mortal life was morbidly fascinating, as was the lingering impact it had on her. The only reason why this isn't getting a full five stars is because the main plot featuring the bargain seemed to get a little lost in the middle of the story. Jake and Alice get stuck in hell for a little bit and while it was interesting, it was a little jolting getting back to the main plot on Earth. The time spent in Hell was important though. It was just more important to the over-arching plot of the series rather than the one focused on in this particular book. We also got a lot more background on Michael in this story and I love him even more now. I can't wait to see what Brook does for his book. show less

I loved the characters, the romance between Jake and Alice was fantastic, and I even enjoyed Alice's spiders (and I'm normally a bit of an arachnophobe). Plus, the world building is really lush and complex, but... eh, I'm so not into the angels vs. demons thing. It's not the writing, I just find that a snooze-inducing theme in general. I've tried to talk myself into loving this series despite that, but I think I'm going to give up and stick to Ms. Brook's Iron Seas series from here on out -- all of the loveliness in terms of characters and writing, none of the angels or demons.

I so love the world Meljean has built in this series! I am sometimes confused or overwhelmed and have to go back and re-read, but I am never bored!

I liked both the hero and heroine in this book. Alice reminded me of the older blue-stockinged heroines in the historicals I like - just add in the creepy spider thing. Jake would say things that made me laugh and things where I wanted to smack him upside the head. That's when I know I have actually connected with a character! But as much as I liked Jake and Alice, I kind of thought even at the end he was too young for her.

Took a while to get started...

ARRA Secret Santa gift: :)