Personal Demons (Personal Demons #1)
Lisa Desrochers
Published: Sept. 2010 (Tor Teen)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Rating (out of 5): 2 stars
Frannie is gifted. So far she only knows she gets visions of death, but there’s more for her. She may not know it yet, but agents from heaven and hell do. When Lucifer and Gabriel — teen versions of their namesakes — are dispatched to try and tag Frannie’s soul for their respective metaphysical teams, it starts as just a job. Luc plans to just cause her to sin, tag her and get out. Unfortunately, he didn’t predict the way she’d make him feel, especially as demons don’t feel.
Frannie is all about the hot new guy, and is even more floored when he makes a move because her friends are the ones who get the guys. Things are going great, and then a second new guy shows up. Gabe is all sorts of blond goodness, and he’s interested in Frannie, too. She can’t decide who she wants to be with, and while she and the guys battle with their feelings for each other — other demons are showing up in town with their eyes on Frannie.
There were parts of Personal Demons that had me utterly rapt and rushing forward to get more, but more often I found parts that I just skipped paragraphs. During the latter parts I considered stopping, but then I’d be back with Luc and wanting more. We flit between Luc and Frannie’s points-of-view, and while I don’t dislike Frannie, Luc is a far more fascinating character — and not just because he’s the ultimate bad boy being reformed by love. (Though, that part is nice.) Luc has real depth. His evolution through the novel is touching and it’s his story that had me gripping pages.
And with that it was hard for me to see why Frannie would really have a hard time deciding between the two guys. The idea of Gabe’s appeal as a bastion of love is appealing, but for me his character felt so one-dimensional when set next to Luc.
I can definitely see why teens might love Personal Demons. There are steamy kisses and head-over-heels love confusion. The problem, from an adult side at least, is I want some kind of relationship development. Frannie is almost magically in love with these two guys immediately. And I get that OMG reaction, but the guys had the same reaction without any real reason for us to be all about these people other than the hot factor.
The novel wasn’t bad. It was OK, if a bit predictable. If you like love triangles and really just want some hot guys fighting over a nice girl, then Personal Demons will be a good quick read for you.
Sexual content: Kissing, references to sex
I’ve heard mixed things about this one…it’s been on my TBR pile for awhile. It may be on it for a while longer, LOL
K
Yeah, I was COMPLETELY disappointed with this one =(
So sorry PD didn’t work for you, but thanks for the honest review. And, so glad you loved my fab crit partner’s Nightshade =)
hey lisa..i actually loved it… is there a second book comin out…? add someMORE drama to the story…
Her sequel, Original Sin, comes out on July 5th.