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Fiction. Horror. Literature. Mystery. HTML: In her acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series, Kelley Armstrong has created a scintillating realm where the supernatural and the human coexist on the edge of darkness, romance, and eternity. Personal Demon, the eighth Otherworld book, is another wickedly entertaining tale of a young woman with an insatiable lust for danger. She can't help it; it's in her blood. Tabloid reporter Hope Adams appears to live the life of an ordinary working girl. But, in addition to possessing the beauty of a Bollywood princess, Hope has other unique traits. For she is a half-demon---a human fathered by a demon. And she has inherited not only a gift for seeing the past but a hunger for chaos---along with a talent for finding it wherever she can. Naturally, when she's chosen by a very dangerous group for a very dangerous mission, she jumps at the chance. The head of the powerful Cortez Cabal---a family that makes the mob look like amateurs---has a little problem in Miami: a gang of wealthy, bored offspring of supernaturals is getting out of hand, and Hope is needed to infiltrate. As spells, astral projections, and pheromones soar across South Beach, Hope weaves her way through its elite hot spots, posing as upscale eye candy and reading the auras of the clientele---and potential marks. As it turns out, Hope is a little too good at this job, and soon she's in a little too deep, needing to be bailed out by her jewel-thief werewolf ex-boyfriend and by the Cortez heir himself. And when a killer goes to work, Hope is among many targets at the pinnacle of Cabal rule. For a woman who didn't know what she was getting into, there's only one way out: it's time for Hope to unleash her most potent primal instincts---and open herself, mind and body, to everything she most fears...and desires. Sexy and suspenseful, Personal Demon is a thrill ride through a world on the wild side of our own..… (more)
User reviews
Here, we have two narrators: Hope, a half-demon who's got a hunger for chaos, and also
Still, I like the writing style on the whole, you get some characters you like back, and some new ones. And the plot is very solid: twisty, but in ways that work well and tie into the rest of the series. Hope infiltrates a gang that might have pretentions to taking on a Cabal, and both the parts with the gang and the fallout once all the schemes are working goes quite well. It was engrossing; I tore through the book in a couple of days, basically.
I'm mostly dinging it for the character similiarities, but everything else here is good, and I like it better than the previous book in the series, which is a good sign. If you like her, you'll like this one, too.
Earlier books featured a female werewolf, a witch, an angel, and a necromancer. Now in this book we have as protagonist and main point of view character, Hope Adams, a half-demon. I think of all of Armstrong's heroines, Adams is in the most precarious situation as she struggles with that demonic part of her, to use it without letting it use her. That lends a very palpable tension to the books featuring her, both Personal Demon and the next book in the series, Living With the Dead. This book is a fun and engrossing read for those that like urban fantasy, especially laced with mystery, suspense, and romance.
I don't
It's not incredibly fast-paced, but it's gripping and fun. Hope is recruited by Benicio Cortes to investigate a gang in Miami, his home turf. All seems to be going well, and she meets someone she falls for at first sight, helping her try and forget Karl.
Of
They resolve their differences in an odd way - investigating the disappearance of the man Hope fancies in fact.
The plot thickens when members of the gang are kidnapped and then shot, and still more when there is an attack on Benicio and all three of his Miami-based sons. With some luck, some forethought, some simply being hard they manage to unravel the plot just in time, although they are far from all living happily ever after - and things for Lucas and Paige as well as Karl and Hope are looking like they might be trickier (as well as happier in the latter pair's case) in the books to come.
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.
Benicio turns out unexpectedly to talk to Hope whie Karl is in Europe. He has a plan for her to infiltrate a local supernatural gang who are taking more risks than they should. He wants her to go undercover and keep tabs on their plans and actions with a fake identity. She agrees as long as Lucas and Paige from the Council are in on the plan and can monitor her from a distance. After passing an initiation test she is welcomed into the group and soon starts getting sucked in to the chaos surrounding the group, particularly the handsome Jaz. Things become complicated when Karl hears about what is going on and returns to find Hope on the lap of Jaz. A string of important murders also starts and it is up to Hope, Karl, Paige and Lucas to find out who the killers are and capture them before more supernaturals die.
This was fast paced and intense with some sexy bits thrown in for good measure. An excellent addition to one of the best urban fantasy series around at the moment. I love Armstrongs characters, her protagonists change from book to book keeping the stories fresh and exciting. Hope is a fairly new character appaering in No Humans Involved and her back story is introduced in short story Chaotic which is included in the Dates from Hell Anthology. I am really looking forward to reading the next in the series, Living with the Dead.
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.
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 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.