Personal Demons

Lisa Desrochers

Publisher: Tor Books

Publish Date: Already out

Version: Paperback book
Series: Personal Demons

I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  Except him.  He’s wrong.  Everything about him is wrong.  I can’t think or even breathe very well when he’s around.  But I want him around.  I know – I’m losing it.  But there’s something about him.  This weird, dark,  magnetic energy, and even though he scares me a little – okay, a lot – it’s like I can’t stay away.

Frannie Cavanaugh is just trying to make it through high school.   Then two new guys arrive at her school – Luc and Gabe.  Both of them want her to spend her time with them.  What Frannie doesn’t know is that she has special talents and attracted the attention of both Heaven and Hell, who both want to tag her soul for themselves.

Luc wants her soul for Hell.  He tries to get Frannie to sin so her soul can be tagged.  Having grown up in a strong Catholic family (her name IS Mary Francis, after all), makes things a little difficult for Luc at first.  He has to try tactics that he hasn’t had to in a while.   Time is of the essence as King Lucifer himself, has an interest in Frannie and the tagging of her soul.  If Luc cannot complete this job, other demons will be sent to finish it for him.

Gabe wants Frannie’s soul for Heaven.  He has to block Luc’s attempts to get her to sin and help her to accomplish the things which will tag her for Heaven.  But those aren’t easy tasks.

If there’s a Hell on Earth, it’s high school.

This book was easy for me to get into.  I never thought the battle between good and evil would be this good or this entertaining.  Even though there were parts of this book that I didn’t like, this is still a series that I want to keep reading.

I can’t breathe. Then I remind myself that I don’t have to.

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She has spent years keeping everyone at a distance---even her closest friends---and it seems as if her senior year is going to be more of the same . . . until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can’t seem to stay away from him.

What she doesn’t know is that Luc is on a mission. He’s been sent from Hell itself to claim Frannie’s soul. It should be easy---all he has to do is get her to sin, and Luc is as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance. But he has to work fast, because if the infernals are after her, the celestials can’t be far behind. And sure enough, it’s not long before the angel Gabriel shows up, willing to do anything to keep Luc from getting what he came for. It isn’t long before they find themselves fighting for more than just Frannie’s soul.

But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay . . . for all of them.

I’m not sure which would scare her more: “I really want to get you into bed” or “I’m trying to tag your soul for Hell.” Both true.  But, under all of that, there’s more – something deeper that pulls at my insides and makes it hard to think anytime I’m with her.  Something I can’t even begin to define or articulate.

*That even though Frannie has grown up in this super-religious household, she still has her faults and these make her real.

*The way the authors uses the Biblical names to represent the characters throughout the book.

*Luc’s transformation

*Frannie’s transformation

*They sent only Gabe to tag her for Heaven and four demons throughout the book (including Luc) to tag her for Hell.

About thirty minutes in, I realize why I’ve always avoided these graduation ceremonies like a plague of rats.

Just when I’m convinced that after seven millennia I’m going to die right here of boredom, they start calling names and our row stands.

*The Demons – other than Luc.  I know that sounds cliché, but their personalities in this book were less than appealing.  Maybe that was the point…

*There is no Gabe point of view.  Even though he didn’t have a huge part in this book, it would’ve been nice to know what he was thinking instead of a 3^rd party version of him.

*There was a bigger emphasis of getting Frannie to sin and what she had to do to be tagged for Hell instead of what she needed to do to be tagged for Heaven.

There’s no crying in baseball and no love in Hell.  It’s just the rules.  You could say it’s against our religion, more or less.

 I liked this Spanish version of the cover. 

“With seven thousand year of job experience, you should be able to find something.”

He cracks a smile.  “I don’t think there are too many openings in damning souls to Hell.”

Luc Cain was born and raised in Hell, but he isn’t feeling as demonic as usual lately—thanks to Frannie Cavanaugh and the unique power she never realized she had. But you can’t desert Hell without consequences, and suddenly Frannie and Luc find themselves targeted by the same demons who used to be Luc’s allies.

Left with few options, Frannie and Luc accept the protection of Heaven and one of its most powerful angels, Gabe. Unfortunately, Luc isn’t the only one affected by Frannie, and it isn’t long before Gabe realizes that being around her is too…tempting. Rather than risk losing his wings, he leaves Frannie and Luc under the protection of her recently-acquired guardian angel.

Which would be fine, but Gabe is barely out the door before an assortment of demons appears—and they’re not leaving without dragging Luc back to Hell with them. Hell won’t give up and Heaven won’t give in. Frannie’s guardian exercises all the power he has to keep them away, but the demons are willing to hurt anyone close to Frannie in order to get what they want. It will take everything she has and then some to stay out of Hell’s grasp.

And not everyone will get out of it alive.