Thursday, August 28, 2014

The Appeal of Evil

Pembroke Sinclair

Publisher: Booktrope Editions
Publication Date: January 13, 2014
Pages: 275
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy
Source: ebook from Publisher

Katie wants to invest her heart and soul in love, but she may lose both to Hell.

Katie, a senior in high school, is torn between loving the “good” guy, her childhood friend Wes who makes promises he doesn't keep and abandons her when she needs him the most, and the “bad” guy, the new kid at school Josh who is also a real demon from Hell. Katie wants someone who pays attention to her and puts her first, but what is she willing to give up to find him?

The Appeal of Evil is not for the faint of heart. From the very first page, it's a whirlwind that will suck you in until the final sentence. This is one of the fastest paced books I've ever read, and while I would have liked a few slower parts, I couldn't put this one down.


I loved the balance of reality and fantasy this book had. Katie was half in the real-world with her best friend and parties and prom and half in the boys' fantasy world fighting demons. As strange as that sounds, it actually worked really well and was one of my favorite aspects of the story. However, my main issue was with Katie herself. Her life and story revolved around Wes and Josh. Every little thing about her was defined by the boys and I felt like I never really got to know who Katie was. Wes and Josh were both such strong characters, but Katie felt a little washed out, her thoughts and motives were never clear. The story was told from her point of view, but often there were creeping mentions of the boys' thoughts instead of her own. I feel like Katie had such potential to be a really strong female lead, but she fell flat for me. I also would have liked for her best friend's story line to be finished, but I guess that's one for the next book in the series.

Other than that, I loved The Appeal of Evil. It was fast-paced with action on every page. However, that did take away from the drama of the story line as it never really felt like there was a climax because there was constantly a conflict.

The fantasy aspect of this book is very well done. Often times I'm leery to read high fantasy books because the world can become really confusing. I think the split reality/fantasy aspect really helped with this. I also really loved that this was a book that dealt with demons, but didn't include angels. With so many Heaven vs. Hell books on the market, it's hard to find an original one, but I truly did enjoy the fantasy aspect as it was different from so many others.

I am actually a huge fan of cliff hangers. If you don't give me a reason to need the next book, I'm probably not going to read it. And, while placed at a very awkward point in the story, the end of this book isn't just a cliff hanger; you'll fall off the cliff wanting more.

Overall, I really liked The Appeal of Evil. Even though I had issues with Katie, Wes and Josh pretty much made up for it. The fantasy in this novel is out of this world, and that alone is worth a read.



3 comments:

  1. I am so glad you loved this book! I just signed on to read it and I was a little unsure, but now I think I made a good choice! Thanks so much for sharing!

    Tracy @ Cornerfolds

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  2. Thank you so much for having me on your blog and for reviewing my book! I'm glad you enjoyed it. And yes, Katie can be a little annoying, but it's all leading up to something...

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    1. Ah, thank YOU! I'm so excited for book two now!

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