Showing posts with label lisa desrochers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lisa desrochers. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Last Rite, by Lisa Desrochers


In this final installment of the thrilling, edgy Personal Demons series, the battle between Heaven and Hell has become critical, and Frannie Cavanaugh is right at the center of it.

With the help of the powerful angel Gabe and demon-turned-mortal Luc, Frannie has been able to stay one step ahead of the forces of Hell. But when the demons killed Frannie's best friend and destroyed her brother, they raised the stakes. If Frannie wants to keep her family and friends safe, she knows she has no choice but to go on the run.

Their best defense is the power Frannie has been struggling to master, but her attempts to hone her skill go horribly awry. If Frannie doesn't learn fast, the consequences could be devastating--even apocalyptic.

What happens when you can't outrun Hell...or trust the ones you love?

This is the third and final book in the Personal Demons trilogy by author Lisa Desrochers. To read my review of the first two installments, click a link for the appropriate book: Personal Demons (Book 1), Original Sin (Book 2).

The Personal Demons trilogy has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. I have enjoyed this series immensely for many, many reasons but I find that I am still struggling with a few of the personal feelings that I had with the two previous books through this book as well.

I think the most obvious would be how I feel about Frannie as the main character. Like always, she keeps the same two guys tugging after her, though I will say not as bad as before. And, like the other two books, I have an issue with the decisions that she makes and the oh-so-obvious details that she seems to almost blatantly ignore for one reason or another. The worst part is that the story (or at least the part I'm referring to) is actually told from her point of view and she describes these things that we catch onto almost immediately, yet she seems to just say them as an afterthought and give it no other mention. That was probably the worst things for me that I couldn't seem to digest.

Now, having said this and getting it off of my chest, I can say that I really enjoyed this book. Although there was some issues for me with Frannie, I can honestly say that I do like her as a main character. She still carries that spunk that I have admired since the very first book and, even though I don't agree with her decisions, I do understand the reasons as to why she makes the choices that she does. As a whole, every action she takes is a selfless act, no matter how wrong that action may seem to someone on the outside - there's always a reason to her madness.

The other characters were still as enjoyable as before, even the smaller (minor) characters had a bigger role in this novel and I absolutely squealed with joy to see that some of the other characters had their own special abilities that weren't necessarily talked about in the previous books. The descriptions of anything and everything, like before, is uncanny and Desrochers has a way with her writing that makes you feel like you're right there experiencing everything with the other characters. There was a lot of good and a lot of evil in this book, though the evil didn't seem quite as strong and vile as in Original Sin. The ending of the series was very satisfying, though it left a little room for more story that made me a little antsy. Actually, that's probably just on me because I want to read more about Frannie's life. But, if this is the end, I couldn't fathom a better ending for the trilogy.

Last Rite is a delightfully wonderful ending for an equally wonderful trilogy. While I'm sad that this series is over, I'm quite satisfied with how the story ended and cannot wait to read more from Lisa Desrochers in the future.

Rating: Avg 4.38
Source: Publisher



Title: Last Rite
Author
: Lisa Desrochers
Series:
Personal Demons, Book 3
Publisher:
Tor Teen
Format:
Paperback, 368 pages
Release Date:
May 8, 2012

Purchase Book
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound


Friday, July 15, 2011

Original Sin Review

Original Sin
Lisa Desrochers

Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date:
July 5, 2011
Series:
Personal Demons (#2)
Genre:
YA, Paranormal
Pages:
Paperback, 398 pages
Source:
Publisher
Rating:
4/5 (Avg 4/5)
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.

Following in Personal Demons' footsteps, Original Sin is a great continuation of the story that we fell in love with the first time around.

I'll have to admit that Frannie grew on me a little more, yet at the same time managed to tick me off at some of the completely insane and, quite frankly, idiotic decisions that she would make. It boggles my mind, but somehow she manages to be giving and selfish at the same time... if that makes any sense. I loved Luc in this as much as the last, but I had to give Gabe the silent treatment for a while. Even though I love his character, I wasn't so much of a fan of him disappearing and not being around when it was obvious that he was needed. Yet, I understood his decision and I think I'd do the same as he did - given the circumstances.

The evil was more vile this round, which I enjoyed and pretty much reveled in. I mean, if they're going to be representing true evil then they really need to represent! I'm censoring myself saying this for those who haven't read the first yet - but the character that I was happy to see come back in the last novel made me regret my decision in this book. He ended up being even more selfish than Frannie herself and not at all giving. Maybe it's because of his prior circumstances? I have no idea, but I think he should have been smarter than how he acted in this book.

This book was as equally enjoyable as the one it follows and I'm absolutely loving where the story is going. I cannot wait for the next book in the series to come out!




Since I enjoyed these books so much and felt like sharing the love, I thought I would host a little giveaway for my wonderful blog followers. All you have to do is fill out the form below to win the following:

That's right, you have the chance to not only win your own copy of Personal Demons, but its sequel Original Sin as well! There will only be one winner, but if you like the Personal Demons books Facebook page, then I'll give you an extra entry for an extra chance to win!

Details:
● You must be a follower of the blog.
● This contest is INTERNATIONAL.
● "Like" Personal Demons on Facebook [here] for an extra entry.
● Contest ends midnight EST on Saturday, July 30, 2011.

Fill out this form HERE in order to be entered.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Personal Demons Review

Personal Demons
Lisa Desrochers

Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date:
September 14, 2010
Series:
Personal Demons (#1)
Genre:
YA, Paranormal
Pages:
Paperback, 365 pages
Source:
Personal Copy
Rating:
4/5 (Avg 3.5/5)
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 have been meaning to get to this book for quite some time, but had put it on hold for many reasons including other reviews. However, I was sent its sequel by Tor to review so I thought it was in my best interest to read this one first. I'm glad I did.

I will go ahead and get the obvious con of this novel that I saw – the love triangle. Yes, I was a teenager once and yes, I had a lot of boyfriends... but I never led to guys on at the same time. It just seems wrong to me because, inevitably, someone is going to get hurt – either you, or one of the guys. And either way, it's something that's completely avoidable as long as you don't follow your hormones. Just sayin'....

With that out of the way, I can say that everything else I really liked in this novel. Frannie is a great character that is very much a teenage girl, which I like, but she also has some spunk that sets her apart from other YA female characters. Her wish-wash lust for both Luc and Gabe is really the only thing I can see as far as character flaws go, but that's not necessarily a character flaw for everyone – just me and my personal morals, really. Luc and Gabe are both equally swoon-worthy. I found their names (Lucifer and Gabriel) to be quite amusing considering where they're both from, but they both lived up to those names... except one little thing. Gabe, who is an angel no less, has this weird habit of saying “sh-t” on several occasions. This just seems a little out of place to me and had me scratching my head as to why the angel from Heaven was the one that had an issue with a potty mouth. But, again, it amused me more than anything. I want to talk about another character but I can't because I'm afraid that will give some unwarranted spoilers to the story, so I will just say that I'm glad he came along and I want to know more about his mysterious issues that he has with Luc. And just so you know, Frannie's grandpa rocks. The villains were pure evil and I liked that their characters didn't sway. I sometimes wish they were a little more evil and vile, but maybe that will come with the next book – or that's me just letting my mind go a little morbid for a YA series.

The story is good. The plot was well thought out, with many twists that I didn't expect and I'm excited to see where this trilogy is going. If you're a paranormal lover with a thing for angels and demons, this is definitely one you will have to pick up if you haven't already.





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