Living with the Dead

Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong

What was this book about?

Hope Adams is a chaos demon. When she comes back to town to spend time with her childhood friend Robyn Peltier she is expecting a quiet visit. Robyn is trying to get over her recently deceased husband, who died quite unexpectedly. She is also working with starlets who are demanding and not very nice.

Robyn becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. People think she has killed – and she hasn’t. Hope and her boyfriend/werewolf Karl are there to help. What Robyn doesn’t realize is that there is an unnatural force at work.

Can Karl and Hope save Robyn from whoever is after her? Does it have repercussions for the supernatural world?

What did you think about the book?

With the Otherworld series I tend to feel mediocre about the books. They aren’t bad necessarily, but they also aren’t my favorites. With some books I get so excited to see that the next book is coming that I can barely hold myself back. This is not one of those series. At the same time it keeps me entertained enough that I don’t want to give it up. And every once in a while I love the book that has been written so much it makes up for the other lukewarm feelings I have.

Maybe my problem is Hope. Because she is a chaos demon and her love interest Karl is just a strange werewolf – it is hard for me to get into their lives and connect with them.

So is it bad? No. Is it my favorite book series ever – no..

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal

Overall:

Question for you?
Have you ever had a series that you didn’t really always enjoy but you felt invested in it so much that you had to follow through to the end?

Personal Demon

Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong (Book of the Otherworld)

What was this book about?
Half-demon Hope Adams is called upon by the head of the powerful Cortez Cabal. She owes him a favor. She must infiltrate a gang in the area to find out exactly what is going on and why they are trying to cause trouble with the Cortez’s. Meanwhile Hope must rely on her friends Lucas (whose father is the head of the Cortez Cabal) and witch Paige to help her get out of the sticky situations. Former lover, Karl reappears and brings back the extreme feelings that Hope has had for him. She loves chaos (as she is a chaos demon) and has to figure things out in this situation before things get out of control.

What was your favorite part about this book?
I really like Lucas and Paige and wish there was more of them in this book. It was nice to see how Hope fits in to the whole thing by having her own book. Before I liked her, but now I have an even greater affinity for how things work in her world.

What was your least favorite part about this book?
At times I felt things were a little slow and not exactly what I was hoping for. The fact that she has feelings for Jaz at the same time as Karl is understandable but for a love as deep as hers it isn’t ideal. Then again it is likely in real life (which I hadn’t really thought about when reading it) and not everything is all rosy and perfect – which makes it more of a realistic view of how people would respond to a situation. Have feelings, be hurt, learn to move on, sometimes go back to the person who hurt you in the first place.

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal – not really all that romance based though.

Overall: B