A tale about Lucifer’s son that deftly draws in readers with engrossing characters and room for expansion.
An ancient warrior on Earth for centuries falls in love with a human woman, which may make him vulnerable to his evil, demon-controlling father in this debut paranormal romance.
It seems Barakiel, the spawn of Lucifer, is paying for his father’s sins. He’s a Covalent, beings that long ago bonded the Creative and Destruction Realms and have since maintained Balance. When Lucifer challenges the Council Forces with a demon horde and the Corrupted (rebellious Covalent warriors), the Council, fearing Barakiel may join his dad’s side, banishes him to the Earthly Realm. After 12 centuries, give or take, on Earth, occasionally battling Lucifer’s minions, Barakiel is far from content. But this changes when he meets FBI Special Agent Alexandra “Zan” O’Gara, at his door for his expertise on antique knives related to a murder case. A mutual attraction is instantaneous, and torrid physical encounters are soon complemented by an emotional connection. Barakiel’s “minder,” Pellus, with him for the entirety of his exile, is understandably concerned, as a relationship with a human defies Covalent Law. The couple’s romance hits a snag once Zan finally tires of Barakiel’s secretive, out-of-town business trips, and Pellus is convinced a fed’s background check will expose a bogus history. Lucifer, meanwhile, has something in play to provoke Barakiel into losing Balance, his primary source of power and strength. The author’s amalgamation of genres is impressive, mixing romance, erotica, and supernatural elements with an ongoing FBI investigation. There’s an eventual shift, somewhat disappointingly, to the couple’s relationship, though subplots stick around until the end. Explicit sex scenes and violent, demon-slicing clashes make the narrative decidedly adult. But Doyle excels at the dramatic, surprisingly realistic romance. Smitten Zan, for one, willingly overlooks Barakiel’s increasingly erratic behavior, like constant ambivalence (should he tell the Council about Zan?), that’s reminiscent of depression. Barakiel, too, is impetuously passionate, even if his tender words are cliché: “You don’t have to make yourself beautiful, Zan. You just are beautiful.” The father-son dynamic has potential for pure epicness in later books, while Zan’s more sensible FBI partner, Mel, who recognizes Barakiel as “the strangest fucking guy,” will hopefully earn more of a spotlight.
A tale about Lucifer’s son that deftly draws in readers with engrossing characters and room for expansion.Pub Date: March 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9972985-2-9
Page Count: 426
Publisher: Fairhill Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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