Damned If You Do by Marie Sexton

Hey everyone,

Today I’m reviewing Damned If You Do by Marie Sexton. I couldn’t resist requesting a book from Netgalley about a Demon and the person's soul he was trying to steal. With Damned If You Do being less than 130 pages long I was intrigued to see how Marie Sexton would introduce the concept and make me believe in the romance in such a short length of time.

The book:

The path to temptation is paved with a hellish amount of paperwork.

Soul acquisition is a drag, but if Abaddon doesn’t catch up on his quota, he could be demoted to scooping poop for the Hounds of Hell. With a deadline hanging over him, he heads for the Bible Belt, looking for the perfect combination of sweetness and challenge.

Seth is a blind musician, part of a traveling tent revival. He’s cute, mystically talented, and quotes the Bible at every turn. His soul is pure enough to fill Abaddon’s quota for months to come, and Abaddon is determined to claim it.

The problem? There’s the revival foreman who watches Abaddon’s every move. Then there’s the mystery of Seth’s many unusual talents. Lastly, there’s Abaddon himself. He’s beginning to like Seth a bit too much. Maybe Seth deserves something better than damnation.

But Hell’s agenda isn’t negotiable, and time is running out. If Abaddon doesn’t play his cards right, he could condemn both of them to the worst fate of all—an eternity apart.

My thoughts:

Damned If You Do is a book that had so much potential but just fell a little short in my opinion. I loved the concept of the demon trying to steal the purest soul and instead falling in love with the person that soul belongs to. I even found the interpretation of hell being the first office-job imaginable quite enjoyable. My problem came with the delivery. The world-building in Damned If You Do felt a little rushed, almost as if Marie Sexton only wanted to give the reader the bare minimum. As the reader follows Abaddon we are exposed to both hell and the human world but neither for enough time.

I was actually abandoned at the revival as an infant. One of the women heard a baby crying in the night. She went looking and found me under the piano bench.

Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Hey everyone,

I’ve been in a major book slump for the past few months, but I’m finally clawing my way back into the light. One of the ways I did that was by returning to old favourites. Books I can rely on to make me laugh, cry and most importantly keep me reading. One such book for me is Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

The book:

How did pretty socialite Daisy Devereaux find herself in this fix? She can either go to jail or marry the mystery man her father has chosen for her.

Alex Markov, however, has no intention of playing the loving bridegroom to a spoiled little heiress. As humourless as he is deadly handsome, he drags the irrepressible Daisy away from her uptown life and sets out to bring her down a peg or two.

Except it won't be as easy as he thinks. This man without a soul has met a woman who's nothing but heart. Will vows spoken in haste shatter or offer the promise of love everlasting?

My thoughts:

There are so many reasons I adore Kiss an Angel but the circus setting is what makes it such a unique and memorable romance. The circus felt like a character. It was confusing, complex, and controversial. Yet it was also warm, interesting and home. Having only been to one circus in my life, and that happened after I read Kiss an Angel for the first time, the circus is not a world I know much about. I can’t tell you if Susan Elizabeth Phillips representation of the circus is accurate but I can you it made me want to keep reading. I loved the unique setting it gave Daisy and Alex’s romance and honestly I’m not sure their relationship could have flourished the way it did in any other environment.

What are you gonna do, angel face? Stab me with your eyebrow pencil?