Personal Demon (Women of the Otherworld, Book 8) | Kelley Armstrong

Personal Demon (Women of the Otherworld, Book 8) | Kelley Armstrong | WOW

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Personal Demon (Wo...

	Personal Demon (Women of the Otherworld, Book 8) Kelley Armstrong Spectra, 2008 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In her acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series, Kelley Armstrong has created a scintillating realm where the supernatural and the human coexist on the edge of darkness, romance, and eternity. Now Armstrong tells the captivating tale of a young woman with an insatiable lust for danger. She can?t help it. It?s in her blood.

Tabloid reporter Hope Adams appears to live the life of an ordinary working girl. But in addition to possessing the beauty of a Bollywood princess, Hope has other unique traits. For she is a half demon?a human fathered by a demon. And she?s inherited not only a gift for seeing the past but a hunger for chaos?along with a talent for finding it wherever she can. Naturally, when she?s chosen by a very dangerous group for a very dangerous mission, she jumps at the chance?.

The head of the powerful Cortez Cabal?a family that makes the mob look like amateurs?has a little problem in Miami: a gang of wealthy, bored offspring of supernaturals is getting out of hand, and Hope is needed to infiltrate. As spells, astral projections, and pheromones soar across South Beach, Hope weaves her way through its elite hot spots, posing as upscale eye candy and reading the auras of the clientele?and potential marks.

As it turns out, Hope is a little too good at this job. And soon she?s in a little too deep, needing to be bailed out by her jewel-thief werewolf ex-boyfriend and by the Cortez heir himself. And when a killer goes to work, Hope is among many targets at the pinnacle of Cabal rule. For a woman who didn?t know what she was getting into, there?s only one way out: it?s time for Hope to unleash her most potent primal instincts?and open herself, mind and body, to everything she most fears . . . and desires.

Sexy and suspenseful, Personal Demon is a thrill ride through a world on the wild side of our own.

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Number 8 is full of excitement!

I love this series, but heard from a friend that this one was thought to be "not as good" as the others. I beg to differ! This book was full of suspense, and you didn't know who the bad guys were until the end -- it has been quite some time since I was so surprised by who the baddies were! Kelley Armstrong is a superb writer, who has the ability to draw us into her world and make us believe it!

WOW

Personal Demon is the piece de resistance of the series. I was so pleased by how thoroughly engaging the book was! The characters and the story line had me up late at night, unable to put the novel down. Clearly, Kelley Armstrong has hit her stride as a writer and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book.

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(4.5 stars) Big changes since the last book, new narrator(s), new views on old enemies, but still the same old series we love

Well, it's that time of year again. Somewhere between late spring and early summer when the latest installment of Kelley Armstrong's bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" series comes out. This year "Persona Demons" is added to the 8 novel series, featuring Hope Adams, a half demon who's father is Lucifer (not Satan-different person altogether) and has a thing for chaos. A thing that sometimes takes over her better side and just wants to enjoy watching people be tortured or dieing. Like Jamie Vegas in "No Humans Involved" while Hope has a power, it can do nothing to defend her-expect warn her that danger (chaos is coming.) Luckily the chaos alarm keeps there from being a lot of wining about being powerless like Jamie indulged in.

Needless to say Hope isn't completely comfortable with this power. But she's had some help to deal with it, the interracial supernatural council and Karl, the latest edition to the Werewolf pack (who can also be found in books "Bitten" "Broken" and "No Humans Involved") and until recently, a romantic interest of Hope's. But after one night of passion Karl ran out, leaving the only tie between the two a mutual debt to the Cortez Cabal for getting them out of a spot of trouble.

Hope's just trying to work on a completely false werewolf story for the tabloid she writes for when Benicio Cortez decides the time has come to call in the debt. He wants Hope to infiltrate a supernatural gang operating in Miami and access their organization and threat to the Cabal. It's a strange request because, well, almost nothing has the power to threaten a cabal (think mob with magic), especially not a half dozen young supernaturals pulling off relatively small heists. But Hope, seeing the potential for guilt free Chaos takes the gig.

It all seems like harmless, well organized chaos inducing fun to Hope until (just after Karl arrives to help out) two of the gang members-including a potential love interest of Hope's- disappear, apparently kidnapped by the Cortex Cabal. This development brings in Lucas Cortez (the youngest son of Benicio and unwilling heir to the family business), along with his wife Paige to town for support. Soon everyone is doubting if the gang had inside Cabal connections, if one of Benicio's older passed over and power hunger sons is helping them....and if so, what's the big plan?

Of course this is all combined with lots of sex, supernatural fights, sleuthing, musings on being a supernatural but never being able to tell you're parents...the usual for an Armstrong book.

But there are a couple of big changes since "No Humans Involved." For one thing, half of this book is narrated by Lucas. Yup, that's right-a guy. Considering the events in this book it's not really a bad decision but it is breaking an established pattern and certainly had me confused at first. In the end though, while Lucas never really did come off in his narrative as I had pictured him, it was a decent portrayal.

Now that I think of it, it's not like I would be adverse to a "Men of the Otherworld" series.

Also I had a pretty hard time reconciling the Karl in this book (a werewolf jewel thief whose gruff but sensitive, loving, protective, worried about the girl he loves) with the one who committed such heinous acts in "Bitten." I mean people (and not so completely people) change but this is kind of a drastic 360. Although I guess being in love...Whatever. I still have a hard time seeing him as any kind of hero (interested in the gig or not.)

And sadly, this series has reached the point where not only can novels in this series not stand alone, but if you're not following along with the (free!) short stories on the author's website, there are going to be parts you won't understand. Nothing major, but with a cast of characters this large and each book about a year apart in time, things happen and not all of that can be stuffed into the books. Of course publishing a short story anthology could fix this....

As always. I advise new comers to start at the beginning with "Bitten" no matter how attractive a later book sounds because there will be research to do to understand characters, back stories, supernatural stuff...

In the end I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. While "Personal Demons" does get off to a kind of lame start, once things heat up, well, things heat up. I can't say this will make my top five for the series but it had much more depth than the slightly shallow "No Humans Involved" and it's certainly not going to deter me from purchasing the next book, "Living with the Dead". However if like me, you prefer the early books to the later one's, you might want to wait until this comes out in a cheaper edition.

Four point five stars. (The extra added for the oh so cute little tidbit about Clay and Elena's twins!)

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Good, but a weak installment to the Underworld series

I never thought the day would come where I would give Kelley Armstrong fewer than five stars. From her very first book, I have devoured the series, each book getting better and better than the last. I love keeping up with characters that are nearly family to me at this point. With that said, this latest installment was a disappointment. I nearly stopped reading for the first 150 or so pages. I was bored, found the new characters flat, and felt like I was reading a poorly developing mystery/crime fighting novel (all of her books have the `who-done-it' premise, but are, most of the time, so much more). The story felt rushed and forced. I know Kelley has started a new crime series that is not supernatural (which is great, always wonderful for an artist to spread their wings), and it seemed like this book attempted to be a crossover between what the series has been thus far and what her new fiction has been about. Nearly halfway through the book, I finally got hooked, and tore through the last half. It felt like I was reading Kelley Armstrong again. The first part of the book I would rate 1 star, the second 4, so I am compromising and labeling a 3. If you are a loyal fan of Kelley, you will still enjoy this book. If you are new to her, read her other work first and build up to this one. While Hope Adams is my least favorite Woman of the Underworld thus far, I have high hopes that she can be further developed in the next installment. She has great potential as a truly deep and multifaceted character.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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