REVIEW: Personal Demons (Personal Demons #1) by Lisa Desrochers

 

Author: Lisa Desrochers

Series: Personal Demons

Pages: 365

Genre: Young Adult - Paranormal

Publisher: Tor Teen

Amazon: PersonalDemons

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

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.

REVIEW: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Personal Demons is the first book in the Personal Demons trilogy by Lisa Desrochers.

Mary Francis Cavanaugh ‘Frannie’ is from a good catholic family and is being pursued by Heaven and Hell. She has a rebellious streak, has been kicked out of Catholic school for asking too many questions and tortured from an event from the past. She has been gifted with an ability to see visions of death, something she doesn’t fully understand as well as other powers she will soon learn about.  

Luc ‘Lucifer’ is a Demon sent from Hell to tag Frannie’s soul and Gabe ‘Gabriel’ is an Angel who has been sent to stop Luc and do the same, tag her for Heaven. What they find out along the way is Frannie has the power of sway, an ability which could possibly cause grief for both Heaven and Hell hence them both wanting her so badly; it could be a powerful weapon for both sides.

Frannie was an interesting character, at times I thought she was great but at others I found her lacking; her indecision drove me batty; I could understand how she was torn in forgiving herself for what had happened in the past but you would think if given an option to serve hell or heaven it would be a pretty simple choice – not so much in this case.

With no tags on Frannie’s soul, she is fair game to both sides but more so to evil who are constantly pursuing her. I enjoyed these confrontation scenes, it placed more emphasis on the danger Frannie was actually in.

Luc I really liked although I would have loved a little more bad boy behavior, he was torn in his feelings for Frannie and I enjoyed seeing the changes he was going through as well as the way he would protect her despite the repercussions of his failing. I don’t feel we got to know as much about Gabe but that may be because we are only given Frannie & Luc’s POV’s.

What I would have liked to have known more about is Frannie’s parent’s suspicion and intuition about Luc and the protection placed around their house. I was curious to know if their mistrust was placed purely on his appearance or if there was more to it.

I did like who was sent as Frannie’s personal guardian angel, it was a nice twist.

Personal Demons is a book I have been eager to read for some time now, the idea of an Angel and a Demon both falling for a human is always an intriguing storyline for me despite my reservations about love-triangles but unfortunately it fell flat and I didn’t fully appreciate the romance. I didn’t feel Gabe actually stood a chance despite the mixed emotions Frannie was sending out.

Personal Demons was just an ok read for me, it had a great premise but it was a tad too predictable with too many YA clichés. I did enjoy Ms Desrochers writing style and I do see the potential in this series.