Being popular and being pursued by two of the hottest studs in high school is the dream of many female teenagers. But what if one is a demon, and the other is an angel, and they’re competing over not only your body, but also your immortal soul? Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers is about what happens in just that case, when not-that-innocent Catholic teen Frannie Cavanaugh finds herself torn between two loves, and Heaven and Hell. Which will win, and claim her soul? Read the page-turning, suspenseful novel by Lisa Desrochers, Personal Demons, to find out!
Luc Cain smolders, and all of the teen girls at Haden High (aka: “Hades High”) think he’s hot. What do you expect, when his entire first name is “Lucifer” (though Luc is pronounced like “Luke” instead of “Loose”), and he’s been sent from Hell to “tag” and lay claim Frannie’s soul? He’s expected by his bosses to succeed where others have failed, to locate the person who’s known as “The One,” and tempt and corrupt whoever it is. In Hell, he works in Acquisitions, and he definitely would like to acquire the beautiful Frannie.
When he meets Frannie, he gets the vibe that she might be The One, and he thinks that everything will be pretty easy. All he has to do is to turn on the old charm, and maybe give her a little push with his powers in the right–er, make that the wrong, direction, towards sin. Lust, jealousy, pride–whatever it takes. He discovers to his dismay both that she’s not the pushover he’d expected, and that despite what he’d thought, he has a heart–and it’s falling for Frannie. Hard. He knows he’d better not disappoint his Master, because the punishment for failure would be horrendous, but he doesn’t want to hurt Frannie, either.
Frannie has doubted the existence of God ever since her brother, Matt, died when he was only seven years old. She can’t see why a kind, benevolent, loving God would allow pain, suffering, and death to happen. Luc thinks this could be a way to sway her into sinning, but Frannie is made of stronger stuff. She is attracted to him, and kisses him at various times in the novel, but her family thinks something is just not right about Luc. Her dad and mom insist she keep her door open when they study in her room, and her dad walks by the door now and again to check up on them.
Besides having a strongly religious family to help her from falling into sin, at around the same time Luc starts school at Haden High, so does a Dominion, or Angel, named Gabriel (Gabe). Gabe is also lusted after by all of the teenage girls in Personal Demons, and he looks like a Greek god, with curly blonde hair. He wants to win Frannie over to God’s side, and tag her soul for Heaven instead of Hell. Frannie finds herself torn between each of them, loving the attention and trying to make the difficult decision about which one to choose.
The novel is told from the POVs (points of view) of Frannie and Luc. Gabe doesn’t get one, possibly because usually people like to read about villains more than heroic figures. In Milton’s Paradise Lost, it’s the opinion of many critics that Satan is the most interesting character in it, and gets the best lines. Gabe is one of the major characters in Personal Demons, and he is just as tempting, if not more so, to Frannie than Luc–but, for whatever reason, the author chooses to not present his POV for us to read.
I’m not normally a fan of paranormal romances; I classify them under that dreaded heading of “Chick Lit” and generally avoid reading them. Personal Demons is a book that I would have walked by without a second glance at a bookstore, and would have probably never read if I hadn’t been sent a copy of it to review. I’m glad I gave it a chance, because Lisa Desrochers is an excellent writer, and Personal Demons is a novel fans of the paranormal romance genre should check out. I won’t say I’ve converted entirely, and lost my bias overnight; but, I definitely would like to read more novels from this talented author in the future.
