Original Sin by Lisa Desrochers – review

If you thought Personal Demons, Lisa Desrocher’s first novel in her Personal Demons series, was HOT, you need to check out the sequel, Original Sin, to find out what HOT is all about! Confronted with the choice between falling for a smoking hot demon and a hunky angel, both with the handsome looks that would lead almost any teen girl to temptation, Frannie Cavanaugh has made her choice and her soul has been tagged for Heaven–but, has she made the right choice? With Luc (Lucifer) Cain–the demon transformed into a human by Frannie’s own developing supernatural powers–now one of her guardians and also tagged for Heaven as her boyfriend, will she be able to continue resisting sweet temptation, or succumb and fall into Hell’s grasp? One thing’s for sure:  Not everyone will get out alive!

I confess that, being a guy (not to mention a father), I’m not really a fan of most urban supernatural romance sorts of books. I do have an open mind, though, and I read Lisa Derocher’s Personal Demons and surprisingly–to me–found myself really getting into Lisa’s page-turning, suspenseful style of writing, and Frannie’s internal struggle of being torn between two dudes representing Heaven and Hell, Luc, and the angel Gabriel. Gabriel is a Dominion (one of the higher ranking angels) and has feelings for Frannie, as she does for him, but he can’t do anything about the situation, unless he becomes human–at which point he could possibly get tagged for Hell instead of Heaven.

Luc, on the other hand, succumbs to Frannie’s power of Sway (which she discovers she has, though she has to refine it a lot) and gives up his status as a demon for love of Frannie, even though he had originally been sent to tag her soul for Hell. Gabriel loves Frannie still, and Frannie still finds herself torn between the two loves in her life. Gabriel grudgingly realizes that, although he is a rival for Frannie’s affections, Luc loves her and is in many ways good for her. The romance gets pretty steamy, so this novel is probably best for older audiences, like older teens and young adults. There’s nothing super graphic–mostly, sex is just hinted at–but Frannie and Luc do spend some time in her bed, and she ends up wearing his shirt when her dad knocks on her bedroom door and comes close to busting them.

Frannie’s brother, Matt–her dead brother–is a major character in the book. He’s now a teen angel, serving as Frannie’s guardian angel. Gabe somewhat trusts Luc, but as he’s now human, there might be (and are) other demons that will come after both him and Frannie, wanting to claim them for Hell. That’s why, though generally guardian angels aren’t supposed to serve a family member, Gabe thinks Matt would be a good choice for Frannie. Matt doesn’t especially like or trust Luc, so he is also there to make sure Luc doesn’t hurt Frannie. He is kind of like a chastity belt in the form of an angel, blocking and foiling attempts on both Luc’s and Frannie’s parts to take their romance further.

There’s yet another new character, Lili (short for Lilith), who has moved into Luc’s building. Luc and Matt are attracted to her, and Luc thinks that she seems to have a demonic vibe, but he can’t detect tell-tale signs that she is one, so he thinks he must be wrong to suspect her. Matt develops an obsession with her, and fantasizes about allowing himself to take human form and showing himself to Lili, in the hopes that she will also like him. Without knowing anything much about her, he seems willing and eager to give up his wings for her. With these potential romantic entanglements, and those of Frannie’s many friends and sisters, Original Sin has even more of a romantic element to it and is more electrifying than the first novel of the series, Personal Demons.

While I enjoyed reading Original Sin more than Personal Demons, I must say that–while it’s not graphic–there are suggestions of rape and incest later on in the novel. Some reviewers have criticized this, mentioning how much sweeter the first book of the series seemed in comparison. I took it in stride, but I am just mentioning this to explain why this book is meant for an older audience, and to point out that some parents might not like the themes here as much when compared with Personal Demons.

As with Personal Demons, Original Sin shifts from the POV of each of the main characters: Luc, Frannie, Gabe (sometimes), and Matt. There are chapters, but they are split up into segments told from the first-person perspectives of the main characters.

Original Sin by Lisa Derochers is a fun, romantic, supernatural break from the vampires and werewolves that populate the pages of many supernatural romances. It’s every bit as good as the first book in the series, Personal Demons. The action gets hot and steamy, and the book ends with a cliffhanger that will leave you desiring to read more, and eagerly anticipating the day when the last novel of the trilogy, Hellbent, comes out in May 2012. If you like reading supernatural romantic urban fantasies, the Personal Demons series by Lisa Derochers is for you!