Devilish by Tricia Barr is an erotic paranormal romance and will be enjoyable to fans of the genre. The Devil as an anti-hero makes the basis of his myth tragic. A spin on the fallen angel's mythology kept me interested and engaged. In the love story, the Devil was appealing and highly seductive.
The Devil found his way out of hell and to the world of man. He crash lands in New York City and the world's reception is wary. Felicity meets with the Devil representing the New York Times to obtain an interview about the reason for his presence. The Devil, or Lucifer as he prefers, gives minute details of his story to Felicity over the course of several dates that they share. In addition to sharing his tale, he vows to Felicity that he will win her affections.
Hearing the lore of Lucifer's existence is what you would expect it to be with a few embellishments. A lot of thought went into keeping the Devil in a familiar position while making him empathetic. We discover Lucifer is not the epitome of evil. Instead, he is charming and sexy with some roguishness that pairs well with the bad boy aura. Lucifer is often mischievous, but he never takes on a demonic guise. In a nice twist, we discover Lucifer's downfall was caused by an expected force. Devilish inserts unique touches on the Devil's legend that maintains the intrigue. The interpretations of hell itself and Lucifer's method of escape aided in substantiating his humanity. I was charmed by this version of the Devil.
Felicity, I had a hard time respecting as the heroine. Felicity is a virgin at the start of the story. There is nothing wrong with that in reality although I find it overused as a romance trope. Her lack of desire for the men she has met is the self-professed reason for abstinence. Felicity immediately gains a spark with Lucifer and subsequently fights it. At one point it even occurred to her Lucifer forcing the issue would be preferable to giving in to her need for him. I interpreted she was not afraid of Lucifer only of the desire she felt, but it was admittedly a bit unclear. I typically enjoy stronger female characters who are firm with what they want, or what they don't and that remain true to themselves.
Felicity gives in to her desires and sleeps with Lucifer. On the day that occurs, she uses sexual guile to seduce another man for information. This scenario is wrong for several reasons. She has a deadline but the decision is dangerous, and that fact never occurred to her. That man could have ended her life without a second thought, and no one knew what she was doing. Her decision to obtain a goal through sex was a discredit. They did not fully procreate, but it felt wrong considering her feelings toward sleeping with Lucifer and the fact she just lost her virginity. Even with the issues I had, I found the book immersive and there existed astonishing chemistry between the characters.
AmazonLink
No comments:
Post a Comment