Demon (Fallen (Pocket Books)) [Mass Market Paperback]

Please also see my review of the first book in this series, Raziel.

Again, in the first person, eurgh. Horrible way to narrate a romance.

And again, no emotion. What is it with this author and emotion? I understand she is trying to write strong, alpha males, but other authors have written about strong alpha males and managed to show them feeling emotion.

I hated this book with a passion. There's some emotion for you Kristina Douglas. And here's why. This book is about Azazel, a fallen angel, and Rachel, a human. He thinks she is a demon called Lillith, which of course she is (or used to be) because otherwise there would be no point to this book. But she doesn't remember being Lillith, she has amnesia, as far as she knows she is just a human. There's a prophecy that says he is going to marry her and they will rule over hell. So rather than just, you know, staying away from her, he captures her and leaves her staked out for the nephilim to eat alive. He changes his mind. Goes back, frees her, lets her leave. 1.5 years later, the fallen angels find out that when she was Lillith she was imprisoned near to lucifer and, as they're trying to free lucifer but don't know where he is, they need Rachel's memories. But she has amnesia. So, do they try asking her for help? Do they try anything to bring her memories back? Nope. Azazel captures her again, sleeps with her a couple of times, in a very cold way as she's a nasty, nasty demon and then hands her over to the Truthbreakers for torture. Yep, you heard me right, torture. Now, we're not just talking basic human torture, these are supernatural torturers, so you can imagine the methods they come up with. He lies to her to get her out of the house, takes her to the place where he is going to hand her over, has sex with her against the wall and then hands her over. Nice.

When he goes back to get her, he is told she can no longer speak as her voice broke due to her screaming. her face is so bruised and swollen he doesn't recognise her, her body is broken and she is covered in blood as they have used 'blades, their hands, their fingernails' and she is barely breathing. Lets just remember that she is a human not an immortal being. He takes her back to where the angels live and gets the healer to heal her.

Ok. Maybe he is so massively sorry for what he has done he spends the second half of the book making up for it. To be honest, I don't know if I would accept anything he would do would make up for it, but the author could at least have tried. He says things like 'You have had ample time to deal with your ordeal in the Dark City, you need to come back where you belong'. 'And where is that?'. 'In my bed'. And also 'If you're going to tell me you're sorry, I don't want to hear it'. 'I'm not sorry'. 'Then why are we talking?'. 'I did what I had to do. I had no choice, and if I had to do it over, I would do it again'. He did have a choice, they could have tried any number of other things first to bring her memory back. He honestly doesn't care about what he did, doesn't give a damn about her. No emotion. No feeling. No remorse. He just wants to have sex with her.

Now obviously you would expect her to be so broken-hearted and mad at him she would have nothing to do with him. *Sigh*, nope. The first time she sees him she tells him to get out. The next time? Oh well, the next time all those things start happening to her body when he's around, you know, the usual, 'I was wet, longing for him, my nipples hardening in anticipation, my secret flesh quivering for his touch'. Huh, really? This man abused you, betrayed you, handed you over for horrendous torture and yet you still fancy him? She is one of those 'Too Stupid To Live' females.

Now, again, I UNDERSTAND the author is trying to write about alpha males being strong and hard and well, alpha. Cause that's what gets the readers panties all wet. But torture, seriously? No remorse? No emotion? Nope, sorry.

Also, there's a lot of loose ends in this book, for example, the prophesy, they are going to marry and rule over hell. So they marry, where's the ruling over hell part? Did I miss that page?

I read to escape my own boring life, to read about romance and alpha males and sassy females and good sex scenes and happy endings, and angels and demons and vampires and faeries. I don't want to read about unemotional cold males and Too Stupid To Live Females, about horrendous torture and no remorse.

I won't be reading anything by this author again, due to the above reasons.

As per my review for the first book, if you like the idea of this book, then read Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series or Meljean Brook's Guardians series instead, they are so much better. Or, to get the same effect as this book, just poke yourself in the eye with a sharp stick.

Well, got this book quick, read it in 1 day! once I opened it I could not put it down, a lover and deamons! brill story line and lovely romantic parts. nice heart warmer in parts

KD continues to turn Biblical tales on their heads in this dark fantasy romance series. Demoness Lilith; the forerunner to Eve, who ended up banished and cursed for not obeying Adam takes a lead role, but this modern day Lilith has no memory of her past. Now using the name Rachel, she appears to possess almost none of her supernatural powers except the power to inspire lust; an ability the fallen angel who hunts her is very much aware of.

It has been 7 years since the heartbreaking events which occurred at the end of book 1 "Raziel", and former leader of the fallen angels Azazel is still dealing with the death of his mate Sarah. He is afraid of the fruition of a prophecy involving him and Lilith (whoops Rachel) and so spends years of his life trying to track her down and kill her.

Of course the first opportunity Azazel has to kill Rachel, he fails miserably. Instead he gets intimate with her before packing her off to be mercilessly tortured for the information she unwittingly knows about the whereabouts of Lucifer. Rachel barely survives, but hey there's nothing like being battered and betrayed to make you realise how much you love the man who poured a bucket load of pain over your head.

I like the concept of this story but like the previous reviewer, all I could feel by the end of this book was how on earth could Rachel forgive Azazel for causing the abuse she suffered? He may not have wielded a weapon against her directly, but Azazel wrapped her up in a big fat bow with a label reading `torture me now to the brink of death' before walking away from her. The attitude wasn't good, and his conversational skills were not much better. If I heard "Does it matter?" or "Deal with it" as consistently as Rachel did, I'd be booting my other half out the door. But no, Rachel laps up any attention that comes her way; forget an avenging demoness, think more enormous doormat.

This fantasy romance had everything going for it; an original and exciting plot, plenty of adventure and some hot passion, yet (IMO) the execution was poor. Azazel was ultimately a rather unpleasant character with the emotional depth of a carrot, whilst Rachel came across as feeble and somewhat of an orgasm junkie prepared to be treated like dirt in order to get her next fix. They didn't really work as a couple, and no amount of hot sex could disguise this.