Some hard to believe scenes, but decent read
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Not giving a star rating because did not read whole book.

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Thrilling story of magic, demons and love.

Opening Sentence: Ginny Jones wrapped a clean kitchen towel around her torn fingers and glared at the screeching cat she’d finally managed to shove into the carrier.

The Review:

Back again for the second exciting installment of this series is our favorite ex-demon Dax, his lovely female Eddy with her dog and father, and their new found friend, the sexy Lemurian, Alton. Also joining them from the previous book is Eddy’s best friend Ginny.

This time it is Alton’s turn to fall in love with a beautiful human woman, and there sure is something about that girl, Ginny. In the first book, they share a kiss as he tries to supernaturally convince her to go on vacation to escape the danger brewing in her home town. The compulsion works then, for she goes off to visit her cousins in Sedona. Unfortunately, her trip to Sedona has actually placed her in just as much, if not more danger than she’d have found if she’d stayed home. For the demons in Sedona have now learned they can possess small living creatures, and are causing all the towns pets and woodland creatures to go crazy. When the crew finds out, Alton travels to help save her, and the residents of Sedona. As she is now highly involved, Alton must divulge all of his and the rest of the groups paranormal secrets. At first she is skeptic, but cannot deny the things she has seen with her own eyes.

When they realize that their small group is not nearly enough to fight this battle alone, Alton returns to Lemuria with Ginny in hopes of changing the minds of his father, The King, and his ruling council. He wishes for them to send help to Earth in the form of warriors and their special talking crystal swords, both born for the job of hunting demons. Upon his return, however, he is renounced from the royal family, and ordered to prison for his defiance of his father’s law. Alton takes Ginny and runs back to Earth, with a little help from some warriors and Alton’s best friend. Hurt and confused, Alton asks his friend to remain in Lemuria when he would do otherwise, to try to talk some sense into the council, or perhaps just the soldiers, and to keep them posted on the events that take place there in the meantime.

Back on Earth, they are met in Sedona by Dax and Eddy, and they encounter the head demon as he attacks Dax and tries to literally suck out his life force, not once, but twice. Their final encounter with the beast, in this book anyway, takes place during a county festival, with that nasty evil inside a living bull, with horns and everything. Ouch!

Oh, and I forgot to mention one other tiny fact. It turns out that Ginny is a descendant of a Lemurian, a fierce female warrior from thousands of years ago. While they are in the Kings Court, a woman approaches Ginny and gives her the gift of a crystal sword of her own, and her very own immortality. So now, Ginny is as supernatural as the rest of them. But, all of this, combined with her budding romance with Alton, may prove to be too much for one girl to handle. Especially, one girl who is afraid of intimacy and its price if things go south. But, as always, love will find its way.

Another great story from a very creative author and the next one looks as if it is sure to follow in the same direction.

Notable Scene:

Fighting panic, Ginny quickly weighed her options. Dax was down and bleeding badly. Eddy’s leg had a deep slash. BumperWillow was either unconscious or dead and Alton was clinging to the bull’s back without HellFire. Ripping off her skirt, Ginny stood her ground in her white camisole top, black lace panties, and red platform sandals, waving the red fabric in front of the bull like a matador’s cape.

She didn’t know if demons liked red or not, but this demon-powered bull was putting his head down and blowing huge blasts of hot air from bleeding nostrils—thank you, Bumper. And he was glaring at the billowing red skirt.

Alton flashed her a thumbs-up and nimbly jumped from the bull’s back. He reached for HellFire. The sword burst out of the dirt directly into his grasp. Alton held his weapon high and raced toward the bull. Just as he got within striking distance, the animal swung his head.

One of the long horns ripped into Alton’s side and lifted him high overhead. Ginny screamed. She felt Alton’s agony through their mental link as the horn sliced deep into his body. The bull swung his head and Alton tumbled over his broad back like a rag doll. HellFire once again landed in the dirt, but this time Alton lay beside his sword, unmoving.

Ginny searched for his thoughts and found nothing.

Then the bull charged.

The DemonSlayers Series:

1. DemonFire

2. HellFire

3. StarFire

4. CrystalFire

FTC Advisory: Kensington/Zebra provided me with a copy of HellFire. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

I really enjoyed the first book in the series, but this was a did-not-finish for me. Maybe it's because I'm sick, but it didn't seem as fun--or as funny--as the first one. The repetitive inner musings and descriptions totally slowed down the pace, making the storyline completely lack urgency, and Ginny and Alton kept negatively comparing their three-day old romance to the two-week old "true and enduring love" found in Eddy and Dax's romance from the previous book. Add in that human culture is treated as monolithic--one of my biggest pet peeved in PNR and futuristic romance--and, by the time I was halfway through I was annoyed with both the characters and the author. I might try it again later, but right now I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

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