Search - Personal Demon (Women of the Underworld, Bk 8)

I thought this was the best one yet. With Armstrong's ability to flesh out her characters so well, I really felt like I knew who Hope was. Also, since I read dime store magic first, Lucas and Paige have always been my favorite characters and they were back in this book. There is a lot of foreshadowing for the next books and I can't wait to get them!

I liked the book. I didn't like the bouncing between Hope and Lucas in the first person. I kept getting confused, better to go with a third person view with multiple plots.

Having read Armstrong's short story "Chaotic" in Dates From Hell, I liked the characters, especially Hope, and the intelligent and interesting plot shifts in it. Having read Armstrong's female werewolf novels (Bitten and Stolen), I liked this one more than Bitten and probably a little more than Stolen. To be fair I probably shouldn't judge the first book of this series (Bitten) so harshly--it usually takes at least one book before an author can really hit her stride since she has to initially introduce you to the world and its characters (and I enjoy a little more detailed setup). But the comparison is more a compliment to this book than a slight to the other two.

I enjoyed the mystery and could only guess a small part of the solution, although a few more clues would have been nice. It might have helped had I read the other two novels closer to reading this one (it has been a while) but what I like about this series is being able to just pick one independently of the others.

So far I really like the strong female protagonists (no sidekicks here!) who are believable and have concerns that "normal" women (as opposed to paranormal) can identify with. I believe most good fantasy writing is primarily good writing (characterization, plot, et al.) that happens to have characters who are paranormal or are in a paranormal/alternative setting.

Half Demon Hope Adams has been asked to do a favor for Benicio Cortez, head of the Cortez Cabal. Benicio wants her to infiltrate a gang of supernaturals who may be causing trouble for the Cabal. Hope ends up liking the young gang members who run a nightclub and pull heists on the side. But soon two of the gang members are kidnapped and another is murdered. It's up to Hope, her former lover Karl, Sorcerer Lucas Cortez and his wife, Paige Winterbourne, to find out if the Cabal is behind these happenings.

This was a decent addition to Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. I thought this book started out a little slow, but it picked up when Hope started her undercover work. Hope is an interesting character, but I actually liked the other characters in the book better. Paige and Lucas have always been a favorite for me, so I was very glad to see them. I also like to see the inter-workings of the Cabal. My rating: 4 Stars.