Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong. Review by Violet Kane

I've been wanting to check out Kelley Armstrong's books for a while now, and so when I found the audiobook of Personal Demon on the shelves of my local library, I jumped at the chance.

This novel follows chaos demon Hope Evans on an undercover mission to infiltrate a group of young supernaturals causing problems for Benicio Cortez, the cabal boss to whom Hope owes a favor. But as she gets deeper into the group, her suspicions grow about Benicio's motives and his involvement in underhanded dealings; all the while her feelings grow for one of the group members, Jaz, but when her old love Karl shows up halfway through the mission, her feelings spin into turmoil, especially when Jaz's motives are called into question.

While this novel is part of a longer series, Armstrong does a great job of making it accessible to new readers. In general, I found this story entertaining and engaging; the plot twists were not always expected. However, this novel as a whole fits into the ubiquitous paranormal romance genre. The romance between the heroine and her fellow takes center stage, though I do have to give Armstrong credit for making the identity of that fellow somewhat surprising. Armstrong also writes a strong and credible main plotline, which is a welcome departure from the typical throw-away plots that usually accompany the main romance in such books.

Personal Demon is a fast-paced, entertaining read, but certainly not innovative in defying genre bounds.

Violet "Violanthe" Kane is the Webmaster and Founder of ARWZ.com. She is an editor of ARWZ Literary Zine and has a Master's degree in Medieval studies. For more on Vio, check out her ARWZ blog.

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