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madeline 's review for:
The Date from Hell
by Gwenda Bond
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
I was really looking forward to the first book in this series and was ultimately disappointed. Still, I was looking forward to picking up the second book, and other folks had let me know they'd heard it worked better than the first. I'm very happy to confirm those rumors!
Callie and Luke are dancing around taking the next steps in their relationship, spending time in the mortal realm and in Hell. It's on one of her trips to Hell that Callie realizes some of the people doomed to life in fiery pits or in eternal servitude or whatever might deserve a second chance. Lucius decides to grant this -- if Callie and Luke can prove a soul of his choosing is redeemable. Suddenly, the two of them are spending what was meant to be a quiet weekend in chasing a wayward Hell-escapee who looks like he should be a Hemsworth brother all over Europe on a Grail quest. The consequences of failure could be dire: not just for the souls they're trying to redeem, but for their relationship, and the human world at large.
Some of my biggest issues with the first book are resolved or at least improved upon here: Callie is a fully-fleshed out person with thoughts besides trivia, and the writing style is much more consistent throughout. Since there's an external guide for the plot (Arthurian myth), there's fewer things dangling here and there, which means there's not a solution to all the woes that appears at 93% out of nowhere, too.
Still, this series reads far more YA to me than adult romance. A huge element of the plot is Luke not feeling worthy of Callie's love, but there's only cursory exploration given to why he might feel like this. It's what I'm going to call "cracked-door romance": not closed-door, but nothing more than an illusion at intent and a "yes, that was good" at the end. Combining some underdeveloped angst with low steam just really feels oriented towards a younger crowd.
There's no doubt that this book is a much neater product than its predecessor, and I encourage people who waffled on the first one to see if this works better for them.
Thank you to St. Martin's and NetGalley for the ARC!
Callie and Luke are dancing around taking the next steps in their relationship, spending time in the mortal realm and in Hell. It's on one of her trips to Hell that Callie realizes some of the people doomed to life in fiery pits or in eternal servitude or whatever might deserve a second chance. Lucius decides to grant this -- if Callie and Luke can prove a soul of his choosing is redeemable. Suddenly, the two of them are spending what was meant to be a quiet weekend in chasing a wayward Hell-escapee who looks like he should be a Hemsworth brother all over Europe on a Grail quest. The consequences of failure could be dire: not just for the souls they're trying to redeem, but for their relationship, and the human world at large.
Some of my biggest issues with the first book are resolved or at least improved upon here: Callie is a fully-fleshed out person with thoughts besides trivia, and the writing style is much more consistent throughout. Since there's an external guide for the plot (Arthurian myth), there's fewer things dangling here and there, which means there's not a solution to all the woes that appears at 93% out of nowhere, too.
Still, this series reads far more YA to me than adult romance. A huge element of the plot is Luke not feeling worthy of Callie's love, but there's only cursory exploration given to why he might feel like this. It's what I'm going to call "cracked-door romance": not closed-door, but nothing more than an illusion at intent and a "yes, that was good" at the end. Combining some underdeveloped angst with low steam just really feels oriented towards a younger crowd.
There's no doubt that this book is a much neater product than its predecessor, and I encourage people who waffled on the first one to see if this works better for them.
Thank you to St. Martin's and NetGalley for the ARC!