Review: Heaven and Hellsbane by Paige Cuccaro

Title: Heaven and Hellsbane (Hellsbane #2)
Author: Paige Cuccaro
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Publisher Request - Entangled Publishing
Release Date: August 27, 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Someone’s killing angels and turning the half human, half angel illorum warriors against their angelic supporters. If the supernatural baddy behind the attacks isn’t stopped soon, Heaven itself could fall victim. The Council of Seven has called in the best they’ve got to find the killers, and no one’s more surprised than Emma Jane Hellsbane when it’s her phone that rings.

But when her own angelic mentor—and off-limits hottie—Eli is targeted, Emma takes it personally. With Emma hot on the trail of the growing army of assassins, though, hackles start to raise around her. Everyone wants to know if she’s in it to protect all angels or just one in particular. The Council has their suspicions…and so does Emma’s boyfriend.

Now Emma isn’t just fighting off demons, rogue nephilim, and Fallen angels, but she’s defending her honor as well. The problem is even Emma Jane isn’t sure of her motives. One thing she does know: if she doesn’t figure out the killers’ identities soon, she may not live long enough to know what, or who, she really wants.

It’s all in a day’s work as Heaven’s ultimate bounty hunter.

Emma Jane's life is not going as she planned.  As a half angel - half human warrior fighting against the Fallen Angels and their demons she's used to surprises and sudden excitement.  But this time when her angel, Eli, pops in with a report, even she is blown away.  Someone has killed and angel and saying heaven is pissed off would be the understatement of the year.

A lot happens in this book and sometimes it was a bit difficult to keep it all straight.  I felt exhausted on Emma's behalf with all the running around and fighting.  Of course she's not only fighting against the Fallen, but against her own forbidden urges to fall for her angel, Eli.  Tons and tons of twists and turns throughout kept the book interesting and I was never sure what was going to happen next.

While it would have been nice to slow things down just a tiny bit, I still enjoyed the wild and crazy ride this book takes.  Just be prepared to find a hard time finding a place to stop if you're reading past your bedtime.

Barnes & Noble: Heaven and Hellsbane (A Hellsbane Novel)

Review: Hellsbane by Paige Cuccaro

Title: Hellsbane (Hellsbane #1)
Author: Paige Cuccaro
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Self-Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Emma Jane Hellsbane always knew she was different, but she had no idea she wasn’t even human. Well, at least she’s half-human. She’s half-fallen angel, too, and now dear ol’ dad wants her dead. All the Fallen angels want all their troublesome offspring removed from the mortal coil so she’s trying not to take it personally. Besides, she wants him dead just as much. Her father’s death is the only way she’ll be forgiven for his sin, stop those pesky demons from trying to hack off her head, and have any hope at all of getting back to a normal life as a wicked slick Intuitive Consciousness Explorer.

Of course, first she’ll have to figure out which fallen angel is her father, avoid accidentally seducing her angelic mentor, help an old friend conquer his own fallen sperm donor, and basically save the world from a cataclysmic divine smack down.

No problem. With a last name like Hellsbane, Emma Jane was definitely born for the job.

Emma Jane has just learned that she's special - in a not so good way.  It means that demons will be tracking her down trying to kill her before she can kill her Fallen Angel father.  Not the best way to be introduced to you real genealogy.  Thankfully she has her Magister, an angel appointed to train her, to help her learn the basics.  It's too bad he can't just tell her who her father is so she can go take care of it and save herself a world of trouble.

Emma is a sarcastic and witty character.  One that isn't afraid to talk back to the angels, and even gives them nicknames without permission.  She knows they need her as much as she needs them and isn't afraid to remind them of it.  In other words, she's bad ass.  I love her character.  She is just accepting enough to move the story forward and just stubborn enough to keep her from being another sheep in the flock.

Emma needs to learn a lot before she will have the skills to take out her father, and she hits the ground running.  It was great watching her interact with Eli and Tommy.  They are both fantastic character in their rights.  The action was spaced out enough not to be exhausting, but often enough to really keep things interesting.  Throw in a little bit of a romance to weave through it all and you have a great story.

Barnes & Noble: Hellsbane

Book Beginnings of Friday (10)

Book Beginnings on Friday at Rose City Reader is the place to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the book.

I've been slacking on this one a bit.  I apologize - I love reading the beginnings of books I've never heard of.  The writing in the first few sentences can help me decide if I'll like the author's style or not.  This week I chose a Young/New Adult Paranormal that I started earlier this week: Heaven and Hellsbane (A Hellsbane Novel) by Paige Cuccaro.   It's book two in the Hellsbane series - so far it's quite good.

"Maion's gone.  Dead." It looked like Eli had popped out of thin air into the extra chair at our table.

He hadn't really.  He'd simply moved at angelic speed, faster than any human could track.  Same difference.

Book Blurb: 

Emma Jane Hellsbane just unwittingly triggered a whole bunch of nephilim to come into their powers—and this new army has teamed up with Bariel, demon straight from Hell, who’s made it his mission to kill all the magisters on Earth. When they come after Eli, Emma and Officer Dan must work together to save him, but this makes Eli all the more tempted to Fall for Emma. And his fighting his feelings for her means Heaven has taken notice.

Now Emma isn’t just fighting off demons, rogue nephilim and Fallen angels, she’s defending her womanhood to the judgmental Seraphim angels, too, who want to separate Eli from Emma Jane. Can she protect Eli, Officer Dan, and find her rogue father? For Emma Jane, it’s all in a day’s work as Heaven’s ultimate bounty hunter.

Review: Commencement by Paige Cuccaro

Title: Commencement (Hellsbane #.05)
Author: Paige Cuccaro
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Self Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn for frat guys…

Emma Jane Hellsbane knows something evil is worming its way through her college campus—she can feel it. Literally. Her freakish ability to feel other people’s emotions as though they were her own has always been monumentally awkward, and it’s easier for her to just pretend it doesn’t exist. But this time her paranormal ability just might help her save lives. 

Emma Jane’s fairly certain that whatever the hateful, egomaniacal, Godlike thing is, it’s set up shop inside her boyfriend, the frat boy/soccer star Justin. And if she doesn’t figure a way to get it out of him soon, Justin’s soul will be the appetizer to the main course—the whole student body. Problem is, the big baddy is granting sinister wishes, and with each one the risks grow higher and the phrase Be careful what you wish for becomes a real-life dire warning. Of course for Emma, what feels like it could be the end is in fact just the beginning…

A short and sweet prequel to the Hellsbane series.  This was a cute introduction to Emma Jane Hellsbane and her special power of empathy.  When she "feels" something is wrong with her boyfriend, she never suspected it might be a form of possession, but it looks like the supernatural world has just decided to make itself know to her.

It was a great lesson in wanting things you didn't work for and not pissing off your supernatural girlfriend.  Emma manages to save the day overall, but Justin pays an interesting price for his selfishness.  I'm currently reading book 1 in the series and this does seem like a great introduction to the character, although it was just too short to get really involved.

Barnes & Noble: Commencement: Hellsbane