Review: Last Rite

LAST RITE 

(Personal Demons #3)

Lisa Desrochers
Paranormal Young Adult
365 pages
Tor Teen
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

In this final installment of the thrilling, edgy Personal Demons series, the battle between Heaven and Hell has become critical, and Frannie Cavanaugh is right at the center of it.

With the help of the powerful angel Gabe and demon-turned-mortal Luc, Frannie has been able to stay one step ahead of the forces of Hell. But when the demons killed Frannie's best friend and destroyed her brother, they raised the stakes. If Frannie wants to keep her family and friends safe, she knows she has no choice but to go on the run.

Their best defense is the power Frannie has been struggling to master, but her attempts to hone her skill go horribly awry. If Frannie doesn't learn fast, the consequences could be devastating--even apocalyptic.

What happens when you can't outrun Hell...or trust the ones you love?

MY THOUGHTS

Last Rite picks up immediately following the events of Original Sin, sparing us barely a moment to take a deep breath before we’re launched into the middle of the ongoing battle between Heaven and Hell. Those who may be a little foggy on the details of book two may want to consider rereading the concluding chapters at the very least, as Ms. Desrochers spends very little time reintroducing characters and events, instead focusing on moving things forward at a lightning-quick speed that leaves us floundering a bit to catch up. The extremely quick pace stems not simply from physical action, but from constant emotional upheaval as well, things with both Gabe and Luc on extraordinarily unstable ground that proves only to get rockier as Frannie’s predicament becomes more dire, and though we may stumble at times when temporary confusion plagues us, we can’t deny being riveted to the pages wondering how things will play out.

Frannie has been a young woman with whom our relationship is at times strained, her extreme waffling between Luc and Gabe in book one having us questioning whether she’ll be a character we can really come to know and fully support, but throughout the series she does exhibit a gradual growth. That is not to say that her actions in this final installment are the epitome of logical and rational, because it’s often quite the opposite, however her reasoning is far less hormonal in nature and more emotional in this final installment, and we can feel how the scope of the task laid at her feet forces her into sometimes impulsive—but understandable—action.

As mentioned in previous reviews for this series, Frannie’s story has a soap-opera quality to it, events and character relationships extremely dramatic – perhaps too dramatic for some readers – but for all that we may groan at the rather epic love triangle, Ms. Desrochers does still manage to draw us deeply into this story and have us invested in its outcome. In Last Rite, all three protagonists are swaddled tightly in guilt over the events of the previous book, each of them wallowing separately in repetitive recitations of “it’s my fault” without ever giving voice to their feelings and sharing the burden with the other two. At times, the combined weight of their despair can be a bit overwhelming, but before we're able to don our festive hats at their pity party, Ms. Desrochers yanks us all from our despondent musings and forces us into action.

Last Rite is nothing short of a thrilling conclusion, life and death on the line in almost every chapter as Frannie, Luc, and Gabe frantically search for Lucifer’s weakness and a way to exploit it. Readers who have enjoyed the previous two books and enter into this one knowing the angst will be high, the logical decision making low, and the romance split between angel and demon will no doubt find themselves with nails bitten down to nubs from stress but a smile on their faces by the end.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Original Sin

ORIGINAL SIN
(Personal Demons #2)
Lisa Desrochers
Paranormal Young Adult
400 pages
Tor Teen
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

Warning: Synopsis contains spoilers from Personal Demons, but no spoilers for Original Sin.

THE STORY
For Frannie Cavanaugh, things should be pretty ideal. Her former-demon boyfriend Luc has been made mortal thanks to her unusual gift of Sway, and her twin brother Matt who passed away years ago has been sent back to her as a guardian angel. Then she has gorgeous angel Gabe keeping an eye on her as well. Life is supposed to be good.

Except those in Hell aren't as enthusiastic about Luc's transformation and defection from their ranks as Frannie is, and they decide to come after him in force to figure out just how his mortality is possible. With Luc in constant danger and Gabe having to leave her in the hands of only Matt as a guardian, Frannie struggles to get control of her life and protect those she loves by attempting to learn more about her Sway.

The demons are extremely intent on reversing the heavenly tag on Luc's soul though, and their methods of achieving their goal threaten everything in Frannie's life: her boyfriend, her family, and her friends. She quickly realizes a tag on her soul for Heaven doesn't protect her from pain, and Hell and King Lucifer will stop at nothing to claim they feel is rightfully theirs.

MY THOUGHTS
Original Sin is a story that beautifully escapes the snare second books in a series sometimes fall prey to, increasing the emotional intensity and physical action while also answering some of our lingering questions from book one before forcing us to ask new ones. While Personal Demons had a bit of a lighter feel and some rather spectacular romantic waffling on Frannie's part, this second installment shows us some significant character growth while introducing new elements that never let us forget we're reading a story that deals with demons. There are darker and more serious undertones this time around, trapping us in a bubble of tension and unease as every character's most minute action proves to have a serious ripple effect on those around them. We devour the pages as the divide between good and evil becomes not so clearly delineated, and decisions are made that cause fissures to form in our hearts, waiting for the slightest of provocations to crack them wide open and send us reeling.

Frannie, a difficult young woman to like in the first book due to her constant indecision with regard to Luc and Gabe, is remarkably more mature in majority of Original Sin. Content with her relationship with Luc, we are spared her incessant pining for Gabe and her frustrating habit of shedding clothes whenever in the presence of either one of them. She attempts to better understand her Sway while also coping with the difficulties and dangers of her new celestial and demon-tainted existence. Toward the end some of her newfound growth does begin to dissolve under the emotional onslaught of certain events, and though she resorts to some familiarly bothersome behavior, we are able to take comfort in the thoughts and actions we've witnessed throughout most of the book, hoping we'll only see more of them in the future.

Ms. Desrochers spares us no drama in this story, spending the beginning hundred or so pages getting us reacquainted with the characters and allowing us to bask in the warmth emanating from Luc and Frannie, their incandescence spreading from the pages to our tingling fingertips before those crackling sparks are doused with a deliciously painful turn of events. Their relationship in Personal Demons was superficially enjoyable and full of angst, but Ms. Desrochers manages to draw us under the surface in Original Sin, ensuring we have a vested interest in their happiness before unleashing a barrage of tests that threaten everything we've just come to hold dear. This unpredictability is welcome despite the pain it causes, and we find ourselves appreciating the new darkness as it obscures our vision and keeps us on edge wondering what torment might come next.

One small drawback in this installment is the addition of Matt's point of view to both Luc and Frannie's, his selfishness and disregard for his sister's wishes slightly off-putting until we reach the end and better understand the role he is to play, but up to that point we read his scenes quickly in the hope of returning to Luc and Frannie as soon as possible. In spite of that drawback as well as some continuing issues with Frannie, Original Sin is a highly entertaining read and one full of interesting twists that have us looking to the future with guts clenched and muscles held rigid as we wait to see what Heaven and Hell hold in store for those of us on the mortal coil.

Rating: 4/5