Brook, Meljean - Demon Angel
Lilith and Hugh have been battling over human souls for centuries as demon and Guardian (a cross between angel and human), though neither are allowed to interfere with human will. But after eight hundred years of trying to save people, Hugh grow bitter, decides to fall and finally kill Lilith.
Sixteen years later, there's a new threat in San Francisco, involving demons and nosferatu (sort of like Buffy ubervamps), and Hugh and Lilith have to team up, though he's human, and she's not as she was.
I loved the concept of Lilith a lot, though I was a little sad that she wasn't the Lilith. I also like the insane worldbuilding, all the demons and angels and wars between Heaven and Hell and two people battling over centuries, each growing more disillusioned.
On the other hand, nothing in the latter 300+ pages lives up to the snippets of battles between Hugh and Lilith over 800+ years; once we move from snippets to in-depth prose, Lilith and Hugh both lose some of what made them interesting to me as characters, and a lot of the tension between the two disappeared. Hugh in particular got rather boring; I wanted more disillusionment and scruffy amorality a la Wesley. Lilith stays cool in that she gets to kick a lot of ass, and she's the one who grows the most as a character, but even so, I felt that Brook underplays her demonic-ness and tries too hard to make Lilith morally acceptable.
Also, the sex completely threw me off -- what's the point of having a demonic heroine and a fallen angel hero if he's in control of the sex every time we get description? Lilith does take control, but it's off-scene, which makes it much less effective, and the first major sex scene completely didn't work for me (save one detail, which was made of win).
On the other hand... Hugh writes a book for her! To make up for all the dead white men writing her out of their books! This won me over.
I'm not sure if I'll read more Brook. I'm particularly uninterested in Colin and Savi together, especially because I was rooting for something on Colin and Selah going into the whole captive blood-sucking thing. And I want more demon women!
On the other hand, I enjoyed the worldbuilding a lot, despite feeling like the vampires and nosferatu detracted from the world as a whole, and I am a total sucker for angels and demons. And Brook seems to focus more on the woman in this book, which is rare enough in romances that I'm willing to give her another shot.
Sixteen years later, there's a new threat in San Francisco, involving demons and nosferatu (sort of like Buffy ubervamps), and Hugh and Lilith have to team up, though he's human, and she's not as she was.
I loved the concept of Lilith a lot, though I was a little sad that she wasn't the Lilith. I also like the insane worldbuilding, all the demons and angels and wars between Heaven and Hell and two people battling over centuries, each growing more disillusioned.
On the other hand, nothing in the latter 300+ pages lives up to the snippets of battles between Hugh and Lilith over 800+ years; once we move from snippets to in-depth prose, Lilith and Hugh both lose some of what made them interesting to me as characters, and a lot of the tension between the two disappeared. Hugh in particular got rather boring; I wanted more disillusionment and scruffy amorality a la Wesley. Lilith stays cool in that she gets to kick a lot of ass, and she's the one who grows the most as a character, but even so, I felt that Brook underplays her demonic-ness and tries too hard to make Lilith morally acceptable.
Also, the sex completely threw me off -- what's the point of having a demonic heroine and a fallen angel hero if he's in control of the sex every time we get description? Lilith does take control, but it's off-scene, which makes it much less effective, and the first major sex scene completely didn't work for me (save one detail, which was made of win).
On the other hand... Hugh writes a book for her! To make up for all the dead white men writing her out of their books! This won me over.
I'm not sure if I'll read more Brook. I'm particularly uninterested in Colin and Savi together, especially because I was rooting for something on Colin and Selah going into the whole captive blood-sucking thing. And I want more demon women!
On the other hand, I enjoyed the worldbuilding a lot, despite feeling like the vampires and nosferatu detracted from the world as a whole, and I am a total sucker for angels and demons. And Brook seems to focus more on the woman in this book, which is rare enough in romances that I'm willing to give her another shot.