Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Review: Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong.


Title: Where Demons Fear to Tread 
Author: Stephanie Chong
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Company of Angels #1 
Number of Pages: 358
 Publisher: Mira
Source: Netgalley




 
 
After the disastrous way his human life ended, Julian vowed that no woman would get the better of him again. Yet this sexy–sweet angel, smelling of fresh ocean air and happiness, triggers centuries–old feelings. Now, their high–stakes game of seduction, where angels fall from grace and where demons fear to tread, will lead them either to an eternity in hell.or a deliciously hot heaven.Fledging guardian angel and yoga teacher Serena St. Clair dares enter Devil's Paradise nightclub on a mission—to retrieve the wayward Hollywood "It Boy" she's assigned to protect. But she's ambushed by the club's owner, arch demon Julian Ascher. The most powerful demonic entity in Los Angeles, Julian is handsome as sin, a master of temptation who loves nothing more than corrupting pleasure–seeking humans. He won't release the lost soul Serena is supposed to guard. Unless she accepts his dangerous wager…(goodreads)



I was drawn to this book on netgalley because the premise was a little different the usual paranormal romances subject matters I normally read. I liked the idea of a series about a group of angels saving people from evil demons. However, I had a really hard time liking Serena, the heroine and it made the book become a do not finish for me.

Serena was one of those heroines who should've been likable and one that I loved. She was sweet, innocent, and sure to be a goner for the evil demon she was trying to save her human charge from. What stopped this from enjoying this was that right away we are given information I would have liked to have learned at a later date~like why Serena was assigned to Julian and both of their lives before they died.

Another reason that kept me from finishing the book was that Julian was using the trick of pretending to go after Serena's brothers soul to get Serena to see him again. Once she's at the party where her brother is, he (her brother) can't see her we discover this through Julian, and it's not mentioned by anyone else. While her brother can't see Serena, Julian is able to and so is her human charge, Nick. Why I couldn't let this one thing go is beyond me, but it bothered me to no end. The little voice in me started asking questions like"why would Serena risk her job as an angel to be at the same place her brother is? What would happen if her brother talked to Nick and found out about her?"  Normally things like this don't bother me and I'm able to brush them aside, but I was just wasn't able to this time.

While there were a lot of things that bugged me about this book, I did really enjoy Julian. He was everything a demon should be-mysterious, handsome, and totally alpha.  Unfortunately he wasn't enough to carry the book for me.

I feel like I should mention that this poor book was read during the week I quit smoking. I have a feeling that may have had a lot  was totally the reason why I found the heroine to be so annoying....the other books that was read during this unfortunate time didn't fare much better. Lesson learned? This book will get a re-read when I have more patience.