Hellsbane (A Hellsbane Book, #1) (Hellsbane)

by Paige Cuccaro

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.

• ISBN10: 1937044653
• ISBN13: 9781937044657
• Publish Date: 1 December 2011
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Out of Print: 23 May 2012
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Entangled Publishing, LLC
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

Pros
Liked Emma immensely though she has one specific smack-able moment
the mystery and sleuthing.
Cons
Biblical sexism and slut shaming
World-building = meh. Not compelling.

Trigger Warning: contains discussion of Rape, children conceived by rape, and rape threats. It’s mostly second hand discussion about their rapist fathers but there’s a particularly poignant conversation with a rape victim who has no memory of the event. Emma’s threatened repeatedly towards closing time by our antagonist right after spouting “can’t rape the willing” bullshit regarding his victims.
Emma Hellsbane is a psychic, more or less. She makes her living off feeling emotions and giving her customers what they want. Until one fate-filled day when too popular for you jock, Thomas comes insistently knocking. Him rocking her world is what she’s always wanted but is unprepared for just how he does it.
After saving Thomas’s life, she’s on a roller coaster ride of train or die by the scores of demons and their masters now wanting her dead. With the help of their Angel magistra, aka Nephellium wrangler, Eli Emma’s new life begins to take shape. Between Thomas’s smile and Eli’s intoxicating angel aura, she’s got to get her head in the game somehow. Touched by an angel to a whole new level, but that’s war-making talk.
There’s downtime for paranormal sleuthing to find out who’s their daddy in order to gain freedom from Groundhog Day’s evil, sexy twin infested with murderous demons. This, along with Emma’s still thinking like a human moment slips, is my favorite part. Yeah, the fighting is good and all, especially with the reality of injuries thrown in (though it doesn’t last), but I love mysteries.
Training montages are kept short and interesting, the second of which will make astrology nerds explode from death by bullshit but I found it fun. Of course, it’s all made up anyways.
It’s funny of all the magical hand waving I’ve accepted, it’s always the angels and demons on Earth that’s hardest for me to shallow. Maybe it’s the holier than thou look at those sheeple aspect. Maybe it’s that some honestly believe they’re already here and the damage those people have caused. Maybe it's because no one dares to delve deeper in the mythos. Maybe living in a Judeo-Christian society that saturated with it, I just find it dull.

Rating Specifics: Overall & in general, I'd give a 2.5 but for the genre, it earns 3 ½ stars for an enjoyable tale that is above average given my experience with others of its ilk. The world-building is bleh, but I liked Emma and the action. Don't think I can stand continuing though. But major props for keeping me hooked enough to finish and not hating it. That's a first for me and the Biblical fantasy sub-genre.

[Cocktails and Books]

I wasn't really sure if this was going to be a book that I would enjoy. I'm generally not one for angel books, but I was surprised by this one.

I liked Emma. She's young and somewhat naive, but she has a snarky sense of humor that I could appreciate. She had a lot thrown at her once she found out she was a naphilim, but she took it much better than I know I would.

Eli was a bit of a surprise. He has the superior quality that one would expect an angel to have, but he was also down to earth. Chalk that up to spending so much time amongst humans I guess, but that quality made him much more likeable than I'm sure he would have been otherwise.

The entire Fallen / Naphilim storyline still has me a bit confused. So we have fallen angels running around impregnating unsuspecting women and then if that unlucky soul should touch the sword of another naphilim warrior they become marked and forced into service to kill the Fallen and the demons they have released before they kill more naphilim. It was a vicious circle of WTF, but it did keep your attention. Throw into the mix the weird behavior of some of Eli's fellow angels and your head will be spinning while you're hoping Emma can figure out who is out to kill her.

While I hate the Tommy storyline (boo hiss!!), I'm hoping by then of the series Emma gets her happily ever after (I'm assured by my interview with Paige Cuccaro that she will). That said, I enjoyed this first installment and look forward to the next book to see what awaits Emma Jane.