"Original Sin" by Lisa Desrochers

From Goodreads: "Luc Cain was born and raised in Hell, but he isn’t feeling as demonic as usual lately—thanks to Frannie Cavanaugh and the unique power she never realized she had. But you can’t desert Hell without consequences, and suddenly Frannie and Luc find themselves targeted by the same demons who used to be Luc’s allies.

Left with few options, Frannie and Luc accept the protection of Heaven and one of its most powerful angels, Gabe. Unfortunately, Luc isn’t the only one affected by Frannie, and it isn’t long before Gabe realizes that being around her is too…tempting. Rather than risk losing his wings, he leaves Frannie and Luc under the protection of her recently-acquired guardian angel.

Which would be fine, but Gabe is barely out the door before an assortment of demons appears—and they’re not leaving without dragging Luc back to Hell with them. Hell won’t give up and Heaven won’t give in. Frannie’s guardian exercises all the power he has to keep them away, but the demons are willing to hurt anyone close to Frannie in order to get what they want. It will take everything she has and then some to stay out of Hell’s grasp.

And not everyone will get out of it alive."

"Personal Demons", the first book in Lisa Desrochers' series of the same name, completely blew me away. It is a book that I know that I will come back to again and again and one that I will never tire of. However, I must admit that "Original Sin" didn't do as much for me as "Personal Demons" did- that is not to say that it is a bad book, it isn't- it is still better than the vast majority of YA paranormal books.

I think that why this book wasn't quite as successful as the previous is because where "Personal Demons" was entirely unique and truly marched to the beat of its own drum, this book seemed to more so follow the stereotypical YA storyline (ie. a seemingly perfect relationship does a complete 180 when somewhat random plot elements are thrown in for the sake of creating conflict). Furthermore, I felt that the new characters introduced in this book were a bit difficult to connect to (I am talking to you Lili, you sketchy-from-the-get-go-chick and you Matt, you-selfish-boy-who-blames-others-for-your-mistakes) when compared to the original book's characters.

Despite my criticisms I did grow to love the original characters more (well more so Luc and Frannie since Gabe made only a brief appearance at the end of the novel). While I had thought that Frannie had been totally kick-ass in the previous book, it was nothing when compared to this book- her continuously breaking out the Judo? Amazeballs! Ditto for her teaching it to Luc! As for Luc, believe it or not but he was even more so emotional in this book than the last (and as such, even more swoon-worthy).

All in all, while this book did not fully live up to my expectations I still believe it to be an amazing book. This book is a perfect combination of romance and (fast-paced) action/ adventure and I highly recommend it- especially to YA readers who are sick of sparkly vampires and underage werewolves ;). I cannot wait to see what Lisa has in store for us next!

Rating: 9.5/10

Memorable lines from the book:

"I thought that I had these human teenage hormones figured out" (pg. 101). 

"After seven thousand years, I thought that I knew all there was to know... I didn't know this was possible... I never imagined needing anything... anyone... so thoroughly. I... God, you're my everything" (pg. 116). 

"... but I can't have you. You belong with Luc" (pg, 290).