What Amazon says
Lynn Hill left a difficult childhood behind when she turned eighteen. The 1980s were going to be the beginning of a great life. Then what started as an ordinary evening out with her best friend, Stacy, turns into a nightmare. Lynn hears warnings: “Go!” “Leave!” Believing she is hearing things after partying too much, she goes back for one more drink before going home. That decision sets off a chain of events that nothing could have prepared her for. While humans and not-so-human beings are attempting to either help or harm her, Lynn risks everything to find the only person she trusts, Stacy. Who can help her? The stepbrother who shows up right when she needs him or the attractive, helpful bartender who gives her his phone number? Lynn must learn to trust again. Her survival depends on it in this paranormal thriller.
My review
Lynn has grown up in an abusive family with a mother who drinks heavily and a step-father who is physically and verbally abusive towards both Lynn and his biological son, Warren. She escaped home as quickly as she could and is living on with her best friend, Staci, and working as an assistant hairdresser.
Unknown to her, Lynn has a pair of guardian angels who have been watching over her for years. The angels are aware that terrible events lie in Lynn’s immediate life path and they are tasked with trying to help her avert the worst outcome. The angels can only guide and are unable to overtly change the course of Lynn’s life; she has to make her own choices from her own free will.
One evening Lynn goes out partying with her friend, Staci, and things get wildly out of hand with alcohol and drugs. Lynn wakes up in a strange house next to the body of a dead young man. Staci has disappeared subsequent to leaving the bar with an unknown but gorgeous stranger. Lynn decides against reporting the death to the police and this decision sets in motion a series of events which may or may not have turned out differently had she made a different choice. Lynn is pulled into a frightening struggle to find her friend and save both their lives with a little bit of help from her angels.
I enjoyed Lynn’s character and how she stepped up as the plot unfolded, learning to rely more on her instincts or the guiding voices she hears and learning to first love and secondly forgive. The book has quite a significant family drama side story and I enjoyed discovering bits and pieces of information about her family and seeing it all come together neatly at the end.
Kent, Lynn’s friend, cum boyfriend, is a lovely character. Patient and kind he evolves as the perfect soulmate for Lynn and it is pleasant to watch their romance coming into fruition.
The supernatural elements are clever and well written, making the story quite believable. Aside form the angels, there is also the evildwel that takes possession of “host” humans whom it can manipulate into fulfilling its evil desires. The descriptions of the evildwel were deliciously creepy, especially the glimpses of it that Lynn catches in the eyes of its current host who is stalking her.
All in, a fast moving and entertaining story which lovers of paranormal thrillers will enjoy.
Interesting review! I’d never heard of an “evildwel” before.
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Neither have I, Liz. Maybe Denise created that name but it certainly works well.
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Thanks, Liz. I couldn’t think what to call my evil guy so I came up with this term. I mixed evil and dweller.
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For heaven’s sake! I thought it was a historical term I was unaware of.
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A most excellent review, Robbie. I really enjoyed this story as well, and love the 1980’s time period Denise chose to set it in.
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Thank you, Mae. It was a most entertaining story and I always enjoy learning more about the US so like books that are set there.
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Thanks Mae:) I certainly had fun revisiting the 80s!
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Thank you Robbie for the review and posting it:) I’m so glad you enjoyed it…yay! I had a lot of fun going back to where I grew up and that time frame. The angels and evildwels have wanted to stick around for a while. Thank you again!
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A most enjoyable read, Denise. I love the idea of an evildwel.
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I know I’ve said this before, but I like the way you review books.
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Thank you, Dan. I try to make them useful.
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Great review, Robbie. 🙂 Kudos, Denise! Sharing…
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Thank you, Bette. A lovely book.
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My favorite part of this review is how Kent seems to be a good match for Lynn. Too often are romances built out of nonsense in literature and pop culture.
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Thanks, Bette:)
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Thanks, H.R.R.. I’m a big fan of good matches.
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Yes, they are well matched and it is a lovely romantic thread in this story.
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The book sounds intriguing… I’ve so many on my list to read including yours. I keep trying to find time to delve into it. I might have some time over the holidays. I’m not keen on evil these days. However having guardian angels… that does change things 😉
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Hi Jules, thank you. I know what you mean about evil these days. I believe that good wins over evil in the end:) You can’t go wrong with angels around.
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Thanks Jules. I don’t mind evil as long as it doesn’t win in the end. I am a big believer in good overcoming evil if everyone just keeps making their small contributions to the general goodness of the world. It all adds up.
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