A Review for The Demon's Daughter & Black Widow Demon (Demon Outlaws #1 & #2) by Paula Altenburg

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: March 26th, 2013
Finished Date: November 11th, 2013

Publishers: Entangled Select
Genre: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Source: For Review

Format: eBook
Pages: 400

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Hunter is the only man capable of killing the demons that left the world in ruins. But when he’s hired by a notorious priestess to bring a thief to justice, the Demon Slayer gets more than he bargains for.

Airie was raised in an abandoned temple as a priestess’s daughter, having no idea of her true origins. In a time when any half-breed spawn of a demon is despised by mortal and immortal alike, not knowing the truth is the only thing keeping her safe.

Forced to flee her home in the wake of disaster and discovery of who she is, Airie must place her trust in a man who believes she should never have been born. And when a demon uprising threatens lives he has sworn to protect, Hunter has to make a choice: abandon Airie to an uncertain fate, or overcome his own personal demons and love her for who she truly is.

The Review: 3.5 Flowers! 

The Demon’s Daughter is the first in Demon Outlaws series telling us the story of Airie, a young woman who believes she is the daughter of a priestess, handmaidens of the Goddesses who had abandoned the world to evade Demons their natural enemy… but as the prologue tells us, she isn’t…. she is in fact the offspring of a Goddess & a Demon, forbidden to exist and should have been killed at birth. The priestess has raised her in the way of the Goddesses on their sacred mountain but as the faith of mortals lessens so does their means to survive and Airie is forced to turn to theft bringing her to the attention of a bitter twisted ‘priestess’ who knows far too much about Airie’s true parentage and isn’t beyond manipulating anyone in her attempts to hold onto power. So, she hires the ‘Demon Slayer’ to capture Airie and bring her to justice. The Demon Slayer will not tolerate a demon to live or their spawn so he sets out to do what he does best thinking it will be easy but he is unprepared for the beautiful young woman he encounters and as the plot thickens, he must work out what is going on even if it challenges all of his beliefs and tightly built emotional walls.
I enjoyed this book, it is supposedly post-apocalyptic but to me it felt like a fantasy cowboy adventure featuring supernaturals and not something I would have necessarily have read if I had known but it did have its merits. I liked both Airie & Hunter, Airie had an innocence about her because of her seclusion on the Goddesses mountain which is the basis of her nature, she has been shielded from the harshness of their world and also hidden from the demons so she has never really developed her demon side although it does emerge from time to time. I thought she was quite level headed in spite of her heritage whereas Hunter was definitely more prejudiced towards her but with reason. The thing is with prejudice is it’s a judge now, think later thing and if you never allow your prejudices to be challenged, it will never change… which Hunter will find out and I liked that his character got to go through that. Normally Hunter would have killed Airie on sight but something stops him this time and he is forced to confront his own demons when his feelings for her change. I thought their relationship was sweet and gave some happiness & hope to an otherwise dreary existence. I would have liked more romance in this but was satisfied with what we got.
The storyline was really good, I like secret children stories and love reading the big reveal. We know from the get go whose child she is but knowing that she is the daughter of the biggest, baddest demon of them all is a major plus and when you put that with her Goddess mother… well there is bound to be drama. There is a lot going on the background as different people want to use her for their own ends, or kill her - let’s not forget that she’s even a payday for Hunter - so it seems everyone is out to get her and it all builds up to the inevitable meeting but there is lots going on between that. We have secrets & lies, power plays, assassins, mysterious companions & groups & battles …. That’s without the burgeoning relationship and getting to know the characters so it is filled with plot, the pacing was rather slow which put me off a bit but I was not bored. I suppose I was just put off by the time/place especially because as I said, it’s supposed to be post- apocalyptic so that means after present time but it didn’t read like that, it read like a past time book like hundreds of years ago and like a western which is a huge turn off for me – I was expecting more of an urban fantasy – but I did enjoy it, I am reading the sequel next and it helps that we have already been introduced to the main character and the world they live in. 

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: November 26th 2013
Finished Date: November 14th, 2013

Publishers: Entangled Select
Genre: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Source: For Review

Format: eBook
Pages: 336

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Passionate and headstrong, half-demon Raven is nearly executed on the orders of her fundamentalist stepfather. She escapes from the burning stake using the gifts of her otherworldly heritage and the help of a mortal stranger named Blade. Now she’s set on revenge, and only quiet, intense Blade stands in her way.

A retired assassin weary of the weight of his past, Blade has crossed the desert to seek out a new life. His journey is interrupted when his conscience demands he help Raven find an old friend who can help her. Saving her from her need for revenge and delivering her into the hands of loved ones means he’s one step closer to redemption.

But as Blade’s sense of duty becomes something more and threats, both mortal and immortal, stalk the woman he can’t abandon, he could very well fall back into the life he’s trying so hard to escape.

The Review: I liked this book and the story but slightly less than the first. It’s hard for me to pin point exactly why I couldn’t immerse myself in the story because as with book one, it did have its merits. Again the characters are good, we have already met Blade from book one so it was nice to get his story, he came across as a determined, driven man after being given a new lease of life by Airie -half demon/goddess from book one- and has embarked on a journey after being crippled for over a decade which brings him to the village of Goldrush….. and in this village he’s about to witness the burning of a demon spawn aka Raven, who has been accused of enthralling all of the men folk and in particular her stepfather Justice. We find out what really happens is that she had spurned his advances by stabbing him the leg and he’s none too pleased so decides to teach her a lesson. Raven is a good character too, I liked her from the start, she’s spirited, determined and not about to die for nothing so when we first meet her she’s a desperate woman looking for someone to help her and when the help isn’t forthcoming, decides to take her life into her own hands by getting free and making a run for it. We know from the beginning that she is spawn, Raven’s mother had confessed to her husband so it becomes clear that a witch hunt will occur because Justice is not the type of man to be bested by a woman, he wants to break her and enslave her. Watching the events unfold is Blade and for some reason, he decides to help Raven even though she is spawn, seeing someone who is in similar circumstances that he was in and needing to help. So as they head off into the world in search of Raven’s friend & protector Creed at the assassins training ground, little do they know but Justice is heading to exactly the same place in search of her, knowing she would run to Creed. As Justice concocts his plans to use the Assassins to recapture Raven, she is mastering her demon, her demon father & Blade but we all know where it’s headed, to the final showdown…. Lets hope Raven & Blade are ready! The storyline was a good continuation, the world was easier to grasp this time around and we find out what happened to the demons following their run in with Airie & consequent banishing from the mortal world and because of that, the spawn are awakening…. And they’re not all good! I really enjoyed the beginning of this, I liked the ‘wicked’ step father angle and the escape but that turned into a LOT of travel and I got bored quite a lot. Things would get a bit more exciting as we discover more about Raven and what she can do, how her demon father is trying to worm his way back into the mortal world etc. but then back to the travelling again. I liked the relationship between Blade & Raven, it had its moments but I wanted more, more heat too because I couldn’t ‘feel’it, it was just happening. I liked all of the events regarding the assassins, Justice’s manipulations, Creed’s faith and I loved seeing the opposite side of the demon spawn situation… there are bad ones aswell as good and it’s surprising what some have done or will do. So, whilst I did like most of the story it still fell flat for me, the pacing was too slow and again, the setting bored me and whilst I did like most aspects those just couldn’t keep me totally involved in the book which is a shame, maybe if it was a more modern, current world scenario then I would have liked it better.