{Review} Any Given Doomsday (Phoenix Chronicles #1) by Lori Handeland

Posted by Melanie 
Release Date: November 18th, 2014
Finished Date: June 22nd, 2015

Publishers: Self Published
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: For Review
Format: eGalley

Pages: Unknown
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US

Elizabeth Phoenix once used her unique skills as a psychic to help in the Milwaukee Police Department’s fight against injustice. But when Liz’s foster mother is found viciously murdered—and Liz is discovered unconscious at the scene—her only memory of the crime comes in the form of terrifying dreams...of creatures more horrific than anything Liz has seen in real life. What do these visions mean? And what in the world do they have to do with her former lover, Jimmy Sanducci?

While the police question Jimmy in the murder, Jimmy opens Liz’s eyes to a supernatural war that has raged since the dawn of time in which innocent people are hunted by malevolent beings disguised as humans. Only a chosen few have the ability to fight their evil, and Jimmy believes Liz is among them. Now, with her senses heightened, new feelings are rising within Liz—ones that re-ignite her dangerous attraction to Jimmy. But Jimmy has a secret that will rock Liz to her core…and put the survival of the human race in peril.

The Review: **SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD**
Any Given Doomsday is the first book in the Phoenix Chronicles series that introduces us to the world of Elizabeth Phoenix.
Liz has a gift, she can sense things by touch be it people or objects and that was great for her job as a cop but when she couldn’t foresee the murder of her partner on the job, she quit and left it behind… That is until her foster mother is found dead, murdered horrifically and through her touch, she gets a lot more than she bargained for.
Police seem to believe that her former foster brother and ex-lover Jimmy Sanducci may be involved but Liz refuses to believe that he would do such a thing to the woman who had saved them both. When she catches up with him though, he opens up her world in ways she never imagined and everything about those memories from her foster mother begin to make sense – because Liz is about to come into some power and that power will be the start of a supernatural war where good is against evil, where demons will be hunted by demon killers who are directed by their seers – which Liz is about to become. Jimmy is also keeping secrets though and these secrets could very well damn them all.
Any Given Doomsday was a good, solid read with a good set of characters and a great premise. I really liked Liz’s character and thought she was very capable in a lot of ways, her job, her attitude, her loyalty and definitely the situation she is thrust into. I thought that she was interesting and I enjoyed the bit of background we got about her time in the foster home. I liked her connection to Jimmy, they shared one of those relationships that you just know is deep, kindred spirits because of their shared experiences and circumstances that blossomed into something else. By the time you meet Jimmy though, you will know that he cheated on her and she found out through her gift – That’s not to say you can’t still feel their connection because you do but it’s not something I liked in the book especially later when we meet who he cheated with. Another thing I wasn’t stoked about was that a weird sort of love triangle occurred, weird because I wasn’t even sure if it was only done out of necessity or whether something was actually happening between those involved and that is for both sides. I actually did prefer the ‘other’ party, he is more mysterious and seemed to be taken with her in a very understated way but I will see how that plays out.
The story itself was awesome – Liz is about to become a seer, someone who is able to recognise demons in their various shapes and forms, she dreams of them and has premonitions of what they’re up to and will direct the demon killers to their target. It has been passed down to her from her foster mother but she has to go through a few questionable things to be able to do the job. She has a period where she is given a sort of training, she also has dreams in which she is guided through the process and then comes a big enemy to cut her teeth on. It all sounds so simple but it isn’t because in between all of that, she has to have a crash course on all things demonic and fight for her life as things keep trying to kill her. The plot is full of action as she fights various foes, full of twists and turns – especially towards the end and those secrets start to reveal themselves, full of discovery when she must learn about herself, her new powers and all that she must protect herself against and of course there’s the love connections which I wasn’t so into but all added to a fab book. I was impressed and will definitely be reading book two soon. This also would have been a five star book had it not have been for the weird love triangle, h having sex with different men (even though she wasn’t in a relationship with either) and the cheating references with the OW being on the scene too, so it’s getting 4 because of the triggers

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.