Back cover:
Haunted by chilling memories of demonic possession and murder, Moira O’Donnell has spent seven years hunting down her mother, Fiona, whose command of black magic has granted her unprecedented control of the underworld. Now Moira’s global search has led her to a small California town that’s about to become hell on earth.

Tormented by his own terrifying past and driven by powers he can’t explain, ex-seminarian Rafe Cooper joins Moira’s dangerous quest. But Fiona is one devilish step ahead. Hungry for greater power, eternal youth, and stunning beauty, the sorceress is unleashing upon the mortal world the living incarnations of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Together with a demonologist, a tough female sheriff, and a pair of star-crossed teenagers, Moira and Rafe are humanity’s last chance to snatch salvation from the howling jaws of damnation.

Since the back cover blurb describes efficiently what the book is about I'm not starting with my own plot summary but will dive straight into what my thoughts about this book were.

Before I give my opinion of this book I must sketch a little background of how I came about reading and reviewing it. I have had books by Allison Brennan on my shelves for a few years now. I think since Speak No Evil was released. A fan of romantic suspense/thrillers I glommed her entire backlist up to that moment and have bought every new release from her ever since. However, they are all still on my TBR pile because I just haven't gotten around to reading any. Then I read about the start of a new series by her, The Seven Deadly Sins and its first installment ORIGINAL SIN. The author called it a supernatural thriller and my attention was immediately drawn and there it went...on the order list. When the book was offered to me for review I didn't even hesitate and almost fell over my feet, running to accept it. I took it with me on vacation and started reading it about halfway through my vacation.

And here is where my expectations harshly collided with what I actually got from the book. I was expecting a fast-paced read full of suspense, action and engaging characters. I was expecting a paranormal romance combined with romantic suspense. What I got was a book that to me qualifies as Urban Fantasy, a genre that is not high on my reading menu and I think this was the main reason of why I struggled so much with this book. I am absolutely convinced that if you like Urban Fantasy you will love Original Sin, despite the slow pace, the extensive and complicated world-building with info-dumps and flashbacks. For me, unfortunately, the book didn't work until about the last 150 pages of the book.

My main struggles were with Moira’s characterization, the excruciatingly slow pace (until the last part), and the fact that the book doesn't contain a rounded, stand-alone story. It's very clearly an introductory first book in an UF-like series and I suspect that everything I was expecting in this book, will be offered in the following installment(s). Because I do have to admit that the last part of ORIGINAL SIN has made me curious about a lot of things that were revealed and I am very tempted to get CARNAL SIN to find out more.

Another thing that impeded my full enjoyment of the book was Moira. She and I just didn't click, especially in the beginning. She was too guilt-ridden, too insecure. This improved a bit once she and Rafe were put together and I did like that she developed a bit to being more confident and less guilt-ridden. Despite the flashbacks and characterization of the main characters through the multiple POVs I didn't have the feeling that I have gotten to know the characters. They all stay on the surface, again contributing to my feeling that there is so much more to be revealed about all of them.

Despite the above I cannot say that ORIGINAL SIN is a bad book. Absolutely not. Even if the build-up and pace were slow I was intrigued by the premise of the all magic is evil plot and the deadly sins that have been unleashed on the world. And the suspense building was well done too because in every chapter small revelations were subtly imbedded into the many flashbacks and information, revelations intriguing enough to keep me reading despite Urban Fantasy feel of the book.

The last part of the book worked the best for me because after the slow start and world building, from about 3/4 into the book, Brennan gave me the pace and action I was longing for. In a considerably faster pace the suspense grew and some threads were unraveled with surprising and unexpected revelations. After how ORIGINAL SIN ended I am heavily speculating about some stuff surrounding Rafe and Moira and I'm curious to see if my speculations are correct.

So despite the things that didn't work for me in this book, the last 150 pages were great and that part is making me look forward to the next installment because now I need to know how things are going to play out and what's further in store for Moira, Rafe, Skye, Anthony and the rest. And I have high hopes for a more romantic focus in the future books because even if there was no clear romance thread in this book, there were subtle suggestions that something is developing between Moira and Rafe. The romance lover in me clung to these subtle hints and to the romance between Anthony and Skye.

In conclusion, as UF is not my favorite genre and this book really leans strongly towards it, it could not enthrall me as much as I hoped it would but even if the book didn't quite work for me, I do believe this book will greatly appeal to UF readers and lovers and I do plan to read more by Allison Brennan, starting with her straight-up romantic suspense/thrillers because that thread in ORIGINAL SIN pulled it up from a disappointing to a fairly satisfactory read.

Rating: 6.7 out of 10

I reviewed this book for ROOB at the request of the author



Back Cover:
Darkness will summon her…
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?

To places she's never been before…
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.…




Elizabeth "Liz" Phoenix is a young woman with psychic abilities, which have led to her leaving the police force and taking up a bartending job. When a psychic compulsion leads her to her foster mother's house she finds Ruthie Kane dying, her last words causing confusion right before Liz slips into a coma.
Awakened from her coma she finds out ex-lover and foster brother Jimmy Sanducci is the prime suspect and he has some disturbing news about the end of the world and her role in it. This is the start of a journey to stop the end of the world as we know it, a journey during which Liz learns not only things about Ruthie, Sawyer and Jimmy, but also about herself and her destiny in leading the battle of good against evil. The battle between the Federation and the Nephilim.

In ANY GIVEN DOOMSDAY Lori Handeland approaches the age-old theme of "good versus evil" and the battle against supernatural evil out to destroy the world, from a fresh and original angle combining an agreeable writing style with a heroine who will appeal to many urban fantasy reader and I do think that true fans of urban fantasy poured into a multi-installment series (chronicles so to speak), will appreciate it more than I did because it’s a well-written first installment with promises for the rest of the series but for me some things just didn’t click into place enough for me to be overwhelmed by it.

This is clearly the first book in the series with a lot of world building, introducing of creatures and preparing Liz for her future purpose. The way this was done from Liz' point of view complemented the vibe of this first book of The Chronicles of Phoenix. Even though I was intrigued by the whole concept and the story kept me glued to the pages thanks to the action and Liz' character, there were some elements that just weren't my cup of tea. Still these elements didn’t bother me to the point of not liking the book.

The situation with the two men (Jimmy and Sawyer) in Liz' life is complicated and for me as an avid romance reader a slightly uncomfortable one. Knowing this book is classified as an urban fantasy, I wasn't expecting romance as in the paranormal romances I'm used to but in the beginning I was inclined to go that way because of the way Liz' relationship with Jimmy was being described. But then halfway through the book there are some twists in the plot that left me a bit uncomfortable because they were a little contrary to the way Jimmy and Liz' story had been set up. Further developments in the plot and the relationships with between Liz, Sawyer and Jimmy only added to my confusion. I understood the developments were important to Liz' coming into her powers, but that didn't take away the uncomfortable feeling.

I was a bit less enthusiastic about the overall pace and plot-developments in the last part of the book. The pace varied in different parts of the story. The beginning was fast-paced despite the world building and explanations. But in the middle part of the book the pace changed and slowed considerably. The end was fast-paced again but it also seemed a bit rushed and some storylines that were started were left without closure. I understand that in this series the story continues with future books but there were some things, like the Summer-Jimmy story and the exposing of the traitor that caused Ruthie's death, I wanted to be worked out better. Especially that last storyline was rushed and I'm still trying to grasp what exactly was the deal there. I was left with a bit too many questions and loose ends and would have liked to see these storylines wrapped up in this installment.

Because the story is told from Liz' perspective, she is the character the reader gets to know the best. I liked Liz' character in the way she accepts her destiny with realistic reluctance at first and in the end embraces it wholeheartedly but I feel at the end of the book that there are hints at certain things about Liz but they are left untold. I guess and hope this will be done in future books. I did like Liz' sense of humor a lot. She has this dry, sarcastic sense of humor that pops up mostly in situations where she's confronted with things she has trouble handling.

I loved the writing style, which was crisp, snappy and witty. I loved the premise of the series with Liz as a powerful seer to lead the demon killers into battle against the spawn of the fallen angels and humans. I also liked the narrative. While I'm not a fan of first person narrative in this book Lori Handeland made it work for me.

Since this was my first venture into urban fantasy I can't tell if my not being blown away is because I'm not that into the genre or that this was just not the book for me to start this genre with. Time will tell since the excerpt of the next book in this series, DOOMSDAY CAN WAIT, did leave me more than a bit curious how the story is going to proceed.