A Favor for a fiend by Kelly A Harmon

Summary: Assumpta Mary-Margaret O’Connor’s demon mark makes her fair game for any passing demon—and an attractive bargaining chip in the political alliances of Hell. Both courted—and stalked—by demons, she realizes she’ll never have peace until she rids herself of the demon’s mark. With the aid of her pendulum and the help of Brona Daly—resident ghost of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Library— Assumpta discovers the one sure-fire way to get rid of the mark: make a deal with the demon who marked her. While Assumpta prepares for battle, Jak—the spirit she rescued from a demonic urn—rejoins her, bringing aid in the form of five Roman legionnaires and Saint Michael, the Archangel. Even with ghostly, and Heavenly help, can Assumpta preserver her life—and her soul—when she goes to Hell to challenge the demon who marked her?

Spoiler Alert!!!!!!!!

First let me state that I’m giving a trigger warning. “Courted” and “stalked” is not the correct words that I would have used. It’s more of “sexually assaulted” and “harassed” so if those things make you uncomfortable, go in with caution or avoid this series.

Thoughts: What can I say? This book was a disappointment. I absolutely loved the first book. It was unique, quirky, and the characters were interesting. I gave it 5 stars right off the back. The second book read like a YA novel with detailed sex scenes. The romance was purely built on sex so it doesn’t even count as romance, more like insta-lust and OF COURSE we have a love triangle which came off as a “my horse is bigger than your horse” thing typically found in YA novels. There were too many characters introduced in this book (the novel itself was 279 pages) and they only popped up like twice throughout the novel. There was way too much introduced in general. There was a war, a demon army, a confusing religious twist, a new evil spirit that made no sense whatsoever and the list continues. All the major players including Assumpta came off whiny and needy while in the first book they got shit done but in this one, there was just a lot of angst. I think the one thing that saved it from getting a one star was that it did a good job at keeping me reading. I finished it despite my pure rage. Unfortunately, I will most likely not be continuing this series and it’s really sad because this series had potential.

Ratings: 2/5 stars