3 out of 4 stars
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When you die in your sleep, you die in real life. That makes life difficult for Jaime Conner, who hunts demons while she dreams. Despite the dangers, killing demons to protect humanity is the job that Jaime volunteered for when she left Heaven for Earth. However, the years of nightly hunting and the loneliness of not being able to share her burden with the humans around her is slowly becoming too much for her to bare. Purgatory's Angel sees Jaime try to deal with her trauma and getting sucked into a steamy love-triangle all while hunting demons to save humans while they slumber.
B Hughes-Millman has created a well thought-out story in Purgatory's Angel. However, due to the many triggers and adult themes, it is not a book for all members of the family. Trigger warnings include the following: rape, extreme violence, torture and suicidal thoughts. Christian beliefs are also heavily present in the book. Although it is advertized as a Paranormal Romance, I personally believe it would be more accurate to call it a Christian Fantasy Romance. In my opinion there is a clear target audience of 30+ year old heterosexual Christian women.
Although I don't fit within the target audience, I was able to enjoy the book. I liked the protagonist and was able to realistically understand her emotional struggles. I also appreciated that every character had a unique thinking process and was well thought out. I thought the plot was fluid and easy to understand, and the story itself was well thought out and interesting. I especially liked the idea of the pre-existence and felt that it added lots of options for the author to explore in the story.
Despite all that, I never truly connected with Jaime's character, although I think that is due to me not being within the target audience. I personally found her main love interest a bit creepy, and am not a fan of when characters experience 'insta-love'. It didn't bother me as much as it normally does though, due to a reasonable explanation of her feelings by the author within the story. The biggest downfall of the story was the confusing timeline. I didn't understand the gap between the battle in Heaven and when she came down to Earth, or who her family members would have been to her in the pre-existence. It also wasn't quite clear at what age she started to fight demons, although she did reference the number of demons she had killed at the end of the book.
All in all, I was impressed with the book and rate it 3 out of 4 stars. I was on the fence about reading the second book in the series (which is on Kindle Unlimited) but after reading the blurb for it, am willing to give it a go. I also want to add that although I didn't emotionally connect to Jaime, I agreed with her decision making and appreciated her instincts. I enjoyed Hughes-Millman's writing and hope to be equally impressed with the sequel.
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Purgatory's Angel
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