Happy Friday Everyone! Thank goodness it’s finally here. Today I am spotlighting Shawna Romkey and her book Speak of the Devil. This is a wonderful paranormal/young adult/romance. It is a good story that grabs hold and won’t let go till your begging for Shawna’s next book. Be sure to check out the rest of my review after the book blurb.
Book Blurb: (Courtesy of Goodreads)
What happens when falling in love and falling from grace collide?
After dying in a car accident with her two best friends, Lily miraculously awakens to grief and guilt. She escapes to her dad’s to come to terms with the event and meets some people at her new school who seem all too eager to help her heal. Sliding deeper into sorrow and trying to fight her feelings for two of them, she finds out who…what they really are and that they are falling too.
Can she find the strength to move on from the past, reconcile her feelings for Luc, find a way to stop a divine war with fallen angels, and still pass the eleventh grade?
Review:
Speak of the Devil was a very well written book that incorporated paranormal, young adult and romance. We first meet Lily getting ready to go to a party with her friends. Her excitement is tangible and as her and her friends drive to the party the unthinkable happens. Lily is the lone survivor in the car accident and must deal with seeing empty desks at school, lonely lunches and Facebook posts that were right before the accident. Not able to handle this any longer she chooses to move to her Dad’s and start anew. But, starting fresh is not so easy. She soon gets caught up with the theater students who aren’t all that they seem. She first sees Luc sitting lazily in a stairwell. She feels an automatic connection, but its Mo, one of the other theater students that gets to her first. Though Mo and Lily start a relationship its her pull to Luc that makes her think twice. As Lily grows closer to this group she suspects things are going on that she does not understand. It is this suspicion that drives Lily to question her beliefs and the way her life is going. In the end Lily realizes her challenges through her grief and loss are the lynch pins that could turn the tide of a battle that could mean the end of the world.
This was a wonderfully written story. The characters of Lily, Mo and Luc are so good you feel like you know them. But, it’s not the characters that really make this story. It’s the emotion filled writing. You are broken-hearted when Lily loses her friends. You feel her anger and hurt. You can relate to the angst and eventual love. It is Lily’s emotions that are the driving force to this story. It is also that will leave you breathless at the end begging for the next book. I was incredibly impressed with this book and truly can’t wait for Shawna’s next book. I hope she plans on continuing with this story line because it is definitely a winner. I definitely recommend this book for any Young Adult and Paranormal fans. You won’t be disappointed.
Author Bio: (Courtesy of Goodreads)
Shawna grew up in around farms in the heart of Missouri but went to the University of Kansas, was raised in the US but now lives on the ocean in Nova Scotia with her husband, two sons, two rescue dogs and one overgrown puppy from hell. She’s a non-conformist who follows her heart.
She has her BA in creative writing from the University of Kansas where one of her plays was chosen by her creative writing professor to be produced locally, and two of her short stories were published in a university creative arts handbook. She earned her MA in English from Central Missouri State University where she wrote a novel as her thesis.
She’s taught English at the university and secondary levels for close to twenty years and can’t quite fathom how all of her students have grown up, yet she’s managed to stay the same. She’s a huge geek and fan of Xena, Buffy and all kick ass women, and loves to write stories that have strong female characters.
Amazingly great..loved it.