Friday, April 4, 2014

Dark Hope by HD Smith - Review/Giveaway


DARK HOPE
The Devil’s Assistant, Book 1
Publication Date:  March 3, 2014



Loving a demon isn’t the end of the world—losing him is.

Claire, the Devil’s assistant, knows very little about the world she was dropped into five years ago, when she inherited her mother’s unpaid debt to the Demon King. She certainly didn’t expect to be a contender for the Fallen Queen’s throne, a target for the Druid King’s mafia, or a suspect in the murder of Junior, the Devil’s oldest hell spawn.

In a last ditch effort to save her life and get out of her deal with the Devil, she sets out to solve Junior’s murder only to be taken prisoner by the four most dangerous immortal hell spawn alive.

Not to be out done, the Pagan Queen Mab, claims Claire for entering her realm uninvited. She has an old debt to settle with her brother the Devil. Taking Claire from him after losing her years ago is just icing on the cake.

Will Claire win her freedom, and save herself from the Devil? Or be trapped by Mab forever?







Claire’s dead-end job starts as incredibly relatable and then almost immediately becomes an insane trip into paranormal chaos. Dark Hope is full of suspense with hardly a page for Claire to rest. Smith kept Claire on her toes trying to figure out who the antagonist might be, which made the plot compelling.

I get excited for strong female characters and Dark Hope delivers. Claire has a certain attitude about her that can only come from being destined to an eternity in Hell. Her somewhat-cynical-yet-mostly-positive outlook on life made her particularly relatable to me.  I also appreciated that Smith included several other females who were just as interesting, though not necessarily as well-intentioned as Claire.

I didn’t really notice the lack of sex scenes until the end of the book, which attests to the strength of the plot. The end of the story came as a surprise to me, and really sealed my favorable opinion. I would recommend this to people looking for a thrilling escape into a fantastical world.





I received a copy in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my review.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

HD Smith has been writing as a hobby for over ten years. DARK HOPE is her first traditionally published full length novel. She has previously self-published two middle grade novellas in ebook format. She is a software developer by day, working for an awesome cruise line in Celebration, FL.

HD grew up in South Carolina, but has called the Sunshine State home since 1997. She has Computer Science degrees from Clemson University (CS) and Florida Institute of Technology (MS). Her other hobbies include painting and screen printing. She enjoys creating t- shirts inspired by the places in her books. For more information, visit HD’s website at http://www.hdsmithauthor.com/.



TOUR GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

GRAND PRIZE:  $25.00 gift card to Amazon
RUNNER-UP:  One winner will receive an eBook of DARK HOPE



a Rafflecopter giveaway


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