DEMON'S FIRE

Author: Emma Holly ISBN: 9780425220542 4/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION

Fleeing the routine life her family wanted for her, Beth joins an archaeological dig spearheaded by her cousin Charles. For such an adventurer, the desert city of Bhamjran is perfect for making unusual discoveries—especially when it comes to forbidden appetites. Like his own unnatural desire for a Yama demon. And as he and Beth are about to learn, some Yama find humans equally irresistible...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Prince Pahndir was once a love slave and now sells his wares on the open market. He is going about his business selling his wares one day, when he sees a human couple walking in the market and is instantly fascinated by them. The man is gorgeous and seems to be needing something while the girl is beautiful and angelic, with an innocent air that just speaks to Pahndir.

Beth knows that she is being watched by the Prince but doesn't let on, as his reputation precedes him and she is a bit scared of her reaction to him. Charles, against his better judgment, sees the Prince and goes to him, asking for his help with something that no one else can help him with. Prince Pahndir doesn't know what it is about the two beautiful archeologists, but he seems to be obsessed with them right from the very beginning.

Okay, so here's the thing. I totally wanted to like this story, I really did. Emma Holly is a very good storyteller. The plot was a good one, the storyline flowed very nicely and I really liked the amount of substance given to each character. It started off a bit on the edgy side for me and I like edgy every now and again. But, the book became increasingly more and more edgy until it was a bit too much for me. After a little bit, I was more grossed out than I was turned on by some of the stuff that was going on—and this was NOT including the forked tongue that one of the heroes had.

I am a very liberal person, I think, in my reading. I like hot books—the hotter the better, in my opinion. But, there are times when there is just too much sex and too many partners for my liking, and this was one of those times. The escalation of some of the raunchier stuff didn't really play out full fiddle until almost the end of the book, when there is a voyeurish/BDSM scene involving our TWO... yes, two heroes and one female in which one of them is tied up and there is an entire room full of people watching. There is a whipping scene, which apparently turns on one of our lead males, and all sorts of crazy things happening in that room full of people that just sort of gave me the heebee geebees. I didn't find it sexy; I just wanted the book to end at that point.

All in all, I just could not give DEMON'S FIRE a good review because it just wasn't for me. Someone else, a fan of Emma Holly's work will love it. Like I said, the writing is great, but this sort of story is just not my cup of tea.

Kristal Gorman