The Immortally Sexy Series 1-4
by Stephanie Rowe
Read: 2007/2008
Rating: Mostly fab
I didn’t realize I hadn’t blogged about any of these! They’re so much fun! I found the first one at the grocery store, and by the time I finally read it I was able to hop online and buy the next 3. Yes, they’re that good. I followed them. I haven’t followed any romance novelists, but this one I will. Especially because it’s not over yet.
I wanna know what happens to Desdemona’s Temptation.
The overall premise for the books is that there are Otherwordly places and critters. Heaven and Hell are real. There’s a Council that tries to oversee everything. And most people with Otherworld properties live among us.
Her rendition of Satan is DIVINE. I love him. He has a very distinct way of using English, and he blithely walks all over everybody. He’s also a sex fiend, and very dramatic.
They’re very funny, the ladies are bold, and the guys are total sexpots. Every book has points where I have to clamp down on out and out laughter during my train ride. They’re worth following.
Date Me Baby One More Time
I was very happy with this one. It’s full of great elements. Justine is the Guardian of Mona (Desdemona’s Temptation) a (possessed) liquid that grants immortality. Justine’s mother lost her life when she failed to guard it properly, so Justine is very careful with Mona. The rules are very strict–she can’t mingle with other people, leave Mona alone, or have friends or lovers. Her only companion (besides Mona, who definitely has her own personality) is Theresa, her best friend who is the back-up Guardian. And a dragon. See below.
Of course, Justine’s disciplined existence starts to come loose when Derek, the owner of Vic’s Pretzels, pitches up and tries to get access to Mona. You see, his family has a curse on it, and all men die at a certain age, and he and his twin brother are nearing the deadline. This sets off a chain of events that take us to the Afterlife and beyond.
It turns out Justine’s mother is waiting in the Afterlife for her judgment from Above (for having let Mona be violated) and Satan is romancing her. Yes, Satan himself is desperately in love with Iris. And it is EFFING HILARIOUS. Their story goes unresolved to continue in book 2 and beyond.
As I said, I loved it so much that I went and ordered the other three. Awesomeness.
Must Love Dragons
Justine and Derek embark on lovelocked honeymooning bliss, leaving Theresa to guard Mona. If you weren’t paying attention, Theresa is dragon. She should be able to change between a human and dragon form, but she got herself in trouble way back when and has been stuck in dragon form ever since. Poor girl is desperate for some sexual satisfaction, but all the other dragons were wiped out centuries ago.
To satisfy these urges, she goes online and has cybersex. Cuz she’s awesome that way. She also buys lingerie and paints her claws, trying to feel like a normal woman. And she’s raunchy as hell… Theresa’s one of my favorites.
So, she has this unsatisfying solution of cybersex. And she’s found a great guy to do it with. Zeke is super smart, great at finding people (which came in handy in the last book) and smexy as hell. …and he’s found her. Uh oh.
Plus the Council has decided to take Justine and Derek hostage to bend Theresa to their will–they’re not a very nice governing body.
Oh yes, and Satan’s excellent as always. Hold out, Iris!
Between Theresa and Satan, things remain very, very funny. And Zeke is smart and quirky. Another win!
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot
Here’s an excellent character from the last two books who I forgot to mention. Derek owns Vic’s pretzels, right? Well, his second in command is Becca Gibbs, a highly organized and tightly wound woman who also happens to be an agent of Satan known as a Rivka. Rivkas are extensions of Satan’s own soul and they survive off his life force. He demands they do all his nasty business, like killing people. Most of them become twisted and nasty after a while. Becca didn’t. She’s definitely the most complex and sympathetic character so far. She has been forced to kill people she cared about, and so she’s walled off all emotions and pushes away people like Theresa who want to be her friend. Becca’s had enough of this, though. She wants to break free of Satan.
There’s another race of creatures spawned from Satan’s soul, the Markku. These men are potent as hell, and were all supposedly wiped out when they tried to cut themselves off from Satan. Nick is the only survivor, and he’s been hiding his true nature. He’s also part healer, and his emotions are POWERFUL stuff. He’s also trying to save his sister from Satan and needs a Rivka to help him.
Breaking away from Satan CAN be done… but will Becca survive it?
I enjoyed most of this, but it definitely had more weak moments than the last two. We started to slide into Bad Romanceville with a lot of emotions swelling and mixing and rising–and that’s all part of Becca and Nick’s interaction, and very important. His emotions have to break down her walls. Trouble is, it started to sound a bit repetitious. Still, all forgiven.
Sex & the Immortal Bad Boy
Paige was assigned to Becca in the last book as punishment. Train her as your replacement. …she wasn’t quite up to snuff to be a Rivka, though. Paige is bubbly and loving and blonde. Trouble is, she WANTED to be a badass Rivka, and leapt into the fray with a will–and that started to turn her soul black. (Why her soul, being an offshoot of Satan’s, wasn’t black in the first place, I don’t know.) She’s now trying to fight it. Sadly, Satan decided she would make good cannon fodder and used her in an experiment. A wraith has been planted in her body, a force of pure malevolent evil that will take over her body and soul and turn her into the worst weapon the world has ever known. And that SUCKS! The stronger it grows, the worse things get. Paige is now Midas–everything she touches dies, bona fide even angels.
Jed, however, is damned. He’s a shadow warrior, able to transform into an evil shadow with a good purpose. Because he’s so thoroughly damned, with ‘no good’ in him, he’s the only one Paige can touch. SHe hires him to save her from herself. He’s got his own problems, though–his brother is a prisoner of Satan Jr (did I not mention him? There’s a Satan Jr. “Fruit of my loins!”) and going to die a horribly painful death.
Jed and Paige are instantly drawn to each other, but if they get too close, merge and make love, her wraith feeds on his shadow warrior and gets stronger. But what good is the time left to her if she can’t love?
The weakest of all, I’m sad to say. Repetitious phrasing and abuse of italics (their very souls merged, you understand). And I’m really not keen on the old “Sex will save her soul” theme.
Paige is not a consistent character. In He Loves Me Hot, she sounds like a total airhead, and you come to see that in facing adversity she’s not that dim. It’s only been a week since the events of that book ended, and suddenly she’s as smart and chipper as the other ladies? C’MON. She also was only created very recently, and thus should probably have a few lingering Satan-traits. That would’ve been VERY funny. Instead she comes off as the weak grape flavor of Heroine, previously in Orange, Lemon-Lime and Cherry. She did pull together a bit more in the second half, when her babbling finally returned. “You have family? Sigh, I would LOVE to have family because they are so awesome–” Yeah, she is a bit of a ditz. But we like her anyway. I’m not sure why, but I do. Kinda.
That said, I’m waiting on the next book. Satan/Iris are still not resolved, and now there’s this delightful little follow-up with Rafi… I knew we’d finish with Mona. She’s too cool not to.
