Beautiful Demons (Peachville High Demons #1) [Kindle Edition]

Sarra Cannon (Author)

Book Description

In Peachville, even the cheerleaders have a dark side...

Harper Madison isn't like other girls. She has extraordinary powers, but her inability to control them has gotten her kicked from so many foster homes she's lost count. Shadowford Home for Girls is her last chance, and she hopes Peachville High will be the fresh start she needs.

But when evidence ties her to the gruesome murder of a Demons cheerleader, Harper discovers this small town has a big secret.

Beautiful Demons is a fast-paced YA novel with magic, mystery, and a touch of romance. This series will appeal to fans of Pretty Little Liars, Hex Hall, and The Vampire Diaries.


Available now in the Peachville High Demons series:
BEAUTIFUL DEMONS (Book 1)
INNER DEMONS (Book 2)
BITTER DEMONS (Book 3)
SHADOW DEMONS (Book 4)
RIVAL DEMONS (Book 5)

**Book 6, Demons Forever, will be the final book in this series.

This is a short novel at approximately 47,000 words.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sarra Cannon grew up in a small town in Georgia where she learned that being popular always comes at a price. Now, she lives in North Carolina with her amazing husband and her teeny tiny Pomeranian, Snickerdoodle. Books and music are her greatest passions. She has never been a cheerleader, but it's possible she knows a few things about casting spells.

Product Details

• File Size: 277 KB
• Print Length: 136 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Dead River Books (October 29, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004A14RI6
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,058 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Horror
  • #33 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy
  • #50 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Romance

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Demons November 4, 2010

By Kristi L. Stern

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Harper Madison has been shipped from foster care home to foster care home since she was 10 years old. Known as a troubled child with violent tendencies she's never spent enough time in one place to ever feel a sense of belonging. Strange things happen around Harper, especially when Harper feels threatened or scared and those strange things usually end up with someone being hurt. Although Harper has never intentionally hurt anyone she is blamed just the same and Harper carries the guilt, shame and sense of abandonment with her everywhere she goes.

Harper's options are limited now; since her last foster home placement she has one chance to make it at the Shadowford Home for girls, if she blows this then its Juvenile Detention Center for the rest of her high school days.
Shadowford Home isn't as bad as she thought it would be. Ms. Shadowford is creepy and weird but everyone else is friendly, especially Agnes who is outgoing and extremely talkative; she raves on and on about the Peachville High School Demons football team and especially the cheerleading squad as if they were Goddesses! Harper's also crushing on Jackson, the house mother's son who is edgy and different, a definite bad boy who has much more underneath that tough exterior. Jackson and Harper hit it off right away and she finds herself drawn to him.

On Harpers first day of school things are going good until she has a mishap with one of the cheerleaders at lunch and then it all goes horribly bad. Suddenly, Harper is involved in a murder investigation, learning things about the town that seem impossible and learning that Jackson has some answers to her questions.

After an extremely bad case of the flu where Harper is semi-conscious for over 5 days; she returns to school only to find that she is sought after by the elite and is brought into their group, no questions asked and the dreamy quarterback is showing some definite romantic interest in her. The Demon Cheerleaders are suddenly invested in making her a part of the team, inviting her to all the right parties and having sleep over's. Harper is enjoying all of this new found attention and popularity but in the back of her mind she knows that something isn't right; there's something she's forgetting but just as it comes to her it goes flitting away plus she's enjoying being part of a group--something she's never experienced before.

Harper has lost much of her memory of what happened just before the flu--her memory of Jackson, the murder, the unanswered questions and it's going to take all of Harpers inner strength to fight for her life and survive the dangers of Peachville. Coming to terms with who she really is and where her place is in Peachville is a frightening step and one she must take if she's to discover anything about her birth mother and, ultimately, her own future.

This was a great book with all the trappings I love: Supernatural/paranormal themed with mystery, adventure, romance and a great twist at the end that surprised me. A nice cliff hanger left me wanting more and anxiously awaiting the next in the series!

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly Surprised March 9, 2011

By Jen Sokoloski

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I will be up front. I didn't expect a lot from this book going in. Not because of the price (99 cents is the right price for me to try out an unknown author, but not for me to expect Tolstoy) but because of the length. I'm used to reading 100,000-word stories in the adult fiction section, and 60,000 words in YA. This book comes in at a little over 45k, which is firmly in the "longer novella" category.

This book pleasantly surprised me. So much so that I downloaded the sequel immediately, and tore through it like Grant went through Richmond. And after that, I had no problem ponying up the 2.99 for the third.

I won't waste space with a summary, but Harper is an engaging heroine, Peachville is just the right amount of creepy, and the cheerleader angle is cleverly done.

It's hard to find YA paranormals that don't immediately turn every boy character into a potential date/crush/love polygon candidate. It's also very difficult to find a YA paranormal that strikes the balance between romance and external story. Cannon's series does just that. Harper has romantic interests, but they are not the focus of the story. Harper's still very much her own person, and doesn't bore the reader with endless moping about how Tall, Dark And Delinquent is her whole entire life now. Harper is also well-suited to the story, and her decisions reflect both her experience as a cynic in The System and as a girl who hasn't yet lost hope. She's no ingenue, adorable helpless heroine, TSTL, or I'm-soo-badass heroine, but rather a well-rounded blend of skeptic, outcast, and hopeful, who is smart enough to know when she's out of her depth. The story is first and foremost a young girl's journey from last chance to a potentially wonderful world...with a dark underbelly. There are romantic threads present, but they don't overshadow the other storylines in the book.

The paranormal elements are tightly focused and neatly spun out. There are no tour-guide stops at "paranormal critters R us" and the infodumping is minimal. I enjoyed the fact that in this series, secret societies of paranormal critters keep their secrets. I suspect it's killing the author to have to hold back on exposing more of her world (and I sympathize :) ).

The only weak spots in the book were some questionable character motivations. In a longer book, Cannon might have had time to establish motivations for the characters who are adversarial towards Harper and fleshed out her individual villains a bit more with some foreshadowing. However, the fact that there's the shadowy secret organization acting as villain makes up for the seemingly unjustified actions of some of the adversaries. Typical of YA books, especially series books, it ends somewhat abruptly, but the main questions are answered satisfactorily enough. In the longview, since this is a series start, there are many themes the author can explore in the ongoing story (which I sincerely hope she does) with the potential to give the series more gravitas as it goes on.

Technical specs: Sarra Cannon has clearly put effort into learning her craft and polishing her work. No matter what the publishing origin, be it Agency 6, Traditional/Legacy, or E-publisher/Small Press, I have found books riddled with errors across the board, and I'm no more or less tolerant when a book comes from a big name publisher and is full of errors than I am if it comes from a little indie outfit. I was inordinately pleased to see that this series (the 3 books out at the time of this review) had very few grammar and usage errors and only a few usage/formatting quirks. I don't go hunting for them, but I do notice them and I will be honest--I'm trying to get over an internal bias towards expecting more errors from indie/self-pubbed books. I'm pleased to say Sarra Cannon's books have helped me do that. The books are very well-formatted and I can tell that they've been edited to within an inch of their lives and not just run through spell-check. If the author did the editing herself, she can count on a second career as a book or copy editor from any number of presses.

This book is a really strong beginning to what I feel is a really strong YA paranormal series. It's got an engaging premise that is just unusual enough to appeal to those who are getting a little tired of the vampires and werewolves. If you have lost your patience with endless pages of romantical moonings overshadowing interesting mysteries and engaging worldbuilding, you'll enjoy this book. There's a solid mystery, an interesting world, and a likable, smart heroine.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Demons is a great read November 8, 2010

By Valerie Noah "Addicted to my Kindle"

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Beautiful Demons is a refreshing new series from a budding young author. This book is written so well, the words just flow off the page. With every click of my "next page" button, I could not wait to read what was written. Even though this is a young adult fiction, I would recomend it for older groups as well. I could not put this book down and finished it in 3 days. I found myself waking up to read it while I waited on my kids to get ready for school. I can not wait until the next book in the series comes out. I am looking forward to more wonderful books from this author.

More About the Author

Sarra Cannon grew up in a small town in Georgia where she learned that being popular always comes at a price. She is the author of the young adult paranormal Peachville High Demons series, which she first began self-publishing in October of 2010. Since the series began, Sarra has sold over 110,000 copies and recently signed a contract with Sea Lion Books to create a graphic novel adaptation of Beautiful Demons, the first book in the series.

Sarra lives in North Carolina with her amazing husband, her new baby boy, and her teeny tiny Pomeranian, Snickerdoodle. She is currently working on the first book in a new series about a group of teen witches trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.