Customer Reviews

Bedeviled (Signet Eclipse)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sorry but I'm not agreeing with anyone who gave this a 4 or 5 stars. I usually like Mareen Child's books, but this one bored me into a coma. The main character was a pain with all her denials and for the love of little green apples, if your floating in the air, duh, wouldn't you agree that you are changing? It took her half the book to agree that, whoa maybe she's becoming different. I found more to entertain me in the niece than in the main characters. So, I'm not keeping this and will not be getting the second one in the series since I couldn't stand Maggie. And as for the hero? Well, he was not as interesting as the pixie, who was a secondary character. The hero did nothing but deny that he couldn't like Maggie and only wanted to use her for his own ends. So, this was a very blah book.

This book just dragged, it was so boring. There are a lot of great paranormal/urban fantasy books out there, that are so good you can hardly put the book down, this book was dullsville.

I will never buy a book from this authors again. I'm really starting to wonder if those reviewers that write the super long reviews get paid to lie and say great things about not so great books, because the great reviews were what made me decide to waste my money on this loser.

Glass artist Maggie's life has fallen into a rut, and little does Maggie know that she is on a collision course with destiny. But all that changes the day that Maggie goes to take `his stuff' back to her boring ex-fiancé and finds him being eaten by a demon who had stopped for a little `fast food'. On the verge of being demon chow herself, Maggie somehow manages not only to dust the toothy fiend but also to absorb the stolen Fae power that was in the demoness' possession. Soon Maggie is glowing and this is just the sign that Fae warrior Culhane has been waiting for. Culhane has been watching over Maggie for years because, unknown to her, not only is she half Fae, but also she is the one `destined' to be able to defeat Queen Mab, the Fae leader who has turned male Fae like Culhane into second class citizens. Maggie finds Culhane equal parts annoying and ultra-sexy though she wants nothing to do with Culhane's plans. But Culhane will use whatever mean necessary to insure that Maggie fulfills her destiny to lead his people to a new age - with him pulling the strings.

Bedeviled is hard to classify, it has a touch of humor and is not quite urban fantasy (no 1st person narrative here) though it is not quite paranormal romance either since there isn't a happily ever after for Maggie yet. And despite Maggie's overwhelming attraction to Culhane I wasn't exactly rooting for them to hook up here. Culhane is so intent on his purpose and using Maggie to achieve it, that he is an ambivalent hero. Fortunately, even though Maggie wants Culhane, she never fully trusts him and is quick to give him a piece of her mind when his actions as less than honorable.

I liked Maggie and admired her determination, but my favorite character in the story was Eileen, Maggie's twelve year old niece. Eileen added a great deal to Maggie's education in all things Fae through her research on the internet ala Google. And her spouting off little known statistics "45% of all knowledge is gained by eavesdropping", along with her very adult insight. In addition to Eileen, the cast of this one also included: Maggie's' new age sister who laments that non-believer Maggie is the one who gets to turn Fae (the sister also the only one in the story to get a little Faerie tail though Culhane does give Maggie a taste of what sizzles between them), an ugly as sin and crotchety to boot Pixie whose job it is to train Maggie for the big battle, Maggie's friend Claire who has `Visions', and a whole gaggle of gorgeous Fae males.

Ultimately though, the best part of Bedeviled is that Maggie takes her destiny in hand, not only in defeating Mab but also in her determination to keep her life afterward and to set her own terms for her queenship. And since things were left open with Culhane, it will be interesting to see where Child's takes Maggie next. Her story continues in Beguiled.

BEDEVILED
MAUREEN CHILD
Paranormal Romance
Signet Eclipse

Rating: 3.5 Enchantments

Maggie Donovan is an artist who has taken up the tedious art of painting store front windows. Life is as normal as you can get. Boring boyfriend, crazy controlling sister, teenage niece who thinks she knows it all, new found fae powers.

Culhane is a faery warrior, not to be confused with a fairy, who is under strict orders to find Miss Maggie Donovan and bring her to Queen Mab. Culhane knows that the fate of the Otherworld rests solely with Maggie and he will do whatever he can to keep her away from Mab.

Maggie Donovan has decided that in order to find some spice in her life she was is just going to have to cut all ties with her ex-fiancé Joe. When she goes to his office to return some of his stuff she finds him with another woman. Only it is not what you would think. The other woman is actually a demon who is eating him. Maggie does the only thing she can do... smacks her with her Tote bag. She ends up killing the demon and unleashing some weird dust bunny cloud. That cloud changes her and Maggie is not convinced it is for the better. When some crazy guy shows up at her house claiming that she is destined to save the Otherworld and she now has supernatural powers, Maggie thinks he is off his rocker. Even when after she floats up to the ceiling with these so called powers, she still refuses to believe it. Once she finally gives into reality, she starts training for her destined showdown with Queen Mab. But how can one lowly part fae woman take down the evil Queen Mab?

BEDEVILED started off great. Maggie walking in on her ex getting eating by a demon. I mean what an opener, but that is where the excitement ended. I found Maggie to be simply annoying. She refused to believe what was happening and she was stubborn as all get out. Her teenage niece however is a different story. She was more than willing to believe this new information and in fact she seemed to research proof that agreed with it. Eileen, Maggie's niece, was by far one of my favorite characters. She talked and acted like the typical teenager and of course... she knows everything. I really did not like the hero at all. Culhane just got on my nerves. In fact, the gruff pixie that lived in the tree was more likable.
I thought the showdown at the end with Mab was very rushed. There was so much set up for something huge and dramatic, then there was just not much at all. Don't get me wrong how Maggie won was quite tricky and I liked it but there should have been more.
I believe this is the first of a series and I am curious as to what Maggie will be up against should there be a book two now that queen Mab is gone.

Mrs. Child has many books out. She has three paranormal romances and several Contemporaries. To find out more about her and her stories please visit her website at http://www.maureenchild.com/index.html

Jennifer
Enchanting Reviews
April 2009

Well, I gave this book five stars because I wrote it, so why not? I usually don't do this, post reviews of my own books, because it's just a little odd, I know, LOL!

But, as much as I love the review Harriet posted (thank you Harriet!) I just had to clarify something......there are NO worms in this book, LOL!

Ew. Worms. No, no, no...Still, hope everyone enjoys it!

My boyfriend got me this book on a whim.. and I LOVED IT.. read it by the pool and at the beach in 2 days. Now that I have a kindle fire I jumped at getting the second book in the series. A very interesting new twist on supernatual stuff. I'm sick of the vampires and werewolves with hearts of gold.... All mythology has been a passion of mine (go Sherrlyn!!!) and this was a refreshing twist on some not so popular mythology... I recommend this for someone wanting to read a book where the woman has strenght and a man just may need her more!!

She has done it again! This one is not as good as the first two but it still is very very wonderful! I Love how maureen write! I think I Just love the first character so much that i wanted her to be in this one and when she wasnt i was sad and took it out on poor Maggie, who is great in her own way!! Read the first two and then this one, I cant wait to read Beguiled!!

I am a huge fan of fantasy fiction, so reading this book was a little out of my comfort zone - in a way. I got my usual taste for fantasy and the romance made it a little more interesting reading. I think this book is going to turn me into a romance novel fan... can't wait to read the continuation on this series. :-)

It's always nice to see an author take a different, interesting approach to the fae. On the good side, the "Donovan women" in the story were very unique and simply stole the show. The older sister seemed to fall in love at the drop of a hat. Maggie (the heroine) was sarcastic and couldn't seem to stay in a relationship. Then there was the brains of the bunch--12 year old Eileen.

Maggie inherited her grandparent's home which her grandfather "remodeled." I use that word lightly, because I'm not sure how to described what he did to the house--I'll let you read to find out. Her sister and niece lived in the guest house out back. The interplay and relationship between these three made for a good story all on its own, and yet that was not the primary conflict of the story. Oh, no, it gets much more interesting than that. You see, apparently Maggie is the "chosen one." Fated to fight Queen Mab of the faeries and become the new queen. And that brings us to hot faery warrior that shows up to make sure Maggie wins.

Overall, I thought the book was great. I gave it 4 stars instead of five, because I thought the beginning was a bit sketchy (too much description and not enough doing--you know, I want you to "show me," not "tell me". It was only the first handful of pages, so the awkward beginning did not last long.

Maggie Donovan was living a normal life until the day she finds a demon eating her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. She somehow manages to kill the demon, but her day is not done being strange. A gorgeous fairy warrior appears in her kitchen and tells her she is destined to grow her latent fairy powers and defeat, Mab, the Queen of Otherworld.

Culhane has been waiting for Maggie for centuries. Mab has been ruling Otherworld with an iron fist and her defeat at Maggie's hands will set them free. But he has to talk the stubborn Maggie into it, first. As much as she infuriates him, he can't help but be attracted to her spirit.

Neither one wants to like the other, but they need each other if they are to defeat Mab.

While overall, I enjoyed Bedeviled, at times I felt like I was reading two different stories: one, a fun, chick-lit style romance and the other, a more serious paranormal romance. When told in the point of view of Maggie, it was full of silly asides, sarcasm and humorous moments. When told from Culhane's perspective, it was more solemn. I realize that it may have been done that way to kind of highlight those differences in the characters, but it was distracting. But it was fun watching them struggle to do their duty as they fight the attraction between them.

However, I enjoyed the story, and the subplot involving Maggie's sister. I will be looking for the continuation of the story, BEGUILED, coming out in August, 2009.

Niki
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed