Customer Reviews

Devil's Descent I: purgatory (A Psychotic Love Story)

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Minor Spoilers:

This book is an extremely dark love story. There is nothing beautiful about it except for the protagonists. Anyone that is uncomfortable with anything besides romantic sweet love stories should not read these books. These characters are really dark and this "love" story is pretty twisted. But if you're ready to step outside your comfort zone, buckle up and take a ride into this "Miserable Love Series."

Devil's Descent I: purgatory starts in the middle of Julian and Lily's story. Julian Douglas has chased 21 year old, Lily Walker to Montreal, Canada. Lily has been on the run for 2 years, ever since she was expelled from the town of Vickery Hill, Georgia. Lily is the former Resurrector of this secret town that is inhabited by twelve families of mixed human and vampire lineage.

When Julian shows up at her apartment Lily is both shocked and relieved to see him. Though she knows she should make him leave, Lily's sick need for her vampire lover has her submitting to him all over again. Lily is so obsessively in love with Julian that she allows him to physically and emotionally torture her. Beatings, drowning, forced orgies, infidelity - it doesn't matter what twisted, humiliating things Julian subjects her to, Lily always comes back for more. Julian is a sick, sadistic bastard who gets pure joy out of breaking Lily down. He knows that she craves the violence and disturbingly she enjoys it. But Lily also yearns for Julian's love only he doesn't seem capable of giving it to her.

"Time has proven to me that I'm not worthy of sustaining love, only destroying it. That's what I do. That's all I am...all I'll ever be. I won't survive love. I'd rather be dead than know I'm in love with this pet." ~ Julian

Julian and Lily have a love hate relationship with each other. As a reader I had those same feelings for these two characters. I wished both of them would just finish each other off. But at the same time I was completely captivated by their perverse obsession with one another. Oh and the sex scenes were jaw-dropping, twisted goodness. Claudia D. Christian is a gifted storyteller who draws her readers into this warped and miserable tale. As I said before this is an intensely dark read but I found myself wanting to know more about these complex characters. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this Miserable Love Series.

awsome begining to a dark story! cant wait for the next book, dying to know how and what created the beings they are now.

I stumbled upon Ms Christian's writing by first reading Annabel Joseph. Both authors write about love but love that is not always kind and may certainly be messy and painful. I am not going to give a plot summery here because the interactions between the characters and what they discover about each other is important (at least I think) not exactly what they do. I loved Ms Christian's writing-- the dialogue was real and witty not forced or silly sounding. Her writing made me feel as if I were in the room with these characters while they were having their conversations. And the characters are brilliant. Julian is a born vampire who is intense, cruel, beautiful, unabashedly selfish yet endearing. Lily is strong and independent yet vulnerable in her love. Ms Christian also knows when a reader may need a little comic relief-- after a particularly grisly moment there is a scene that is one of the funniest I have read in any novel. My only beef with with this story is that it seemed like I came into the picture in the middle, and as it turns out, I did. Ms Christian is writing the before story and the after story for Julian and Lily. My beef is insignificant though because once I relaxed and did not worry about every little reference to something I had no idea about and put myself in Ms Christian's extremely capable hands, I was able to love the story and the characters. After finishing Devil's Descent, I went on to read the first chapters of Devil's Descent II which is on the author's website and is actually the prequel. In a way I liked knowing where Julian and Lily are headed-- but I will absolutely go back and read DD I again. This is a book for readers who do not mind if all the plot points are not tied up in a little neat package-- I guarantee though-- Ms Christian will make you feel and her characters will leave you with an impression. if pressed to describe the book in two words, I would say creepy and sexy.