Forgiven by Jana Oliver

Forgiven by Jana Oliver
The Demon Trappers #3
Release Date: March 1, 2012 (UK)
Publisher: MacMillan Children's Books
Source: For Review
Rating: Bland

Riley has made a bargain with Heaven, and now they've come to collect.

Lucifer's finest are ruling the streets and it seems that Armageddon might be even closer than Riley imagined. But with her soul and her heart in play it's all she can do to keep herself alive, let alone save the world. Riley's not afraid of kicking some major demon butt, but when it comes to a battle between Heaven and Hell, she might need a little help... - Goodreads

Forgiven begins where the previous book left us, with people hunting for Riley, and Riley's dad being reanimated. I liked the first book well enough to read the second, and I found that the second book was brilliant! I really enjoyed it, and was really looking forward to reading this book because I was so interested in finding out what happened next. Unfortunately, Forgiven didn't meet my expectations after such a good second book.

The plot was kind of boring in this book, there was a lot of getting from Point A to Point B without there being much substance. The romance aspect takes over the action and plotting, and it really irked me. I know Beck and Riley care for each other - even if they're both too frustratingly stubborn to say anything - but I wanted more fighting and more demons rather than scenes of the two of them bickering constantly over nothing.

Riley and Beck also really annoyed me in this book. I wasn't a huge fan of Beck in the first book, but in the second he started to grow on me. I was hoping to like him even more in this one now that he had come to terms with his feelings - even slightly - but that just wasn't the case.

The pair of them whined about each other SO MUCH; it was beyond frustrated. Every page there were at least a couple of mentions of Beck (when reading from Riley's point of view) and what she thought he would think of her. Excuse me? Why do you care so much what he thinks of you? If he judges you then that's his problem. Come on, you're meant to be a fierce protagonist!

It was the same case with Beck and his point of view, except he annoyed me even more. He was so angry all of the time! I couldn't handle the complaining from him or Riley, so in the end I had to skim those bits. There was too much complaining and no character growth, and after reading about the same stuff throughout three novels now, it got old fast.

I did enjoy reading about Riley's father's reanimated. He was sweet, I guess.

This book leaves you on a little bit of a cliffhanger, which I think those of you who like the romance and relationship between the two of them will enjoy, but it didn't leave me intrigued. I couldn't wait to put this book down, I'm sorry to say, and I am not interested in continuing with the series any more.

Book Review: Forbidden by Jana Oliver

Forbidden by Jana Oliver
The Demon Trappers #2
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Source: Publisher - thank you!
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Recommended? Yes! It's much better than the first.
Buy the Book: Amazon US |Amazon UK

Riley's beginning to think being a demon trapper isn't all it's cracked up to be. Her dad's been stolen by a necromancer, her boyfriend's gone all weird and she's getting warm and fuzzy feelings for someone who's seriously bad news. It's tempting to give it all up and try to be normal, but that's not an option. Because the demons have plans for Riley. And they're not the only ones. - GoodReads Page

In comparison with book one, the plot of this one is a lot steadier. I really enjoyed where this book took me as a reader, while I would have liked to have seen more demons and demon trapping. There’s a bit of a twist towards the end of the book, which you will probably sort of see coming. But it was very intense, and made me want to cry with frustration.

In addition to the better plot, the pacing of this book has really picked up compared to book one. There was no slow start, and there was a big finish, with a cliffhanger ending!

Riley hasn’t changed at all since book one, In fact, I think she may have become even more annoying as a main character – if that is possible. There are several instances when she completely lacks common sense, which would have caused me to shout at the page if it hadn’t been so late at night. Riley also seemed very bipolar to me, especially when it came to relationships. A lot of her emotions seemed to come out of the blue, and disappear just as quickly.

I liked Beck a lot more in this book; he’s become a lot more sensitive towards certain people. Again, he seemed a bit bipolar to me. He's definitely become hotter since book one, and I think I'm starting to fall in love with him. Just a bit!

We saw a whole lot more of Ori in this book. I’ll let you decide whether this is a good or bad thing when/if you read this book! I loved him at first, but then... He's a moron. That is all.

Also, Simon... Grr! He's a moron as well. Moving swiftly on...

As for the ending - Well, I loved it! It’s left me craving for book three in the trilogy. I suspected something was going on, but at the end it all was revealed in a huge twist. Now that this certain thing has happened, I am really curious to find out what happens in book three, and I find myself dying to know if everything works out!

To those who have read the book – Is anyone else worried about Beck? I don’t like not knowing where he is... 

Forbidden is called Soul Thief in the US, and is going to be released on August 30th.

Book Review: Forsaken by Jana Oliver

Forsaken by Jana Oliver
MacMillan Children's Books
Release Date: February 7th, 2011 (UK)
Rating: 3 out of 5
Recommended? For fans of demons, yes!
Buy the Book: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Seventeen-year-old Riley, the only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper, Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father's footsteps. The good news is, with human society seriously disrupted by economic upheaval and Lucifer increasing the number of demons in all major cities, Atlanta’s local Trappers’ Guild needs all the help they can get – even from a girl. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing crush on fellow apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving distressed citizens from foul-mouthed little devils – Grade One Hellspawn only, of course, per the strict rules of the Guild. Life’s about as normal as can be for the average demon-trapping teen.

But then a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, sudden tragedy strikes the Trappers’ Guild, spinning Riley down a more dangerous path than she ever could have imagined. As her whole world crashes down around her, who can Riley trust with her heart – and her life? - Goodreads Page

Forsaken sounded like a fantastic read. I love demons, demon hunters *points at the demon-fighting Winchester in the banner* and all things supernatural, and so I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this book. Unfortunately, I finished it feeling a bit let down.


Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the novel, but I found myself getting frustrated with the main character so many times. And if you’ve read my reviews in the past, you will know that an annoying main character could easily mean the death of a book for me.

I’ll get the negative stuff out of the way. I found the main character, Riley, to be very immature and annoying. The girl was supposed to be a demon trapper (meaning, she catches and sells demons rather than killing them) in training, and I just assumed that would mean she was as badass as Rose Hathaway. Instead, Riley turned out to be a bit of a whiner and this became very annoying very fast. She also seemed to get over a certain event far too quickly. If the same thing had happened to me I would be curled up in bed for weeks, but then again I guess that would make for a boring novel. Plus, Riley was raised in a world very different to ours.

On to the better stuff!

The other main character is Beck, who is good friends with Riley’s dad, and someone Riley used to have a crush on. Beck started off annoying, but he became a lot better towards the end of the novel. I liked reading things from his point of view, and I definitely wasn’t expecting that. He’s actually kind of sweet, under that hard shell of his.

Simon, the love interest, was very average. I don’t have much to say about him. He was nice. Yeah.

Which leads me onto Ori. Oh my GOSH, Ori! He was only in a couple of scenes in this novel, but I fell in love. What more can I say? He’s amazing, badass and totally hot.

Anyway, I found the demons in this novel fascinating. There were so many different types – another thing I wasn’t expecting – and I loved reading about the differences, and discovering which demons were more evil than others. There were a couple that were just plain cute!

The pacing of this novel started of very slow. It was an average read at the beginning. That said, the book majorly picked up in the final few chapters. I am so happy I continued reading, otherwise I would never have met Ori, and I would never have read that awesome climax!

I’ve given this book an average rating, because Riley and Simon just weren’t doing it for me, and it took a while to get into. However, I still definitely recommend this if you’re a fan of demons and the paranormal. I’m about to pick up the second book in the series, Forbidden, after I’ve posted this review. Fingers crossed for more Ori, eh?