Her Soul for Revenge by Harley Laroux

I liked the first book a little more but this was still a wonderful continuation of a story I am growing to appreciate the complexities of with every new installment. Abelaum and the Liberi and their sinister death cult and eldritch god are truly the stuff of nightmares, and in addition to the spice and the horrors, I love how each book has themes of recovering from religious trauma and finding strength in adversity. Harley's female characters are flawed and have many weaknesses, but they're also incredibly strong in their varying ways, and I love that their heroes draw out this strength and cause it to burn all the more brightly, without trying to command the flame.

Juniper is a very different heroine than Raelynn. Rae was like an alt-goth Disney princess; quietly enduring and inherently good, but very much a damsel in distress (although she learns to save herself eventually). Juniper, on the other hand, is a menacing tornado of a girl. After the people she called friends tried to sacrifice her and betrayed her and her family in the worst possible way, she's ready for blood, and will do anything to get it, even sell her soul to a demon.

The chemistry between Juniper and Zane was great, almost as good as Rae and Leon (although they're such different characters, it's hard to compare). I feel like Leon has more of a protective, paternalistic role towards Rae, whereas Juniper and Zane feel more like equals-- in and out of the bedroom. I also really loved Zane's malicious playfulness and dry sense of humor. All of the best one-liners in this book were his. The violence level is upped a lot, too. Book one wasn't exactly a charming walk in the park, but this book has the leads banging on top of a freshly killed corpse and slaughtering infernal behemoths.

HER SOUL FOR REVENGE was a dark delight and I can't wait to read the last installment (even though I don't think I'm ready for this series to end yet-- when is their next book coming out again?? SOON?).

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars