Review: A mishmash paranormal potpourri
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 19, 2011
This book is YA (young adult) and yet the synopsis tries to tease that this book involves sex with incubi (seductive demons).  But rest assured, this topic is handled in YA fashion with kid gloves.I felt that Phaedra, the main character, was pretty honest, open and real. She has a strong sense of family loyalty but often her teenage rebellious side shines through.It is just too bad the other characters are weak.I expected her mother to be stronger but we only see her via Phaedra's eyes.  There's likely more backstory and even more about how her mom slowly decended into paranormal madness, but we only see what Phaedra sees.  It is heartbreaking when the mother goes out of control and hurts her daughters (very delicate handling of child abuse here) but we don't know exactly what goes on in her head.Phaedra's brother was a disappointment, showing up and introducing the incubus.  then he shows up conveniently the rest of the book, to save Phaedra or to flirt with her friends.  Phaedra's intense hatred of him is not really explained (he did leave the family but why is she so rude when he tries to help?  Perhaps his story will be explained in a sequel.The rest of the characters (hags, demons, voodoo priestesses) are just about every weird character you can imagine.  And the humans (the normal humans) are just one-dimensional cookiecutter 90210-types (except relocated to North Carolina).This book will appeal mostly to those who are into paranormal fiction.  I received a complementary copy of this book to review.