Series: The Devil's Triangle

Guest Review: The Devil’s Temptation by Toni De Palma

Posted April 17, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Guest Review: The Devil’s Temptation by Toni De PalmaReviewer: Tracy
The Devil's Temptation by Toni de Palma
Series: The Devil's Triangle #2
Also in this series: The Devil's Triangle (The Devil's Triangle, #1)
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Publication Date: March 14th 2014
Genres: Thriller, Young Adult
Add It: Goodreads
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Fighting the Devil brought Cooper and Grace together. But without a little evil to spice things up, the everyday life of a normal teenager is pretty dull. A summer job crewing on a billionaire’s yacht in sunny Italy might be just the ticket to rekindle passion. While the setting is perfect, the winding, sinister back streets of Naples are also the perfect playground for a scorned Lucifer to wreak havoc. And if evil doesn’t rip them apart, the sultry billionaire’s daughter and the sexy First Officer might be what it takes to finally destroy Cooper and Grace’s love forever.

 

Tracy’s review of The Devil’s Temptation (The Devil’s Triangle #2) by Toni De Palma

It’s been six months since Cooper and Grace had to fight the devil. They thought they won and life has been pretty normal. Grace, however, wants to do something fun for the summer and through her uncle has arranged for both her and Cooper to work on the yacht of a millionaire – in Italy. Cooper isn’t thrilled with it all but he loves Grace and if this is what makes her happy he’ll go along with it.

When they arrive, however, things start to go wrong. They supposedly didn’t know Cooper was coming, he’s given shit accommodations on the yacht, he’s treated horribly on the job and left to bake in Mediterranean sun, it’s just not a lot of fun for Cooper. Meanwhile Grace is enjoying doing maids work in the cool rooms and shown LOTS of attention by a steward by the name of Marcello. Cooper isn’t too proud to say he’s jealous and this sparks arguments between him and Grace.

Cooper then meets the millionaire’s daughter, Stefania, and he is now at her beck and call. He’s not thrilled with the job but she’s beautiful and he’s happy to be able to get out of the boiler room which is about where his room was.

The story goes on to have incident after incident happen to Cooper which spark more arguments between him and Grace. Cooper starts to think that maybe she doesn’t love him any longer. Things come to a head when Cooper is accused of murder. He doesn’t know what to do and ends up finding help from the least likely good Samaritan.

It’s hard to give you a really good synopsis of the book without giving too much away. The story unfolds with one thing after another happening and as a reader I wasn’t sure what to expect next. Unfortunately this book didn’t have quite the same intrigue and suspense that book one was full of.

Cooper, imho, is a typical high school guy. Yes, he loves Grace but he’s not blind and finding Stefania attractive isn’t the end of the world. Does he want to find her attractive, no, but he does. Grace is highly jealous even though she’s constantly with Marcello. Cooper starts to have doubts about their relationship, which again, is very high school typical. Unfortunately when you’d dealing with the devil things start to go more wrong then just average every day things.

In this case Cooper got the short end of the stick throughout the entire book. That boy was pretty much crapped on the whole book. On top of that he was constantly unconscious! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where the hero was unconscious that much. I didn’t exactly count the number of times but off the top of my head I’d say at least 3. That’s a lot for a book that’s less than 200 pages long!

Grace was…different in this book. I felt that she took Cooper for granted and didn’t treat him all that well. I know she loved him but it was just off. I’m saying that and I know that’s what we were supposed to feel but it was even more than I think the story intended. IDK, I wasn’t digging on her throughout the book.

Overall the story was good but a little on the more fantastical side. Yes, in book 1 they were battling the devil but it just seemed more realistic. This was good but definitely felt more contrived. Despite that I’m hoping that there’ll be a book 3 so that we can see where Cooper and Grace go from where this book ended.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Series:
Book Cover Book Cover

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This title is available from Crescent Moon Press. You can buy it here in e-book format. This book was provided by author in exchange for an honest review.

three-half-stars


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Guest Review: The Devil’s Triangle by Toni De Palma

Posted February 20, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 3 Comments

Guest Review: The Devil’s Triangle by Toni De PalmaReviewer: Tracy
The Devil's Triangle (The Devil's Triangle, #1) by Toni de Palma
Series: The Devil's Triangle #1
Also in this series: The Devil's Temptation
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Publication Date: February 10th 2013
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 216
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

When 17 year old Cooper dies in an attempt to burn down his school, he finds himself in the afterlife. Lucy, the Devil's sister who has crossed party lines, decides to give Cooper another shot at heaven. The deal? Cooper returns to Earth and has to find a girl named Grace. The rest is up to him.

While Cooper figures out his mission, he's thrown into the life he's always wanted. Great parents, a spot on the Varsity football team and a real future are all within reach. But what he really wants is Grace, a feisty girl with an abusive boyfriend that can pound Cooper into pulp if he doesn't watch out.

While Lucy plays demonic-puppeteer, clues to an unknown past between Cooper and Grace start to unravel. Cooper discovers that what's keeping he and Grace apart is far more sinister than anything this bad boy could have ever imagined.

We start off the story in Heaven. Cooper is in front of a panel of judges, more or less, which includes St. Peter, a guy who likes to nod off constantly and Cooper can’t figure out who he is, and Lucy – the devil’s sister who has switched sides.

Cooper was in foster homes and was pretty much a juvenile delinquent. He ends up killing himself when he’s setting a school on fire and now he’s in heaven. Before judgment is made Lucy talks St. Peter into sending Cooper back to see if he can redeem himself. Lucy sends him to Grace in New Jersey saying that he has a month. A month to what? He’s not sure but he plays along cuz he doesn’t want to end up in hell.

What he finds when he gets there is Grace, who is a punked out girl with pink hair and lots of piercings who is dating Cooper’s best friend, Blake. Cooper’s pretty amazed that Lucy has set this whole life up for him and he’s in awe of the things he’s accomplished. He’s trying really hard to fit in and not let on that he’s not the “real” Cooper but it’s difficult. Grace will hardly talk to him even though by his family’s photo albums it shows that Cooper and Grace were best friends up until a few years before.

What Cooper discovers is that he’s part of a devil’s triangle. Lucy had saved Cooper’s life in a deal with the devil but that came with some pretty harsh agreements and punishments if not followed – for both Grace and Cooper. Blake is kind of the devil’s lackey and cruel and abusive to Grace. Cooper also discovers that because of the devil’s deal he has been leading two different lives. It’s crazy but it all come to make sense to him and he’s determined to break himself and Grace out of the deal.

When the book first started and Cooper was in front of St. Peter and Lucy I have to admit to rolling my eyes. IDK, I saw every teeny bopper movie that my fifteen year old has watched flash before my eyes. I carried on though because I wanted to see what happened. I’m SO glad I did.

This story is so touching and heartfelt and intricate that I don’t think I can say enough about it. It caught me by surprise with the emotions I felt for Cooper and his struggle with his new reality. He was so confused and didn’t know what to do and being a lost soul in his previous life didn’t help much. He had anger issues before his death but when the story goes on and you find out what happened it’s almost understandable (not his actions, just his feelings).

Cooper’s desire to be with Grace was the motivation behind all of Cooper’s actions. He figured out what was happening and did his best to right the situation that had gone terribly wrong. While we didn’t get ALL the answers in this book we got a great story and a wonderful introduction to Cooper’s world.

The book was compelling in a way I almost can’t describe. I was completely invested in the story even though there was a time or two when things got confusing. I have to say that this is a great start to a great series and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place.

This book is available from Crescent Moon Press. You can buy it here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

four-half-stars


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