I’ve reviewed movies, tv shows, music, and a ton of food, but I’ve never reviewed a book.

Let’s fix that.

Today I’m reviewing Charlotte’s Pact (Demons in New York Book 1) by Laurèn Lee. She’s a local, so it totally fits in my Western New York blogging pattern (for once).

The book is currently free on Amazon, so I naturally couldn’t resist.

Oh, and a warning: There’s some spoilers. I’m also writing this as I’m reading it, so it’s a bit disjointed.

The story is about a 21-year-old college student named Charlotte.

Charlotte’s a Communications major, which is what I am. 10 points for Lee on this one.

Charlotte, a chronic failure at relationships, gets hooked up with the hunky British Liam by her friend Tori.

Liam has your expected tragic backstory and guilt, nothing particularly new.

 

The meat of of the story comes when Charlotte & Liam’s car loses a fight to a semi and a hill. This is where the demon in the title comes into play.

Of course, Laurèn Lee likes knows to keep these good bits from the reader, and only drops them piece-by-piece in between the Liam-Charlotte love origin narrative. Non-linear narrative is such a Comm Studies thing I swear…

To be perfectly honest, the first half of this book, while completely necessary to set up the story, hiccups sporadically.

There’s a lot of product-placement in this book. I know for a fact that Charlotte owns a North Face jacket, Guess jeans, makeup from Sephora, Chuck Taylors, and listens to the Lumineers. There’s a lot of references to celebrities as well.

Where these descriptions really work well is in the depth of Buffalo locations. If you’re an outsider reading this book, you might be able to use it as a travel guide. You will know the Elmwood Village like the back of your hand with this book! Of course, when they do go to Niagara Falls, it’s the Canadian side.

Now, if the first half of the book is an infomercial for what I should be buying on my next trip to the mall, the second half is spectacular. Entertainment, thy name is Adriel. Is it a bit smutty? Of course! Is it bloody? You betcha! Is it a good read? Oh totally.

It ends on a cliffhanger, which just has me dying (no pun intended) for the next book to come out.

Okay, Laurèn, you won me over.

If you’re looking for a read that takes place in WNY, this is that read. While the opening is a bit weak, the back-end kicks hard. Once it gets going, the pacing is excellent. I await issue 2.