Book Review – Extinguish by J.M. Darhower

One… Two… Three… Four…

I Declare War

Serah always believed the world around her was perfect. As a Power, one of the warrior angels, she has spent her existence defending the innocent from evil. After tragedy strikes, tearing Serah's brother from her life, she's given the task of stopping the approaching apocalypse before it's too late.

Only one thing, though: she has to venture to Hell to do it.

Lucifer—or Luce, as he prefers to be called—has been biding his time in Hell, longing for revenge against those who oh-so-easily cast him into the pit. When the heavenly beauty shows up at his gate, he's just as captivated by her presence as she becomes of him. The attraction between them is palpable, and Serah's willpower slowly slips. How can this charming creature, this scarred Archangel, be the one annihilating the world she so loves?

As the war wages on, the world entwined in chaos, Serah starts questioning everything she ever knew. When the light and dark, hot and cold, finally collide, she has to make a choice—a choice that sets her world on fire, black and white exploding into colorful flames.

Serah has questions. She wants answers.
Luce just wants to play a game.

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Book Review:

Extinguish is unlike anything I have ever read! This dark and twisty romance will keep you on your toes.  It messed with my mind like Luce messed with Serah’s, and I had a hard time putting it down.

I read Darhower’s Sempre last year after seeing all the rave reviews and loved it.  Her writing style is very fluid and her character development is flawless.  When I heard she was releasing a paranormal romance, I got so excited.  I love a good romance with supernatural elements.  I had no idea what this book was about when I picked it up.  Lately, I’ve been shying away from reading the synopses of authors’ books I love.  You guys, the prologue of Extinguish hooked me.  The last few lines I was all, “Whaaaaaaat??  Can she does that?  Is she going there?  OMG she’s going there.”  She went there, and she went there HARD.  This book is an absolute must read if you’re a fan of angel stories.  Hell (heehee), even if you’re not a fan of angel stories, READ THIS!

“Everything changes eventually, not necessarily for the bad, but not always for the good either…The world isn’t always black and white.  Sometimes, it’s gray, and sometimes that gray explodes into colors you never knew existed before.”

This is so much I want to say.  Where to begin?  Serah is a an angel, a Power, in charge of protecting the innocent from evil.  She spends her days with Hannah, a Guardian, on a swingset watching children play.  She has spent her existence watching over mortals.  I found this to be very interesting.  Presumably, she has to protect thousands (and probably more) of humans, but she fixates on this one family for years.  She and her twin brother, Samuel, follow this family from their first day through their life.   She is also in a relationship with Michael, the Archangel.  Scandalous!

“She’d watched thousands – millions – of humans fall in love, watched as emotion consumed every ounce of them, controlling their every thought and altering their very being.  To know such passion would be glorious.”

The story flows seamless through the past and the present.  Darhower reveals Serah’s close relationship with her brother, Samuel through flashbacks.  In these flashbacks, you get to know Samuel and how different he was from other angels.  He seems to be always dancing on the edge of good. He’s a boundary pusher, something that makes Serah uncomfortable.

The Dominion assigns Serah to a new task – to negotiate with the Devil and convince him put an end to this war and prevent the apocalypse.  Obviously, this is not an easy task because Satan does what he wants.  Over the course of several weeks, Serah travels to Hell to talk with Luce on an almost daily basis.

Luce was a very interesting character.  He’s everything you would expect the Devil to be – self-absorbed, manipulative, and masochistic.  But, Luce, the Satan Darhower creates, is vulnerable and complex.  As Serah and Luce get to know each other, he reveals things about himself that no one else knows.  He’s tortured.  He can literally feel the pain and anguish of everyone in Hell.  While Serah cannot feel or smell anything.  At first, she didn’t mind but after talking with Luce, she begins to want more than what being an angel can offer her.

“I’d rather endure an eternity of pain by choice than feel nothing forever by force.”

“Not only was I forced to remember, but I was cursed with something that made it all much, much worse – empathy….That torture, that mental torment, is worse than any physical pain you may perceive, angel, stronger than any fucking tingle my brother may bestow upon you when you take your dress off for him.”

The conversations between Serah and Luce deal with some heavy topics.  What is good? What is evil? Their interactions are filled with tension and this weightiness that I couldn’t get enough of. There was this wicked chemistry between them that emanated from all of their flirting arguments

I love it when writer makes me fall in love with the most unlikely couple.  Serah and Luce are probably one of the most shocking couples in a book I have ever read due to what they are.  Each of them stand for polar opposites.  Part of what made these two work as a couple was Luce’s vulnerability and Serah’s skewed view of him.  She sees the beauty in everything, even in the most desolate and dark things.  Even in Luce.  Admittedly, I felt super dirty for rooting for the devil. I mean, come on, he’s like the ultimate BAD GUY.  And that’s why this book is so great.  You root for the devil…I mean…Luce.  It’s all so messed up!

This story could easy offend people with its suggestion that angels withhold the true from other angels and that Satan isn’t all that bad. However, I see this simply as a story – a story I enjoyed immensely.  The ending of this book is not a cliffhanger. It could easily work as a standalone, but MY GOODNESS it was intense.  As I got closer to the end, I kept wondering where she was going to go with this.  What was going to happen to Serah and Luce?  ARE they going to work out?  Read and you’ll get your answer.

I am really hoping that Darhower continues Luce and Serah’s story.  I would devour it immediately.

*I received an advance copy from the author in exchange for an honest review