[Review] I'll Be Damned

 

Author: Casey Keen

Publish date: March 24, 2013

Series: Anna Wolfe #1

Rating: 3.5/5

Genre: Paranormal romance, fantasy

I think any one who is a fan of True Blood (the early seasons before it just gets too weird) will find I'll De Damned by Casey Keen to be an enjoyable read. 

Our main character here, Anna Wolfe, is a coffee shop owner in southern Savannah, Georgia who has always known she's a little different. As her 30th birthday approaches she starts to experience a number of changes: physical cramps, stalkers and weird interactions.

When her sister, Janie, is kidnapped to get to Anna she discovers that she is a witch from a powerful bloodline. Anna must learn to harness her powers in order to save those she loves and escape being a tool for the devil himself.

As far as characters go, I typically identify the leading lady as my favorite in most books. While I really like Anna because she's a smart, successful (at least I think so) business woman, there was one character I loved more than any other.

Martello is a flamboyantly gay bar owner who is a good friend of Anna. His speech and wardrobe remind me a lot of Latayette off of True Blood. Martello is very "let me tell you like it is, girl". He's definitely the life of the party and I really liked how involved he was for a supporting characters.

I'll Be Damn is well written with some great characters (plus a few love interests for those romance fans) but there were two things that I didn't really like about the book.

1. It's very slow moving in the beginning. The book blurb talks about her sister's kidnapping and her discovery, and typically those things tend to happen earlier in the book. In this case I was almost halfway through the book before anything really happened. That was a little too long for me.

2. Her reaction to her sister's kidnapping made me want to slap her. Now, I have a younger brother who I am really close with. And if anything like this ever happened to him I would be in a murderous frenzy and go on a damn rampage until I got him back. Anna reacts as if it's not that big of a deal.

At first she doesn't react because she's not entirely sure if Janie is missing or just went back to work things out with her husband. This part I can understand.

However, when she gets the confirmation that her sister has indeed been kidnapped she does something completely surprising... she's takes a mother-effing nap! Are you kidding me? How can you possibly get any sleep when your sister's life is in danger?

The next morning she goes to confront her parents over her heritage and they give her a book that will explain everything. So basically she has to study up, learn about her powers and go save her sister. As she heading back home to calls up her best friend (Martello is already with her) who meets up back with them and her house.

So at this point I'm thinking "Okay she's gonna read this book and go kick some ass." Boy was I wrong. Instead she ignores the book as the three of them go out the the porch and have some drinks. No joke, they are freaking having freaking drinks instead of trying to save her sister.

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not your sister, Anna, because you are a terrible sibling.

Basically, that's what it came down to when it was rating time. In the beginning I really liked Anna but then I found it really hard to relate to her. Maybe I'm just ridiculously protective of my baby brother.

Some good things about the book are that it's well written and the characters are very likeable (even taking the above in to account). And while it reminded me at lot of True Blood, that's only on the surface. I'll Be Damned is a unique take of witches, demons and werewolves, so that I enjoyed very much. 

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