A Devil of a Read

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
- Thomas Jefferson

~*~

So… the title is because this week’s TBR Tuesday (it’s late, but it’s still Tuesday) is SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL by Holly Lisle. This book is a re-read, because I needed a pick-me-up book. And yet, don’t think I mean this book is a fluff read. It’s not. It still has Holly’s character depth I’ve come to know and love. It still has incredibly poignant issues that, if not tempered with amusing writing, would have me sunk in a depression and moping around the house. But. It’s written with such a masterful hand that she sneaks deep, meaningful truths in among fun jokes.

Finding this book can be a trick. It’s one of Holly’s older books, and I found it at a second-hand shop. (I read it the first time from the library, and this is the book that made me decide to just BUY any Holly Lisle books that sounded interesting instead of getting them from the library first. They haven’t let me down yet.)

However, if you find it, it’s worth it. A brief run-down of the plot, just for kicks: Dayne is a nurse, and hates the part of her job that causes people pain even as it keeps them alive. She feels like one of Hell’s torturers, and also hates the thought that there *are* demons in Hell who torture souls who were misguided – like her dead husband. So, she petitions God to give all the damned a second chance – and he does. In the process, God releases a multitude of demons on Earth, and to one of these (one of the original Fallen Angels, to be accurate), Satan gives the task of delivering Dayne to Hell.

That description makes it sound more serious. But it’s quite comedic, really. It also involves hellish bills for squished gremlins, prank phone calls, pepper spray, and Clothes From Hell that are always several inches too short.

Well worth a read. Definitely one of my favorite books.*

*Grrr. I would give this a grade of A+, but WordPress is being stubborn and won’t let me create both an “A+” and an “A-” category. So I decided to write out “plus” instead. Stop being dumb, WP. “+” and “-” are not the same thing.