Beelzebub The Gift of Gluttony - A Sinful Seven Novel
Paranormal Angels, Occult Horror, Demons and Devils Romance
Independently Published
March 23, 2022
Kindle
235
Amazon
Beelzebub isn't an ordinary demon. He's one of the Seven Princes of Hell, and it's his job to tempt humans with the delightful sin of gluttony. Jumping from host to host, he takes possession of human bodies, and savors every last bit of the experience, before leaving the body weak and broken. But there's one who gives him trouble, a human woman named Clara. Intrigued, he tries harder. Because, one way or another, he will get into her sweet, sweet body.
Clara has a gift. As an empath, she can sense other people's emotions. It's a gift that she's taken to heart, and uses it to make people feel better. Unfortunately, doing so leaves her drained. The more she helps others, the weaker she becomes. Then an angel appears. He tells her he's there to help, to lend her his strength, but something doesn't feel right. When she learns the truth about him--Beelzebub, a demon--she recommits to the light of God, and banishes him from her sight.
But demons don't go away so easily.
Both fighting for her soul, they fight with anything they can grab, be holy water, other people, or sacred objects from a time forgotten. And with a civil war brewing in Hell, will they both be pulled into a fight for something bigger?
Review By Sherry Perkins
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
“It’s from that new bakery,” she explained, “the one everyone says has the most divine treats on town.”—Beelzebub: The Gift of Gluttony
Well, who can resist divine treats? Not Beelzebub, one of the Seven Princes of Hell, that’s for sure. You know the Seven Princes of Hell, right? Each one is aligned with one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Beelzebub is the Prince of Gluttony. He’s good at it and like most gluttons, he can’t get enough of it which, of course, often leads him afoul of not only Lucifer, but the guardian angels too. He most especially irritates Archangel Michael, who no pun intended, can put the fear of God into a demon.
In Beelzebub’s determination to control every human soul—not without enjoying their gluttonous desires first—he is constantly jumping from one victim to another, trying to stay within the rules (because even demons have to follow the rules) and also while tasked with finding an ancient sacred object that Lucifer requires to do even more evil: the victims must say exactly what they most desire and must explicitly consent to allowing him to inhabit them as they commit their mortal sins.
Clara, the baker who works at the Sweet Spot, that bakery with the divine treats, inadvertently attracts Beelzebub’s attention. All she wants, other than to be a successful baker, is not to be so damn empathetic. Because if that were the case, she’d be able to run her own bakery and not have to deal with the unwanted attention of her boss, Max.
Co-authors JC Brown and Lena Lane have written a suspenseful paranormal romance with one of my favorite tropes: being careful what you wish for. When you toss wickedness versus goodness into the romance, that’s better! Then, there’s one or two I-should-have-seen-that-coming moments. However, whether you saw it coming or not doesn’t matter so much because that’s part of the wicked, good fun.
The characters were nicely developed, including secondary characters. The evil ones were deliciously evil and the good ones, sweet. Plot-wise, I would have enjoyed a bit more detail and tension about that missing sacred object Beelzebub was searching for, but you’ll need to read the story to tell me if you agree!
A four-star, tasty treat about the rules governing demons, what happens when they finally meet their match and getting what you deserve.
