Kia Carrington-Russell

In this world, there are creatures lurking in the shadows. As a child, I once played with them. As a teenager, I began to fear them and became victim to their attacks. As an adult, I now realize that no matter how much I try to escape the grasp of this world, I was inevitably born into it. Now reborn as a Guardian in the year of 2986, Vivian Lair must uphold the treaty between Angels and Demons on the human world and city of Shabeah. Contracted to seven demons who she can shift into while taking direct orders from the Underworld Lord, Haymen, it wasn't exactly her ideal rebirth. Involving herself with the Angel of War, Gabe is even worse. Still fighting those who try to possess her during her sleep, Vivian must now record and try to hunt the Volv through the Shadow Minds Journal. Now stuck between the hatred and lust of two of the most powerful entities in all worlds, Vivian is involved inevitably in the upcoming conflict. Blood. Lust. War. She must kill before being killed.

The Shadow Minds Journal

Chiara Vitale Zelaia

*I was sent an e-ARC copy by the author in exchange for an honest review*

I will start by saying that the premises were very interesting. Vivian, the protagonist, has been unwillingly turned by a demon Underworld Lord into a Guardian. She is “contracted” to seven demons who lend her special abilities that enable her to uphold a treaty between angels and demons in a human city. However, in her dreams, Vivian is constantly haunted by demons, and she must report these dreams in the infamous Shadow Minds Journal. 
Many mysteries are woven around the main character, amongst which are the nature of the demons she is contracted to, the reasons behind the Underworld Lord’s obsessive interest in her and the death of an angel that will cause her many troubles. I was very interested upon reading the synopsis, which is why I accepted the author’s kind invite to review her book.

Unfortunately, this is where most of my interest ended. As interesting as the paranormal system seemed, I couldn’t completely be immersed into this world, nor could I grow a liking or a connection to these characters. The reason for that was that I am not a big fan of the writing. Personally I did not find it to be very fluent: the sentences were often too long and confusing and forced me to reread entire paragraphs in order to understand what was happening. The fact there were a lot of orthographic mistakes (even for an ARC) did not help much on that front. 

Another issue I had with this story was the excessive sexualization. I do not shy away from mature content in books, but I don’t like it when it feels unnecessary and unjustified. It felt that way for this book. I especially didn’t like the objectification of women and—most of all—the objectification the main character makes of herself. The constant references to her need for sex and her prowess were too much for me and didn’t feel very realistic or relatable.

Sadly, this book was not for me, but as I said, I am not a reader of paranormal so I might not have been the right person to appreciate this kind of writing and storytelling. It’s also important to remember this is a debut so I am positive the author still has much room to grow as a writer. If you are a fan of the paranormal genre, this might be a read you could enjoy.

Geneviève Rouleau

I honestly don't know how I managed to finish this book. I was sooo excited when I received a free ebook in my book subscription box. I thought the whole synopsis seemed very interesting (and the cover!! It's just sooo gorgeous!) However, I simply can't get into this story. Also, the fourth chapter is a copy/paste from the first chapter.. I wouldn't usually mind, except there are many grammatical errors in the chapters, as well as words that don't exist in written form, and that's the one thing I can't take 🙈

The Shadow Minds Journal

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