I received this book for free from the author in exchange for a review.
Things are not always as they appear. That is the lesson to learn from Ecstatic Evil.
The concept behind Tova's story is a great one: what's good, what's evil. Tova is half-demon and half-human. She's known her whole life, but she's just recently been told that she only has until her 25th birthday to decide which side she'll be on for the rest of her life. Being half-demon means that's going to be a very long life. When you add on to it that her decision will help in deciding the fate of the world when it comes to its end, well that just makes it that more stressful of a decision.
I changed my mind many times while reading Ecstatic Evil on how much I liked it or didn't like it and what I thought of the writing, the characters, and the plot itself. After finishing the book, I'm still wobbling on my decision. I don't know how to cut a coffee cup in half, even if it is a picture, so I'll just have to say 2 1/2. Hmmm, maybe an espresso cup for the half...worth thinking on.
But back to Ecstatic Evil.
Since I couldn't nail down my thoughts, I'm just going to share them with you as they occured to me. At first, it seems as if this is going to be one of those overly simplistic romance novels. You know the ones, they make you wonder about the author. Does she write this way because she's inexperienced (with writing or life in general) or is she one of those writers who says I'll write romance because it's easy. (I've heard it said before. Disturbing right?). So at first I was undecided on if it's an annoyance or if it's an insult. Keep in mind, what I said above, things are not always as they appear.
While I was irritated with the all good versus all evil trend that was occurring in the conversations and mental debates, I did enjoy the idea of good in us versus evil in us. Does one win out completely? More specifically what actions have which label? Who decides that?
The writing, which starts off rough, does eventually seem to smooth out and does improve as they story goes on. I think that's a positive sign for a first time author. Okay, so I'm no longer insulted. And I remind myself that my favorite authors wrote some romance novels that I would be semi-embarrassed to admit I read and liked at the time. They (the authors) are so much more advanced now.
McNeil does redeem herself in the good versus evil area and illustrates quite well that it's not a simple decision, it's actually quite complex. Yet, I still feel the sting of a simplistic view of feminism, but it was a very minor piece in the story.
So in the end, it's all still so wobbly. I enjoyed aspects of the book, I liked the growth and potential growth I say in the writing, and yet there are still pieces that bothered. I hope to see more of McNeil in the future, and I think there's much more to tell about Tova and her experiences trying to balance the two sides of herself while dealing with the human world and the paranormal world.