Derek Bailey’s Reviews > The Devil's Playthings > Status Update

I'm technically done with the book, but not ready to mark it complete since I have a lot of thoughts I'd like to compile. I didn't really know what I wanted out of the ending, but what I got was pretty good. I don't know if I loved every second of this work, but it was certainly an enjoyable enough story to put it at a respectable 4.

Now that things are coming to a close, I'm very happy to have discovered that this did not fall into being just another paranormal romance. It does take the whole "bad boy romance" to whole new heights, but also dips into a shocking and often uncomfortable (in a good way) examination of the intricacies of powers we THINK we know and understand and asks readers to think again.

The creepy factor has been upped a great deal. The story gets darker at every turn and I have no idea where it will go. It gets quite a bit more insightful as well, though I am still put off by some of the sweeping assumptions made about men and women.

So it's picked up quite a bit now. I'm not crazy about all of the details and I think the romance is supposed to be sexy, but o find it terrifying. The entire novel definitely does a good job of keeping me on edge. It's pretty freaky.

The first few pages of this were honestly just a bit much. Dark and heavy content is something a story needs to earn and build up to rather than simply hurling it at readers at the onset.Past those opening details which only kind of made sense to include, the rest of Tue story has been much better and really kills it with nailing an erie sort of tone.

The first few pages of this were honestly just a bit much. Dark and heavy content is something a story needs to earn and build up to rather than simply hurling it at readers at the onset.Past those opening details which only kind of made sense to include, the rest of Tue story has been much better and really kills it with nailing an erie sort of tone.