Tainted Review

Lily Carlyle promised her sister Rose that she would always be there for her. She promised to protect her from the man who brutally raped her and would never let any more harm come her way. When the rapist wouldn’t leave her sister alone and continued stalking her, Lily had enough and put justice into her own hands. She went after him with plans to kill him, but somehow Lily ended up dead herself.

Upon waking, Lily finds herself in another young woman’s body and confused about what happened. After meeting a man named Clarence, Lily is informed that she is working for the good guys to make sure the Ninth Gate in Hell isn’t opened releasing demons onto the world. She alone has the ability to prevent this from happening since she is the one from the prophecy. Lily will be trained on how to kill demons as they will now be after her once they find out she is going to destroy their chances of reeking havoc on the world.

But saving the world is the least of Lily’s problems since she has a new identity to become. The body Lily is in is of a young waitress/barmaid named Alice Purdue. How Alice ended up dead is a mystery to Lily and one she needs to find out if she isn’t going to end up dead a second time. Lily knows Alice was murdered but by whom she has no idea. She takes over Alice’s life, working her job, living in her place, hanging out with her friends, even crushing on the same guys.

Will Lily be able to keep her secret and live Alice’s life or will Alice’s murderer find her and put an end to it all? Will Lily successfully complete her mission or will her lack of skills cause catastrophic consequences? Will Lily put her trust in the wrong people and tell them her secrets?

Tainted is the first book in the Blood Lily Chronicles which is an urban fantasy series by popular paranormal author Julie Kenner. The story starts off with excitement from the first sentence and had me hooked until I finished the book and was begging for more. There are plenty of demon fights and scary situations to leave readers at the edge of their seat rooting for Lily to turn out the winner in the end. The story wasn’t predictable at all and I was constantly surprised by each new turn of events.

Tainted is told in first person point of view and it’s a thrilling ride learning all about Lily's new job. There’s some romance that I thoroughly enjoyed since the chemistry between these two characters was undeniable. I actually held my breath at one point during one of their interactions, that’s how great the writing was! Overall, Tainted is dark, mysterious, dangerous, suspenseful and all around a terrific book that blew me away.  I am dying to read the second book in this series, Torn, and will read everything else Julie Kenner writes!