Demonically Tempted (Frostbite #2) by Stacey Kennedy
Paranormal Romance
April 13, 2012

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “ Remember, you choose your life. Don’t let others tell you what is right. And don’t forget that voice of yours. “

Tess Jennings, medium extraordinaire, is back and getting into even more trouble when she joins the Memphis police department as a “consultant.” Still seeing ghosts and in love with the hunky, formerly living, police officer Kipp McGowen, Tess finds herself in way over her head when a cold case overlaps a personal case, and an ghost hating FBI medium is pulled in to help Tess learn more about her gifts. Can Tess finally get what she wants? Or will she lose everything she vowed to protect?

Demonically Tempted is the second book in Ms. Kennedy’s fun and sassy Frostbite series. This series follows a reluctant medium and her sweet and sexy ghost boyfriend as they help solve cold cases for the local police department and try to maintain some semblance of a normal relationship. A snarky, fun, well plotted mystery with some smokin’ hot paranormal romance between a girl and her ghost. A steady pace with a well plotted storyline makes this an enjoyable read. I like the premise of a crime solving duo made up of a ghost and a medium.

Our heroine, Tess Jennings, is a hilarious. Sweet, funny, and more than able to handle her own. Her blond bubbly girl next door persona hides a spine of steel with a huge heart and shoe fetish. I love her external and internal dialogue. She reacts and deals with things realistically but listening to her rationalize it is hilarious. I did feel that this installment was a tad more serious than the previous one. You know Tess is stressed over using her gift and the additional stress of trying to be with Kipp is wearing on her. Ms. Kennedy does a fine job of allowing that emotion to enter the story. You can feel the tension vibrating in the story and Tess’s dialogue. It adds a faint level of despair and angst to the arc, reminding us that it’s not all rainbows and unicorn sparkles in Tess’s life.

Kipp continues to make us swoon as he strives to protect Tess and make her happy in every way possible. Sexy, funny, and talks just dirty enough to have you wanting some extra paranormal visitors yourself. Being a ghost doesn’t stop him in or out of bed and I enjoyed the easy going banter and hot smoking chemistry they have between them. His jealousy rears it’s ugly head in here and I admit I liked seeing that part of him. He was mentioned as being somewhat of a playa in book one, so in here we see that he has settled down for Tess.

We see old friends in here; Max, Zach, and Eddie and meet some new ones that clue us into some big changes coming for Tess. I do wish we would have interacted more with the cop shop as their antics made for some humorous times in book one. I enjoyed the additional characters Ms. Kennedy has added to the storyline. Dane Wolfe , the medium for the FBI. is quite the pain in Tess’s behind, but our girl knows how to handle herself and she soon puts him in his place. Gretchen Howe, a witch and friend of Dane’s, interested me in that I couldn’t get a handle on her. Is she good, bad, or walking the line? I look forward to seeing what exactly Ms. Shaw and Mr. are really up to. The ending is action packed and a bit nerve racking as Tess has to dig deep and open her mind in order to defeat an entity that wants her soul for his own.

I will admit there were a few things that bothered me in here. As I said earlier, Tess is more stressed and it’s noticeable. Her snark has a sharp edge to it and I found her unwillingness to look at the big picture frustrating. She believes in ghosts but demons, witches, and angels aren’t possible? It just didn’t make sense. She is very combative in her denial. There was also a situation with Kip that I didn’t understand. I don’t want to spoil but some things are discovered and Tess doesn’t know but it seems Kipp’s friends knew. Yet they didn’t know in book one so how do they know now? I may have missed something but it’s a conundrum for sure. Hopefully this is addressed in book three-Mystically Bound.

The main conflict resolves itself and a subplot leaves us with a tasty cliffhanger that has me impatient waiting for Mystically Bound which releases this fall. I enjoyed visiting with Tess and Kipp again and look forward to more adventures with this crazy couple.

Overall Rating: C+

Recent Reviews:
Paranormal Haven – 3/5
Red Hot Books – 3.5/5
That’s What I’m Talking About – B
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