The Road to Hell, by Jackie Kessler

The Road to Hell is the second installment in Ms Kessler’s Hell on Earth series. These novels can be described as urban fantasy with paranormal romance. In this book we reacquaint ourselves with the heroine of Hell’s Belles, an ex-succubus-turned-human-with-a-soul named Jezebel/Jesse Harris, and her human love, vice cop Paul Hamilton.

A couple of warnings: this novel is narrated in the first person by Jesse, in a very entertaining but also highly irreverent manner. There is also explicit sex and creative cursing. Not for those with exceedingly delicate sensibilities and/or rigid religious views, for sure.

Personally, I would definitely recommend starting with Hell’s Belles since many of the secondary characters appearing in this novel were introduced in it.

Here is the back cover blurb:

There’s nothing worse than a demon with a grudge.

Jesse may no longer be a soul-stealing succubus, but she’s got a Hell of a past. She’d love to come clean to her sweet, super-hot boyfriend Paul, but how exactly does a girl start that conversation? There’s no name tag that reads: “I Used to Have Sex with Men before Taking Their Souls to the Lake of Fire—Ask Me How!” Just like some people are worth being monogamous for (shudder), some secrets are worth keeping. Like the fact that bad boy incubus Daunuan keeps popping up from the Underworld to put some toe-curling moves on her; that her former associates are trying to strong-arm her back into the fold; and that every supernatural entity on the planet seems to want to have a conversation with her in the bathroom. But someone in the Underworld isn’t ready to play nice (go figure), and this time, the stakes are nothing less than Paul’s immortal soul.

If Hell wants Jezebel back so badly, they’ve got her. But payback’s a bitch, and this bitch is about to rock Hell like a hurricane—or lose her soul trying…

I confess that originally I wasn’t too keen on reading a second book with Jezebel as main character—mostly because I didn’t want to risk having her and Paul’s relationship rocked. Then again, live and learn—in the skilled hands of Ms Kessler, this story rocks my socks as much as the previous one. (more…)