I really enjoyed this one. There's witches, demons, curses, and freaks for the whole thing. Even the relationship between these two was good. Despite everything, they just seemed to work. If I had to nitpick something though, it would be the ending. After everything else having a good pace, the ending seemed glossed over with what could have been and just sort of was over.
Emma has a problem. It's not one just anybody can fix. The doctors say her niece won't make it past the week and they have no idea what's wrong with her. But she knows it has something to do with her dead ex's other fiance (yeah, and that's not even all of it) who is 1: crazy as hell and 2: a dark witch. So Emma knows it's a curse and, running out of time, goes to a place called Demon's Alley to try and find any help. Everyone there is all frauds, until she goes to the only place left. The one place even those freaks told her not to go because the owner there is a real demon.
I really liked Tristan. We do learn that he is in fact half demon, though we never do find out the story behind how it happened. He works as an occult consultant and knows immediately that Emma is in big trouble. He agrees to help her and protect her family. His price? He wants Emma.
Left with nowhere else to turn, Emma figures sleeping with Tristan really wouldn't be such a bad price to pay. She is afraid of him and she knows he just can't be human, but she finds out right away that he is more caring than any other human male she's been around and actually a really great guy.
The next morning these two find themselves pretending to be going out because it's just easier to say that to Emma's family when Tristan comes around her sister's house and staying there to heal her niece. Emma is pretty awful towards him, but it never turns Tristan away from her. Her family are the first people to accept him as he is and he wants Emma as his own more than he's ever wanted anything.
While Emma is often avoiding Tristan, he is trying to get information on what happened in her past to cause all of this in any way he can. And though Emma is getting absolutely terrified of the freaks that have started following her everywhere, she still won't confide in him. It isn't until her family is in an accident that she finally lets go of it all and tells him.
Tristan is certain that he can protect Emma and her family with his powers, but he never ever expected to find out a secret that his mother had been keeping since the day he was born. One that takes him out quite easily and kidnaps Emma. See, that witch psycho? She wants to bring their cheating ex back from the dead and it's that whole a life for a life thing that put a target on Emma. But she's a whole lot of crazy and things go sideways fast. For all parties involved. Tristan finds the place with ease and it's here that things were built up but never realized. We're told he needs to let go of the control he keeps on the evil inside him to win, but he might never come back from it. So that makes it sounds like this should be a pretty good fight, right? Maybe it was, but we don't really get to see much of it because it's happening in the background as Emma works for her freedom. And when it's all over, Tristan can barely move. But when Emma says they either both get out or both die there, he's all of a sudden got enough energy to not only run up the stairs and outside but to do it while carrying Emma. A little off to me.
I did like the very end. It made me chuckle and I was happy that Emma is finally going to give a real relationship with Tristan a chance.