Touched by the Demon

Divinity of Souls #1

by N.L. Hoffmann

My whole life I thought I was a nobody. I should have known my 28th birthday would be my last.


Thanks to my so-called friends, I'm sent on a mission into the Devil's Lair. Owned by Elias Wolfe – the scariest demon alive. I’ve never met him, but the rumors…some send a shiver of desire through me, and others send me running away screaming.

Thanks, but no thanks. Exit stage left.

Although, when we meet, he believes I'm special. Claiming we share a bond that goes beyond a mortal's love.

Forget about the mages trying to kill me – I'm more worried about this bond.

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 2023

About the author

N.L Hoffmann is a paranormal romance author. She was born in Germany to her German native mother and her American soldier father. The family moved home to the states, where she grew up in a rural farm town in Michigan with her parents and two younger brothers. There, in her pre-teens, is when she began writing and developed her love for literature.
Today, Hoffmann resides in Missouri with her husband and three children, where she published her first book Blood Slaves in January 2014. When Hoffmann isn't busy putting words on the page she enjoys reading, drawing, playing loving pranks on her husband, and spending time with her family.

Reviews

[Sherri]

This book is epic. It grabs your attention from page one and keeps you engaged through the last. Once I started it I couldn't put it down (I literally finished it from beginning to end in one sitting).

The imagery is so vivid. You can picture every scene unfolding right before your eyes.

I absolutely love the characters. Ember has always been very self-conscious about her magical abilities. She has a group of friends that she loves, well mostly. There is so much about her life that she doesn't know about. But has built a life for herself that she is proud of.

Elias is not only a demon but a Prince of Hell. He is extremely powerful and specializes in blood debts. He is a very intriguing character.

There are more great characters in this book, but I'm trying not to give anything away.

I highly recommend this book and I may go crazy waiting for the rest of the series. While you are waiting for the release, if you haven't already read them, I highly suggest you read the author's other books (Daughters of Darkness Series, Lucifer, Son's of Lucifer Series, Witch's Brew Series)

[ajscenic]

This book did not turn out at all as I thought it would.
I thought the characters were intriguing. I liked Ember and Elias, and their chemistry kept me interested.
This is only the first instalment and there is still a lot to learn, and many secrets to uncover.
This is a solid start to the series.

[Amanda]

I very rarely leave reviews, especially negative reviews.

This book could have been really good or at least a fun light read, but it definitely needs a good editor, a proofreader, and a couple of rewrites.

I have four main criticisms about this book:

1. My first criticism is also my biggest pet peeve when it comes to books. Insta-love, it is the dumbest most annoying bit of crappy writing out there. Even worse, the heroine wanted to drop her pants for every guy she came across in the book! That's after her insta-love bond happens. Suddenly, every guy in the book wants in her pants.

2. The heroine was also super naive, almost stupid. She is supposed to be 28 years old, but towards the end of the book, she says, "If I'd learned anything in the last couple of days, everyone had a motive." I mean, come on! She's one of the ruleing families, grew up with political intrigue all around her, but she hasn't figured out that everyone has a motive for everything that they do?!?! Really?!?!?

3. This next one almost made me walk away, but it happened about 20 pages from the end of the book, so I kept going. So in the prologue, Elias (insta-love interest and demon prince) is summond by the heroine's grandfather so he can sacrifice her to the demon to gain immortality and power. Elias agrees then puts grandfather into an eternal sleep...then the big fight scene happens near the end of the book, and Elias comes out with this dumb line: "He's returned. I thought the bastard was dead and now he's back." Come on! You didn't kill him 28 years ago. You put him to sleep, you moron! Talk about continuity issues.

4. This is where the proofreader would come in handy. The word toned is just randomly dropped into a couple of sentences in replace of different words. "I toned to figure it out." And "It's a big step, and I toned to take into consideration how this will affect my relationship with Elias."

So that's my review... and just to be clear, the insta-love instantly lost the book 2 stars. That's how much I hate that trope.

The continuity issue and naive/stupidity of the heroine are both -.5 stars.

The weird use of the word "toned" is such a minor issue that I normally wouldn't have mentioned it, but with the other issues, I felt the need to vent. No stars lost for that.

[Blue]

Dropped 2023
🚮
The h was literally lusting after every males in her life and my biggest pet peeve is the H knowing he has a mate and still fucking OW while he’s either searching for her or waiting for her.

[cate]

Lol read this probably bc of tik tok? Idk it was bad it also like turns into RH at the end? Didn’t expect that going into it and I hate RH sooo also the title is so weird