Blackbrooke II: The Guardian.

The Guardian continues the tale of Liberty Connor and the town of Blackbrooke.  We pick up where we left off with Liberty surviving her encounter with the Queens and being taken to the Institute.  Whilst there she is tormented by Mr Jones, constantly being questioned about what went on that night when she handed over Cassius.  Everyone is desperate to know how four of the Queens ended up dead and how she and Cassius survived.
I'm not going to over-do the review, I don't want to give away too much about the story as that is one thing I dislike myself.... Nothing worse than spoilers.
What I will say is Emma needs to be punished for torturing me.  I didn't know if I was coming or going, in fact I felt as though I was in the Institute with Liberty.  I would think I knew what was going to happen next and then the rug was pulled out from under my feet and I would end up on my butt, trying to get my bearings again.
I was in tears, I laughed my head off, I was in shock and I wanted to commit murder all at the same time.  I found this book to be just as much of a roller-coaster as the first book.
I was disgusted by the actions of Mr Jones to his daughter, Gemma.  He's a heartless bastard and deserves everything that he gets coming to him.  I love Liberty's interactions with Denzil, he is such a brilliant character and helps to keep her grounded.  His love for Marie is very touching and the pain that he was obviously in when he thinks he is hallucinating had me in tears.  I do tend to get attached to character's and he is one of my favourites.  Please don't kill him off, Emma.
I found that this book has a lot more drama and horror than the first book but it doesn't detract from the story, if anything it enhances it.  It gives the story just the right amount of creepiness that it needs too.
I thoroughly enjoyed all the twist and turns, including the ones I didn't expect and I cannot wait for the third book to come out.

The Devil You Know by K.H. Koehler

This is a really good book with a different take on angels, daemons, demons, the devil and god. Nick is the son of the devil and therefore has to watch his back as angels are always gunning for him, even though he isn't evil or bad. Well no more bad than the next guy, he likes to smoke and have sex, nothing wrong with that.

When he meets Vivian, he finds himself falling fast for her but there is a small problem, she's like him. She's also running from Malach, an angel that is known for killing daemons. There's also the case of the missing little girl from a local, well to do family.

When Nick is called in to help, he stumbles on something much more sinister than a child gone missing. Not only is the child suffering from Tay-Sachs disease but her mother is trying to take over the Throne (in heaven) by ascending to the level of God. She's doing this by trapping and eating parts of angels and also her daughter.

The mother turns out to be Vivian's friend from child-hood, who ran away and then re-invented herself as someone else and married her father, who had sexually abused her as a child. It's totally twisted and beyond evil. It's also a little confusing at first until you get your brain around it.

I think there could have been more in the story about Nick's room-mate, Morgana and his relationship with her but I'm hoping that will be covered in the next book.

This story ticks along at a good pace and has a fantastic ending. I would recommend this to any of my friends.

Blackbrooke by Emma Silver

Absolutely brilliant book. I was totally blown away by it. I loved the story and the way it was written. I was in tears several times throughout the book, I was angry, shocked at times and laughed at some of the interactions of the characters in the story.

I found Liberty to be a really likeable person and her friends were a good mix. I didn't like how her friends acted towards Cassius but that's generally what kids and teens do.

The Rules and the division of boys and girls were a little perplexing to begin with, throw in the Crits and you've got a great backdrop to the story.

I was disgusted by the pact that the parents had with the Queens and hope that in the next book some of the parents get what they deserve. I couldn't believe that the Government didn't do anything to get rid of the Crits. And I was really shocked at the end of the book. Cassius being alive, just about, Liberty being made to work for the government instead of going free as was promised and Gabriel being alive.

I really can't wait for book two. I highly recommend this to anyone.