Review: Hell Is Here (Watcher’s series #2) by N.P. Martin

Goodreads summary:

When Leia Swanson sold her soul, she knew it would only be a matter of time before the demon she sold it to came to collect.

Six months down the line, the demon who owns her soul has come calling. Not only does the demon want to drag Leia to Hell, it wants her to undertake a dangerous and impossible mission while she is down there in exchange for getting her soul back.

With no choice but to take on the mission, Leia finds herself thrust into the terrifyingly insane world of Hell where it will take every ounce of her strength and guile to survive the unspeakable horrors she must go up against there. And as if that wasn’t enough, she must also try to locate her mother, who is still trapped there in a world of damned souls, eternal punishment, crazy Hellion’s and dangerous demon politics.

Leia must play the damnation game to win, the only people helping her a little girl born in the fiery pits of Hell itself and a stranger she meets along the way.  

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4.5 stars

The second book in N.P. Martin’s Watcher’s series was a highly anticipated read for me, and holy demon babies, it did not disappoint!

The story picks up about six months after the end of Hell Is Coming, with Leia living her life as a Watcher and waiting for the crossroads demon to show up and take her to Hell. Her and Josh are not as close since everything they went through. Josh seems to be really distant and wants to deal with his past trauma solo. Leia still lives with Frank at his cabin with Eva and a new dog, Fang.

After the crossroads demon comes to collect Leia’s debt, she says her goodbyes to Josh, Frank, and Eva before meeting him for her trip to Hell. The demon makes Leia an offer: to return her soul, if she kills the king of Hell. They come up with a pretty shaky plan on how she will get to the King and kill him. Having no other choice, Leia makes the deal and enters Hell.

I absolutely loved N.P Martin’s vision of Hell. The Demons were nasty and the descriptions were cringe-worthy. There’s a couple of scenes in this book that made me almost lose my lunch. Leia is in Demon form and has no idea how she’s going to make it to the city and to the King. She quickly finds some help in the form of a little girl that Leia names Alice, who was born in the pits of Hell. Alice becomes her guide and Leia learns that she has endured the unimaginable. I was so captivated during Leia’s journey, and I just adored Alice for the quality’s she possessed after being born into an eternity of suffering. N.P. Martin writes such strong, admirable characters, even if they aren’t supposed to be ‘good’.

The hardest scene for me to read in this one was when Leia got captured and was subjected to non-stop torture. I was literally curling my fingers and toes the whole time I was reading it. It was hard-core!

I think that’s about all the details I should give…the story gets exciting and frustrating near the end. Leia learns some SHOCKING information right before a torturous ending that made me want to pull my hair out! But I sure as hell can’t wait for the next book!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

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