Review copy was received from Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Oracle of Philadelphia by Elizabeth Corrigan Published by Red Adept Publishing on March 20, 2013
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 222
Format: eBook
Source: Author
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Carrie works at a diner in South Philadelphia, dispensing advice to humans and angels wise enough to seek her counsel. But there are some problems that even the best advice can’t solve.
Her latest supplicant, Sebastian, is unique among those who have sought her aid. He sold his soul to a demon in exchange for his sister’s life, but his heart remains pure.
Carrie has lived for millennia with the knowledge that her immortality is due to the suffering of others, and she cannot bear to see another good man damned when it is within her power to prevent it.
In order to renegotiate his contract, Carrie must travel into the depths of hell and parley with the demons that control its pathways. As the cost of her journey rises, Carrie must determine how much she is willing to sacrifice to save one good soul.
ICYMI is a post from my early days of blogging at Yummy Men & KickAss Chicks. You can see the original review here. I was contacted by the author to review.
Kick Ass Chick – Carrie
Oracle of Philadelphia is the first book in the Earthbound Angels series, a new urban fantasy series by Elizabeth Corrigan. Well, let’s start by admitting I often have trouble starting a new series. Urban Fantasy is harder than romance because, well, there isn’t always a romance plot or hot sex. So why do I read and love urban fantasy? The primary reasons are the characters, some kind of mystery / suspense / action plot, clever world building and humor.
So beginning with the characters, Carrie is the main focus and the most known to us in this story. Her past is long and her starting moment is horrible. I didn’t need to keep hearing parts of it throughout the book. For the plot maybe I did, but no. She is strong and capable by necessity with little or no help or support system in life.
Carrie owns a diner and we see only bits of her employees, but they don’t seem very real to me. Her best friend is Bedlam, a chaos demon. He can be unpredictable but is a real friend. He’s more well developed with some history and insight available on him. Gabriel is her “crush” but I didn’t feel him other than a bright light she was happy to see. I need more from him.
The other characters, even Sebastian, who is a focus for Carrie, are not clear enough for me to care about them. Maybe he was too good to be true?
The world building was interesting. It carried me on through the story and I enjoyed it. I normally don’t prefer stories with angels and demons as much as some other supernatural, but this was surprisingly good and kept me reading. When they border on religious themes, I have serious trouble. This just had rules and authorities I disliked. Some things weren’t logical or fair. I prefer when people are smart or work hard, they can figure things out and succeed. This world wasn’t quite that simple.
There was a bit of humor and a possibility of romance. I freely admit those things are important to me and the lack of them being stronger in this book made it less appealing to me. These are the things which make me feel the most.
The other big thing is the plot. I’ll reiterate, I prefer the main characters to be smart or to learn or work hard, to triumph. This was more bumbling around by trial and error to hopefully get the desired outcome. It was brave and honorable of Carrie but not very smart. I wanted it to be a little more smart. I didn’t appreciate Gabriel’s reaction to the situation either.
Oracle of Philadelphia was a good book with an interesting world; it kept my attention. I don’t feel like it engaged my emotions very fully, though. The next book, Raising Chaos, is just out and focuses on Bedlam. It makes sense based on the plot of this story but I’d rather learn more about Gabriel or one of the others. So I may wait and see what the focus of the third book is before I read further in this series
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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I haven’t heard of this series, Anne, but the premise sounds good and hopefully it gets better as the series continues. I also like urban fantasy for the characters and the relationships and friendships which develop as well as the mystery which has to be solved.
Well, this one is about 5 years ago since I reviewed it when I was at Yummy Men & KickAss Chicks. I’ve never been a huge fan of angels / demons.