Salt and Silver by Anna Katherine

Blurbs for Salt and Silver use the word "romp" often enough that I was expecting something in the vein of paranormal chick lit. I was surprised, then, by the dark places Salt and Silver goes, and Anna Katherine's ability to both scare the daylights out of me and break my heart.

Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, given that the whole story is about going to, well, Hell.

Our heroine is Allie, once a spoiled rich girl, now a waitress. In the early days after she lost her fortune, she and her friends dabbled in magic and accidentally opened a portal to Hell. Allie's been dealing ever since with the nasty creatures the Door disgorges, with the help of Ryan, a gorgeous demon hunter.

Allie is snarky and a little flippant in the beginning, but even then it's obvious that her psyche is not a happy fun pla... Read More