'Hell Fire' Corine Solomon #2 by Ann AGUIRRE

From the BLURB:

As a handler, Corine Solomon can touch any object and know its history. It's too bad she can't seem to forget her own. With her ex-boyfriend Chance in tow-lending his own supernatural brand of luck-Corine journeys back home to Kilmer, Georgia, in order to discover the truth behind her mother's death and the origins of "gift".

But while trying to uncover the secrets in her past, Corine and Chance find that something is rotten in the state of Georgia. Inside Kilmer's borders there are signs of a dark curse affecting the town and all its residents-and it can only be satisfied with death...

Ann Aguirre’s second ‘Corine Solomon’ novel goes back to where it all began. ‘Hell Fire’ starts where ‘Blue Diablo’ finished, with Corine and her ex-boyfriend Chance on the road after the zombie fun of Laredo. Chance, as per their agreement, has agreed to help Corine investigate her mother’s death. That means Corine has to go back to the town she escaped at the age of eighteen – Kilmer.

Upon arrival in this backwoods Pleasantville it becomes apparent that something is rotten in the state of Georgia. Kilmer has a dark presence – something evil lives in the surrounding woods and it’s snatching locals and pets alike. The townspeople are walking on egg shells and acting a little bit ‘Stepford’. And Corine sniffing around her mother’s death is not endearing her to the villagers. Along with Chance, sexy Laredo cop Jesse Saldana and Chihuahua Butch, Corine is going to get to the bottom of her dark past.

If Kilmer thought they could frighten me off, they had another think coming.
This was for my mom, Cherie Solomon.
We had not yet begun to fight. Sure, they’d crippled us by taking away the tools we generally used to solve problems, but we’d find ways around the obstacles they threw in our path. No matter how many times they knocked me onto a dirty road, I would rise. I’d ferret out their secrets and then handle the objects that would spill them.
In other words, Kilmer, game on.

This novel is spooky. Seriously! It’s a little bit Stephen King-esque, with a dose of ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Village’. I was sporting quite a few goosebumps and an adrenaline kick towards the end. Corine is also a little bit frightful in this book – mostly because her handler powers are put to the test. Corine being a ‘handler’ means she can touch an object and know its history. In ‘Hell Fire’ Corine pushes herself and discovers she has some serious mojo, and that she has only just started to tap into it. I can’t wait for more books that explore the extent of her ‘gift’.

The secondary characters are wonderful. Butch is, without a doubt, one of my favourite characters. He is one intuitive Chihuahua, and cute to boot! I also love the mysterious Booke, who works his technical magic all the way in the UK and visits Corine in her dreams. Aguirre offers few tid-bits about Booke, but his working relationship with Corine and hints of a crush make him fascinating. I can’t wait to find out more about him (fingers crossed for a UK location change-up?!)
Things heat up when Chance and Jesse Saldana make their intentions toward Corine clear. Chance wants to rekindle what they lost, and Jesse just wants. It makes things hot and heavy, especially where Chance is concerned. Chance’s ‘gift’ is luck – he can turn the universe to his side, but there are side-effects for anyone who is close to him. Corine is also reluctant to start up with Chance again when he’s so reluctant to open up about his past – especially the death of his old girlfriend who presumably felt the back-lash of his luck.

Corine and Chance are a little bit tragic. They’re hot, for sure, but they have so much baggage and many unresolved issues. When we met Chance and Corine in ‘Blue Diablo’ she had already ended the relationship and fled to Mexico. They already had a lot of history between them, and problems. At times in ‘Hell Fire’ it’s a little bit hard to empathize with all of Corine’s Chance-related relationship problems, because the basis of them is in the past. But I could still read the heat between Corine and Chance, and understand why she is reluctant to sever all ties with him. That’s probably my one and only itty-bitty complaint about ‘Hell Fire’ – the fact that I sometimes had problems understanding the reasons that Corine ended things with Chance the first time round.
There is also serious sparkage with Jesse Saldana – aided by his empathy ability that allows him to read people’s emotions. Oh boy! Surely there will be some interesting future storylines concerning his ability... and how it will impact on any romantic entanglements (should Corine choose him).

I really liked this second novel. It helped that I did a re-read of ‘Blue Diablo’ before I got stuck into ‘Hell Fire’, but even if I didn’t Aguirre subtly references and provides reminders to the events of book #1.
I really like the ‘Corine Solomon’ series, and ‘Hell Fire’ is a great second outing. I can’t wait for more books and a deeper exploration of Corine’s powers.

4/5

'Blue Diablo' Corine Solomon #1 by Ann AGUIRRE

Received from the publisher

From the BLURB:

Right now, I'm a redhead. I've been blonde and brunette as the situation requires, though an unscheduled colour change usually means relocating in the middle of the night. So far, I'm doing well here. Nobody knows what I'm running from. Eighteen months ago, Corine Solomon crossed the border to Mexico City, fleeing her past, her lover and her 'gift' - for Corine is a handler: she can touch something and know its history and sometimes, its future.

Using her ability, she can find the missing - and that's why people never stop trying to find her. People like her ex, Chance... Chance's uncanny luck has led him to her doorstep. He needs her help. Someone dear to them both has gone missing in Laredo, Texas and the only hope of finding her is through Corine's gift. But their search is going to get dangerous as the trail leads them into a strange dark world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies - and the blackest of black magic.

‘Blue Diablo’ is the first book in a new series by Ann Aguirre. Aguirre’s ‘Corine Solomon’ breathes life into the Urban Fantasy genre where vampires are the norm and werewolves are old news. Corine Solomon is a ‘handler’ – she touches an object and knows its history. But for every touch, there is a price. Corine feels extreme pain when she uses her ability that also leaves her hands scarred. For years she worked her gift alongside her boyfriend, Chance, who is blessed with ‘luck’. Chance and Corine used their powers to find missing persons, but after their last case went horribly wrong Corine fled the country. When we meet her she is running an antiques store in Mexico... and Chance has just tracked her down after 18 months apart.

Chance wants a favour... he needs Corine’s help in finding his mother, Yi-Min-Chin, who Chance suspects has been kidnapped. Corine is all set to turn Chance down, until she touches Min’s pewter Buddha and knows she is in danger.

Corine and Chance’s investigations lead them to Laredo and Jesse Saldana, a CASPER (crimes against persons unit) cop and a mass of complications (emotional and otherwise) for Corine...

"My hormones gave a little skip as I gave him the once-over: an intriguing mix of long, tall Texan in battered boots, touched with Latin heat. He had legs that stretched forever in jeans faded almost to white, not the kind bought with designer "wear" but Levi's washed till the seams and creases got thin. He'd clipped his badge to his belt in plain sight.
As I checked out the rest of him, I admired shoulders showcased by a rumpled white shirt and a forest green blazer. He had a striped tie stuffed in his right jacket pocket, probably to satisfy the letter of the dress code. Nice face, I decided, if scruffy and unshaven. Frosting the hunk cake was a tousled mess of tawny, sun streaked hair."

I loved this book. It is a breath of fresh air on the fantasy scene and a unique idea amidst a lot of ‘same-same’ supernatural thrillers. ‘Blue Diablo’ is also a ‘whodunnit’ page-turner and generally impossible to put down.

The romance is subtle, but steamy. When we meet them Corine and Chance already have a complicated back story and a lot to work out. It makes for quite a bit of sexual tension and repressed lust between the two. It’s an interesting love story for our heroine to have – rather than starting with ‘boy meets girl’, Corine and Chance’s romance is more what happens after ‘boy loses girl’.
Throw in a charming, flirty cop in the form of Jesse Saldana and things get ‘triangled’ and intensified.

I also loved the fantasy element, particularly Corine’s ‘handler’ abilities. It’s an interesting concept, but as fascinating as the history of things may be Corine’s payback for her gift is even more fascinating. Like the fact that any repressed memories Corine may have can come back at her in full technicolour if she touches a trigger object. Her ‘gift’ makes for a rather fractured character, deep down, and I look forward to reading more in this series and seeing how much damage her abilities can reap.

I love, love, loved this book. I can’t wait for the second instalment ‘Hell Fire’, and third (slated for 2011 release) called ‘Shady Lady’. This is a tantalizing new addition to the ‘urban fantasy’ genre and an absolute must-read for fantasy book addicts!

5/5