Dark Hope

The Devil's Assistant

By: H. D. Smith

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Claire, the Devil's assistant, knows very little about the world she was dropped into five years ago, when she inherited her mother's unpaid debt to the Demon King. She certainly didn't expect to be a contender for the Fallen Queen's throne, a target for the Druid King's mafia, or a suspect in the murder of Junior, the Devil's oldest hell spawn.

In a last-ditch effort to save her life and get out of her deal with the Devil she sets out to solve Junior's murder only to be taken prisoner by the four most dangerous immortal hell spawn alive.

Not to be outdone, the Pagan Queen Mab claims Claire for entering her realm uninvited. She has an old debt to settle with her brother, the Devil. Taking Claire from him after losing her years ago is just icing on the cake.

Will Claire win her freedom and save herself from the Devil? Or will she be trapped by Mab forever?

©2008-2014 HD Smith (P)2014 HD Smith

Interesting series

It's a little confusing so far. The author seems to have blended far lore with demons, Druids and pagans. I'm hoping it starts to make more sense in the next book and that Mace becomes a little more like able because this book was seriously lacking in the love interest department.

Action packed

This is such a fast book. Something is always happening and it is not predictable at all! Fun and the narration is great. Would recommend.

Good book, but hard to follow

It's written in a way that everything is revealed and explained as you go. Usually an ok style to read, but we really needed a bit more of a base, a background. It was frustrating to not understand how she got where she was, why, and how the world around her worked. But, it was still very interesting and I did enjoy it. I just purchased the second book, we'll see how that one pans out.

Really great story with LOTS of twists

What did you love best about Dark Hope?

The way the story unfolds and the unexpected twists

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dark Hope?

There are too many to list

What about Lauren Fortgang’s performance did you like?

She did a really great job with all the voices and making each different

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It took a couple of chapters for me to get into this book, but once I did I didn't want to stop listening!!! I finished it in 2 days.

Any additional comments?

This is the only book by this author on Audible and I really hoping there will be more to this series soon. The story really draws you in and has so many turns. When I first bought this book I thought it would be a light probably funny read, but it's not that. You really feel for the main character and all she goes through in this book.

Lauren Fortgang Can Do NO Wrong!

First Thought

Lauren Fortgang is the narrator? Heck yeah sign me up!

What I liked

Dark Hope started out as a kind of light UF story that turned into a complex story that had me wondering where the roller coaster was going to stop. I liked the fact that I couldn't easily figure the plot out by chapter 5 like other books I've read. Dark Hope is an audio you need to listen carefully to because you can find yourself lost if you check out from time to time. A lot of plot twists happen.
What Didn’t Quite Work For Me

I actually took a break with only 2 hours left in the audio because I was as lost and pissed as Claire and just wanted to know what the heck was going on. After I took a break and came back to Dark Hope I was glad I did.
Will I continue the series?

Yes. I enjoyed the plot and Claire enough to give a second book a go. Especially if it's on audio and narrated by Lauren Fortgang. Plus I NEED to know who was taking Claire home at the end. H.D. Smith you left me hanging. LOL

Why I listened

Lauren. Freaking. Fortgang. Seriously if I see her name as the narrator I'm going to give it a try. I could listen to Lauren read the phone book. Lauren nailed Dark Hope's 1st person POV through Claire.

Loved it!

Can't wait to listen to the rest of the series! Enjoyed the narrator. Love the story!

Awesome!

I normally love books with a good bit of romance, but I was surprisingly IN LOVE with this book even with the very small amount of romance! There were innuendos for days about a relationship though! It was pretty awesome to not have a full romance to cloud everything else going on in the book!
The story was GREAT, and kept me completely interested! The characters were fun and pretty amazing. Claire was bada$$! At first I thought she may be a character I would hate, but she turned it around as the book progressed and took charge!! 💪🏼👏🏼
I highly recommend this book!

Wanted to love it (loved the premise)...but

Ok, I think I might be in the minority with this book. I struggled to finish listening to this because the main character just GOT ON MY NERVES. She was so whiny and seemed to accept the abuse that all the factions: Boss, Druids, Pagans, etc wanted to heap on her. Maybe this is me just preferring more strong characters that are a little more snarky and who attempt to fight back against the bad guys. Her character is probably more realistic (if you were in that situation), but for some reason I didn't sympathize with her like I have with other "underdog" characters.

If you are into YA books you will probably like this as their is a lot of angt for boyfriend that she discusses (way too much) throughout the book that plays really no part in the storyline. If this is meant for an adult audience then I think the main character needs to grow up a little more (which, to be fair, she did appear to do in the last couple paragraphs of the book).

Interesting Story

What made the experience of listening to Dark Hope the most enjoyable?

The story was interesting and different...fairly unpredictable, too.

What does Lauren Fortgang bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She's one of my favorite narrators, so I would have to say her contribution certainly was a benefit to the story.

I pretty much loved everything about this book

Dark Hope by HD Smith is an amazing urban fantasy. The main character, Claire, is the Devil’s personal assistant, but she quickly becomes wrapped up in the politics of the non-human world around her. Sent on a quest to save her life, she encounters troubles in the form of magic, beings that hate her, and mysteries. This quest takes her all over the human and non-human world as she not only has to try to save herself, but also beings that she dislikes as she tries to solve the mystery of who is trying to get her killed, or so she thinks.

I pretty much loved everything about this book. The beginning sucked me in, and I was constantly trying to figure out what was going on as Claire discovered new clues and questions. Claire herself is a spunky 21-year-old with a deep well of sarcasm and skepticism to draw from which she wields with rebellious attitude even when perhaps she shouldn’t. Every character from the big three non-human world rulers: the Devil, Mab, and Harry, to their children and lackeys, are fantastic and have depth. While some characters are definitely evil, many are in a gray area – at least to the reader, which makes trying to figure out motives even more fun. Other than Claire, who is the main character, I didn’t specifically have a favorite character, but I think that I loved and hated, and was unsure about all the right characters. While some of the magic/dream states were a little difficult to follow, other settings were easy to imagine. The end of the novel had a clear wrap-up, but left a healthy amount of questions and openings to lead to future novels. The world building is rich with many different avenues to explore and I can’t wait to keep reading/listening to them.

Lauren Fortgang did an amazing job with the narration. The characterization of each of the different characters, male or female, was spot on. The voices and tones of voice for the characters changed and were well-suited. It was easy forget that someone was even reading the book and to be engrossed with the storyline. The production quality was great. I one hundred percent recommend this book to anyone who likes urban fantasy with strong central female characters.

Audiobook provided for review by the author.

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