The Second Shadow (The Second Sign #2)
By Elizabeth Arroyo
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Date Published: 9/5/2013
Jake thought being demon meant a shredded humanity, stripped of all human emotion. Chaos and self-preservation dominates a demon’s instincts. But Jake feels every ounce of pain and despair around him.
And it’s driving him deeper into Hell.
Gabby’s choice to save him last summer left a fissure in Hell’s gate that released a malevolent evil. When Jake’s given a mission by the demons to shadow a human girl who may know the whereabouts of an ethereal weapon, he doesn’t expect to see Gabby. But Fate has her own agenda.
When Jake and Gabby are thrown together on a camping trip with a group of delinquent teens, Jake begins to grapple with the haunting choices he made in the past. When the evil finds them, the group begins to battle for their lives, alliances are made, and truths revealed.
As the evil begins to influence Jake, he questions his link to the demons, his purpose, and his love for Gabby.
But the answers to those questions are only found in Hell. And it may cost him his soul.
Elizabeth Arroyo
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Elizabeth spent most of her younger years as an avid reader with a wild imagination which led her to write her first manuscript at the age of fourteen.
But, life got in the way. Elizabeth completed a Bachelors degree in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice at Northeastern Illinois University and works in the community strengthening families.
But her love of stories held, and in 2008 she found herself back into her storytelling roots and began writing again. In 2012, Elizabeth signed with Sapphire Star Publishing to release her debut novel, THE SECOND SIGN.
Elizabeth still resides in Chicago’s south west side with her family, a household of kids, and the bliss of chaos. The good kind. She continues to work in the community.
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(Read the excerpt below, I chose to post just the first part of Chapter 2, as Chapter 1 from Jakes Point of View had tons of spoilers for book one, and I didn’t like the excerpt as its not from Gabby or Jakes point of view, and to me didn’t give a great taste of this awesome series. I stop the excerpt before some spoilers hit, so no worries.)
You can read my review of book one only, here. You can also read about the book, and an excerpt of the first one there, or Add to Goodreads here
Excerpt
Chapter Two (part of Chapter 2, to avoid too much of spoilers for those who hadn’t read book one)
A Different Type of Hell
Buildings swept past Gabby in swirls of grays and reds, so different from the wooded area she had called home. Max had opted to hide in the big city. He’d said they’d be able to blend in better. In a big city, no one cared what you did, what you were, how you looked, so long as you left them alone.
Wearing jeans, a thick, black belt with an iron buckle, a black tee, and iron buckled combat boots with iron bands looped into the laces, Gabby fit in perfectly. Hiding her freaky purple eyes with contacts, she’d layered on a thick coat of black eyeliner, thick mascara, and deep purple lipstick. She’d be ignored by the student body for fear of hexing someone. The thought had crossed her mind. If only she actually knew how to hex.
Then there was the homemade metal clamp she wore on her left calf to stop the flow of demon energy from giving away her position. Black coated rings over iron adorned every finger. Iron bangles looped her wrist, over her arm-warmers. Her ink-black, randomly braided hair, accented with chimes, loops, and bands—all iron—made her immune to the energy around her. She wore iron earrings—two on each lobe—and an industrial bar. A helix completed the madness. The best her guardian, Adler, could come up with on short notice, a three-day freak makeover while being suspended wasn’t ideal, but it was all she could do to keep sane. The iron prevented her from seeing girls on fire. Her brother was right. She’d blend in perfectly.
Shifting in her seat, the metal beads made her sound like a freaking chime.
“Uncomfortable?” Max asked beside her. Older by four minutes, her twin had mastered the art of reminding her how screwed she was.
Hell, yeah. “I sound like Christmas bells.”
He turned to look at her, his eyes casting their usual sorry-as-shit look. She hated it.
“Maybe you should take the suggestion of laying low a bit more serious,” he scolded.
“I saw her burning.” As the words left her mouth she remembered the vision. Tasha wrapped in a curtain of fire. Her flesh melted off her body, revealing white bone underneath. Tasha’s screams echoed above the lunchroom’s vaulted ceiling until Gabby had snatched a bucket filled with mop water and spilled it on the girl. Tasha had not been on fire and had knocked Gabby on her ass with a right hook to the jaw. Gabby had been given a three day suspension and a mandatory camping trip for delinquents.
Enrolling in school had been the biggest mistake they’d made. Logan Heights looked more like a penitentiary for the criminally insane than a high school, and emotionally spiraling teens and a hypersensitive angel-demon hybrid did not mix well. The stimulus drove her mad the first couple of weeks. The iron helped, but the visions grew stronger.
“Say something,” Gabby demanded. “You usually like rubbing how messed up I am in my face.”
Max never rubbed anything in her face, but he sucked at hiding his emotions. He tried to keep the peace with her, but she needed this fight. It made her feel good in a morbid kind of way.
Max had changed during the summer. He didn’t study the scriptures like Adler asked, or talk about their deadbeat father. Gabby had met her father last summer for the first time. Mir had given her his essence to bring her to life after she’d been born. Her mother died as a result. She couldn’t be near him without sucking away his life energy. But Max was different. Max wanted their father’s attention. Max had wanted to be part of whatever the angels had planned……
This review for this post for the tour, is more of my opinions of both series, and this book 2 is hard to review and tell pretty much anything about without revealing some major spoilers for the first book. I will get a review up at Goodreads and Amazon soon for just book 2, that can be read by those who read book one already. I hate when spoilers are mentioned on book tours, when its like this, the 2nd book, and may not have read the first yet.
So, no worries, no spoilers here, wont say anything more than you can read in the blurb as far as that kind of thing goes.
I loved book one, though graphic in the violence area, was a great paranormal read with a little bit of the scary in it, as well as book 2. We meet Jake in book one, with Gabby, and this book is a continuation on that story, so like I said, not easy to avoid spoilers.
I will say I absolutely adore Jake, even though we know he is half demon (that is in the blurb, so we know this) and I really liked Gabby, even more as the story continues on. I really liked book 2 just as much as I liked book one.
I love Gabby’s twin brother Max, who is an angel, and he has that mysterious factor about him that just makes me want more from him. I would love to see a book more about him, or a novella even, just to learn more about him, and his journey. I found him interesting for sure.
This book is very well written too, and keeps you wanting to read late into the night. But beware, you may get some scary dreams if you do that. (I did, lol)
I do highly recommend this series as a whole to all the paranormal lovers out there, this has a touch of horror I think, just for some of the more graphic scary parts, lol.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars. Love Jake, he is hot!
This book was provided to me by the author for my honest review.
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