Hell is her home. Heaven is her duty. But both are her birthright.Lili’s magic should be impossible: a combination of angelic ice and infernal fire, it has the potential to save or damn every realm. Both Heaven and Hell see her as a saviour, but Lili’s convinced they’ve got the wrong person. She’s out of control with her angelic power, still not used to her demon magic, and worse, her father … father expects her to convince the heavenly council to abandon their war. The heavenly council that includes the ex-boyfriend who betrayed her and the two angels who helped him sever her wings.
At least Lili isn’t alone, with an old acquaintance determined to protect her and her fierce as hell best friend storming back into her life. But will they be enough to save Lili when she’s faced with a secret that threatens to poison her relationship with her demons for good?
Crowned By Hell is a medium burn romance, with a gentle but badass angel and the four demons—and one angel—devoted to her. This book is RH, which means Lili doesn’t have to pick a favourite of her protectors – why choose when you can have all five?
Contains some mature content. 90,000 words. Complete series!
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Crowned by Hell (book 2 of the Liliana Kazana series)
by Leigh Kelsey
ARC statement: I was given an Advance Reader Copy to provide an honest review. I also purchased a copy when it became available for pre-order, before getting the ARC.
TLDR: If you like any of Leigh Kelsey books, this series is amazing. If you haven’t read anything of the Liliana Kazana series, this is an acceptable (although perhaps not the best) place to start. I would recommend reading “Cast From Heaven”, the first book of the series, before this book–although it is not strictly necessary to do so.
Technical stuff: This story is a paranormal fantasy (Heaven for angels, Earth for humans, Hell for demons) slow-to-medium burn Reverse Harem (RH) romance book. The religious contexts are generally a hybrid of Greek and Judeo-Christian mythologies with a fair amount of literary license (ex: where Michael came from, Athena’s eyes are brown, not grey). There is a bit of explicit sex (masturbation and the memory of being brought orgasm by hand) in the story line, as well as a bit of NSFW language. There are some allusions to and descriptions of violence perpetrated by a boyfriend upon a girlfriend which may be triggering for some; these are not overly gory and this violence does not occur in the current book. If these bother you, then perhaps this isn’t the book for you.
The story is told in third person, from several people’s perspectives. There is a cliff-hanger ending. It stands alone as a story, but a fair amount nuance may be missing if you have not read “Cast From Heaven”.
As an aside, Leigh Kelsey uses UK English, as opposed to American English… crisps being what Americans call potato chips, jumper being what Americans call a sweater and so on. There are also differences in spelling, such as “skeptical” and “sceptical”.
SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOK
Previous books/backstory: In the first book of the series, Liliana (Lili) has just graduated from academy (high school) and has a significant other in the archangel Gabriel who is something of a “rock star” among the angels. Gabriel convinces Lili to spy for him in Hell, promising she will only be there a short while (a few hours) and that he will protect her. Not only does he not protect her, he betrays her trust and harms her physically, casting her out of Heaven because she has a mixed heritage of Angel (Michael, the archangel) and a demon (Lilith). Gabriel leaves Lili stranded in Hell, at the mercy of Lucifer and his primary fighters: Cerny, Bernard, and Russ.
Lili fully expects to be tortured and harmed, only to be provided medical care, food, clothing and a safe place to heal. Despite her initial mistrust, she grows fond of the four, with beginnings of romantic involvement with Lucifer and Cerny. Gabriel is able to invade Lili’s dreams and demand information from her. She is able to limit the information she discloses to him, even though she is greatly upset by the fact that he can invade her dreams even in Hell.
There are breaches between the planes of Heaven, Earth and Hell, which is causing both demons and angels to be running around on earth. The breaches were initially caused by a woman/witch named Crystal Wallace, who is captured by Lili and Cerberus and brought to Hell for questioning, and to prevent her from opening any other breaches.
Gabriel reappears and demands that she returns with him to Heaven. When she refuses, Gabriel tortures Cerberus, causing Cerberus significant damage. Lili comes into her own powers (both angelic and demonic) and tricks Gabriel into falling into Hell. Lili’s father, Michael, offers to heal Cerberus in exchange for her return to Heaven. Feeling she has only the choice to save Cerberus, she agrees and goes with Michael back to Heaven.
CURRENT BOOK “BROAD PLOT” SPOILERS
Opinions and overview of story:
Heterosexual, homosexual, and asexual dynamics appear to all be treated equally in the book/storyline. We also are introduced to some of Lili’s closest friends in greater depth—Maliza (Mal), Lili’s friend from school who is smart, “badass”, and incredibly loyal to Lili, and Israfel, an angel who has had a crush on Lili for years, and Renna, another “badass”, 7 foot tall demon.
Israfel is tasked by Michael to train Lili in self-defense and finds Lili emotional, suspicious, hyper-vigilant and realizes she feels unsafe in Heaven. He tries to take her to talk with the Sisters of the Temple of Heavenly Olympus. Lili is convinced that they will lock her up, and resists going there with everything she has.
Michael informs Lili of her destiny. She struggles against this destiny, and is terribly homesick for Hell. Michael agrees to let her have a night there, and will come for her in the morning. Michael tells Lili “You were created for this purpose, Liliana. You don’t have a choice.” and that she is “a tool of the gods.”
Lili encounters Lucifer for the first time since she left, and finds that he does, in fact, have a “scary” side when he is angry because she left him. Lili explains why she agreed to leave Hell in an attempt to save Cerberus. They talk through the circumstances, and significant upheaval is avoided. Lili is able to see Russ, Bernard, and Cerny, where she discovers they suspected that she indeed has the destiny that Michael had said was hers.
Lili returns to Heaven, having been given a necklace that will allow her to talk with Lucifer, Cerney, Bernard and Russ for an hour, but it will take a week to “recharge.”
The brothers decide that they will attempt to recruit gods and titans. They decide to contact Persephone. In order to reach Persephone, they must successfully pass three trials.
Throw in angelic warmongering, a ruling council split between having ethics or having none, a trip to the Temple, meeting Helios, marauding evil demons attacking Paris, gods and goddesses, and you get a sense of who the main players are and perhaps where things might go.
I definitely enjoyed the story, the sex scenes are fun and hot although a bit too “slow burn” for my personal tastes. The responses Lili has to trauma she’s faced is spot on. Those hoping to help her and their helplessness to do so, the emotions and relationships feel authentic. I recommend reading this book.
*Spoiler Alert*
Book 2 picks up where book 1 left off. Lili is back living in Heaven with her father. Trying to prevent a war with Heaven and Hell by talking to the Heavenly council which her arse***e of an Ex-Boyfriend and his friends (yes those ones from book 1) are on and trying their best to thwart her at every opportunity. Add to that Lili is trying to work out how to handle both of her powers and get reacquainted with an old friend but he has other ways he wants to reacquaint with her. Lots of twists and turns in this book and questions are answered. More so with Luc, Cerny, Bernard and Russ. Ones that genuinely made my jaw drop. This series just keeps gets better and its a sheer joy to read
Broken heart!!!
OMG!!!… My heart is broken for Lili!!! … She doesn’t deserve antyhing that has happened to her… She is so pure and good and always thinks about helping and saving innocents!!! … This book is so intense and unpredictable, so heavy secrets are uncovered … Memories restored … What will happen now that the gods got really involved and their true intentions are revealed???… OMG can’t wait for the next book!!!
This is the second installment of the series and picks up where the first book ends.
In this book we get to meet people from Lilis past. Lili also has a chance to stand on her own to feet and explore her powers for the good and bad that comes along with it. I loved that she is not with her men the whole time. Even the smaller characters in this book had alot of personality.
This story gets intense. And the ending your gonna want to read the next book for sure.
Crowned By Hell, the second book in Lili’s story is even more incredible than the first. I am completely blown away. Lili is back in Heaven with her father, separated from her demons, and has a huge bomb dropped on her- she is the Balance created to stop the war between Heaven and Hell.
In this book we see Lili struggle with her newly realized powers and more importantly her trauma. The betrayal she experienced at the hands of Gabriel, was definitely addressed- quite a bit- in the first book, but the true effect it had on her was really explored more thoroughly in this story. Lili is scared and on edge in Heaven, unable to trust anyone, and yearning for her home and her guys in Hell. But the addition of a few new characters in this book help her to heal just a bit and begin to trust her instincts again.
I really like Mal, Lili’s friend who we get to meet in this book. She is fiercely loyal and protective- and ready to kick Gabriel’s butt for her bestie! I also enjoyed Israfel, an angel from Lili’s childhood who never forgot her. We don’t get to see him as much towards the end of the book, but from what we do see of him I liked. His flirty attitude masks a more serious and caring personality, and I am very curious about his past with a certain someone in Hell ;). It looks like he’s being set up as an addition to Lili’s harem and I am definitely not complaining!
This book also provides a deeper look into the politics in Heaven, mainly the council, and a greater look at the gods. Lili may be separated from Luc, Cerny, Bernard, and Russ, but that doesn’t mean she or the guys had any dull moments. While Lili was stuck dealing with heavenly a**holes, Cerberus was learning a bit more about themselves and the mysterious gods.
This book ends on one heck of a cliffy- even worse than the last book’s! Lili and the guys definitely have a lot on their plate in this next book, but based on how amazingly Crowned By Hell followed Cast From Heaven, I just know that book 3- Called By Gods- will be the best one yet!