Review: Cold in California by Deborah Riley-Magnus

Cold in California by Deborah Riley-Magnus

review



Title: Cold in California

Author: Deborah Riley-Magnus

Source: ebook from author for review

goodreads...

Twice-baked vampire, Gabriel Strickland, learns he has a chance at redemption when he's whisked from his final demise into a purgatory secretly tucked in West Hollywood. Sixty creatures, including other dead vampires, pixies, a legendary Navaho stick man and bothersome leprechauns, struggle together to earn brownie points and wait out possible centuries of this purgatory. Gabriel receives dubious advice from the troll who runs the place, but there are always bugs in the pudding and he faces them all. Enter, the beautiful Dori Gallagher, who not only knocks Gabriel off his feet, but also an evil warlock who has designs on her. When menacing forces gather against Gabriel and everything he's come to respect, it's a fiery clash of the supernatural in one heroic effort to save his new reality. 

My take...

Gabriel Strickland is a vampire; well at least he is the first 10 mins of the book, until he meets his demise with the splinters of a baseball bat. Instead of waking up in the midst of hell, he is waking up to palm trees and the sun blaring down on him. Learning he is now living in LA in a supernatural purgatory, Gabriel must get by until he learns his fate of heaven or hell.

Now meet Dori Gallagher. Dori works at an employment agency and is good at what she does. Just by listening to her clients she can find them the right job. This is where Dori and Gabriel meet. Gabriel is in need of a job and when he lays eyes on Dori, he has an instant attraction to her. Dori feels the same way and throws caution to the wind by asking Gabriel over for dinner even though she hardly knows him.

I wasn’t absolutely crazy over this book. The plot was good and definitely different than any other supernatural book I have read. I enjoyed the fact the author sent them to the ‘tank’ in order to wait out their final destination: heaven or hell. It could take years, or even days before they find out where they are going. What I didn’t care much for was everything seemed to be one huge coincidence. For me it just made the story seem that much more unbelievable. The characters were fun and you get a lot of info on each of them. But I just could not get over the hang up of how much coincidence that was running through out the book.