Fashionably Dead Down Under by Robyn Peterman

Fashionably Dead Down Under
by Robyn Peterman
Pages: 334
Date: March 27 2014
Publisher: Self
Series: Hot Damned (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 9 2016
The second book I’ve completed written by Peterman. Though not the second one I’ve tried. I read the first book in this series in the beginning of this year, then, because the second book was supposedly going to take place in hell, and I kind of vaguely tired of reading books with characters visiting hell, I put off reading the second book in the series. Still, I enjoyed the first book I’d read by this author so tried another first in a series book. ‘Ready to Were’. My records appear to be wrong, since they mention a start date of December 28th, an earlier date than what I know was my first book. I just know I started it twice and just couldn’t continue.

So, 1 success, 1 failure on my part. Naturally it took me, then, two months to try the author again. And I ended up liking this book so much that I looked into buying the third book in the series before I’d even completed book 2. Sadly there’s a main character change. On the one hand I dislike when series involve character changes. On the other hand, I haven’t had much success with this author when someone other than Astrid is in control. She kind of gets on my nerves at times, Astrid that is, but clicks just right to have enabled me to get through two books with her in the lead. Well, ‘get through’, is wrong. Since I enjoyed both books I've read with Astrid.

I found the first book in the series quite enjoyable and hilarious. I found this one to be a good way to pass the time, though I do not actually recall laughing at any point.

I’m going on about this specific set of topics because 1) they matter to me personally; 2) I’m uncertain what I can and can’t get myself to say about this book that might not be spoiler-y or something like that.

So, 2 months after I finished the first book in the series, I started the second. Which I mention only to point out that the second book begins immediately after the first. And I didn’t exactly reread the first or even glance at the description for it, so I was slightly ‘out of it’ at the very beginning. I caught on rather quickly, though.

Astrid is in pain. Manages to open her eyes and look around. She finds herself in a relatively rich looking, though vaguely tacky, bedroom. Specifically on a bed. Eventually, what she’s kind of tired, she finds out that she isn’t restrained or anything like that, and has her clothing on. Then she notices that there’s music floating in the air and it’s . . . Journey. Last thing she recalled she was being dragged to hell. Hell, so far, doesn’t exactly look like it’s been advertised.

Eventually she makes it out of the bed, has a wall talk to her, and meets the owner of the fine establishment she found herself in. Well, first she hid and watched an attractive young woman being verbally assaulted for her goody-goody ways, and her straight A report card. One thing leads to another and Astrid realizes that she’s witnessing a fella named Satan. And his daughter, Dixie.

Satan, it turns out, is the brother of the guy she just killed (you know, her father). So, you know, that means that her uncle is Satan. And, she later learns, Dixie has 7 sisters – otherwise known as the 7 deadly sins (basically they are the personification of those sins – wrath, lust, pride, sloth, etc.). So, awkward and complicated. Oh, and to top things off – doesn’t appear to have her vampyre powers (which she found out when she attempted to fly), for some odd reason can breath, but not all is different – she’s still pregnant, and she can’t eat or drink anything because everything tastes like ass.

The book is mostly Astrid visiting hell, and her relatives. Though there’s something of a quest in there. Kind of. Involving a sword. Mostly, though, it’s about meeting her uncles, cousins, and grandparents.

As I closed the review for the prior book in this series – yes, there’s graphic sex in this book. Which I found interesting. Despite it involving a male and a female.

Right. The above is kind of crap, but hey, there are already 229 reviews so . . . I don’t feel too bad.

March 9 2016