When I was a kid -- far too long ago -- I decided to do a complete personality reboot when I went to high school. I was going to reinvent myself for a new age, become, if you will, a whole new person. The change lasted for all of about three hours, until I began running into people I'd known in junior high school and they all expected me to be exactly the same. The past is sort of like a tainted fish kabob you buy on the street corner when you're out drinking. It will always come back. One way or another.

Jesse Harris only thinks she has it good. She's snagged Paul, the hot and -- of course -- sensitive love of her life, even if she's only lived for about a month or so. She's got a great new job dancing the pole down at a strip club called Spice. Jesse's also the proud possessor of a brand spanking new human soul. All in all, not bad for a former succubus who rebelled against the new King of Hell and his plans to shake the place up. Of course, just when she thinks things can't get any better that it all starts to go straight to, well, you know.

Formerly the succubus known as Jezebel, Jesse Harris gets bitten by the past when she's rudely introduced to hell's new status quo by a succession of visits from her past in the form of a male incubus, a vengeful Fury and her "twin" sister -- the mortal woman from whom she stole her current form.If that's not enough, she learns the Queen of the Succubi isn't the type of person to forgive and forget past insults. Visits from old fiends can lead to stressful situations and Paul and Jesse are not exempt. Paul and Jesse quarrel, which leads Jesse to a drunken night on the town, only to return to their shared apartment just in time to see the Queen of the Succubi seduce Paul, steal his good soul and take it down the long road to hell.

In The Road to Hell, the second book in the Hell on Earth series, author Jackie Kessler reintroduces us to the cutest, sexiest and most downright foul-mouthed perky ex-demon you're ever likely to run across. Once again, Kessler demolishes my preconceptions about romance novels, eschewing the bursting bustier and the bare-chested hero for a sly nod, a knowing wink and a bawdy smile, and giving the best romance authors a serious run for their places on the best-seller lists.

One of my favorite aspects of Kessler's spectacularly engrossing writing style is the manner in which she manages to incorporate the silliest female stereotypes in Jesse -- at one point she's about to be killed and is more worried about keeping her Jimmy Choo boots clean -- while also giving her a subtle strength and the self-confidence necessary to face down the newly crowned King of Hell to help a friend.

Unlike the first book -- Hell's Belles, Kessler's second novel is clearly a stepping stone, a bridge book to the wider trilogy chronicling Jesse's transformation from demon to mortal to . . . ? Several references to Jesse being a half-breed leave the character confused and me wanting to know more. Now! Guess I'll just have to wait for the third book, but it's going to be a hell of a wait.

Reviewed by Richard Jones
© August 2007