Invocation by Aileen Erin.

I am first of all very thankful to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this e-arc before the release.
I absolutely loved this book. I found it a bit harder to get into, since I later found out that it is a spin-off of Aileen's first series Alpha Girls. However, I do think you can read the book without having read the prior books, it is just a bit more adjusting, since you don't have any prior knowledge on the world building.
Further the story is so different from anything I have read before and it is so intriguing because of that. The spiritual battle between good and evil, Satan and God, and the love story that is going on in the meantime.

I will start of with a small summary. The story is about Samantha, in short Sam, who is the daughter of Astaroth, a fallen angel/demon and a human, Ana. Because of this she has the ability to see through the different realms, and into the spiritual world. This ability has not always been such a good thing to have, since it caused her to be thrown into different mental facilities, and be seen as weird, abnormal and insane.
Throughout the story you see how she grows, and deals with her ability, while trying to stay on the good path and help others.

The book is also very spiritual and often refers to prayer and God. So be prepared for that.

Overall I really enjoyed the book and loved the characters, my favourite would definitely be Phoenix, Gabe, Eli and Frank. But they all were so great and fun to get to know. I will definitely be on the look out for book 2 next winter, to see how the story continuous.

First of a new Series spun off within a greater existing world. You can read without prior knowledge, but with mentions of past events and appearances from characters from the previous books, I would be surprised if you don't want to learn more and decide to dive in to the Alpha Girls while waiting for book two of this series. I know I'm ready for a re-read of the whole world now that I've been reminded how awesome they all are.

While Aileen's Alpha Girl's world (that this is spun off of) was full of werewolves, witches and fae with antagonists in all categories as well as Vampires and Demons, this one focuses on the battle against demonic activity. All the other paranormals exist and we see several of them as part of the story, but they are definitely supporting the character growth, not part of the action (yet?). So while it's the same world it is a very different focus within that world.

Because of the demonic focus, we have to delve a little into the source of the conflict and their natural combatants. This has been set up as more of a Spiritual war constantly happening between Angels and Demons with the humans (and other supernaturals) in the middle. And while there is a spiritual focus to the battle (we have a priest as a side character, there are prayers for help and Angels/Archons in the mix) I didn't find the story to be preachy or heavy handed at all. It's just a layer of the world that Sam has to work in and it blends with the supernatural world in a slightly different way. I feel like we will probably learn more depth into the history over time in this saga as we build to a big final conflict.

This specific story is a like a primer for Samantha's journey. We get some intro to her, we get a sense of the problems she faces on a day to day basis (at the most extreme end of her spectrum for sure) and a hint of what she will have to face moving forward through the over arching story to come. As with other Alpha Girl world books, when the stuff hits the fan, things happen quickly and the bulk of the story happens within about 2-3 days.

While not specifically a romance, this book has some romance elements (I'm expecting more to develop in the rest of the series so it builds over time). The main focus in this one is on the fact that Sam doesn't have anyone and that while she sees and works with so many fated/true mates, she doesn't feel like she will ever find someone who can manage her life and calling. This is definitely a thread that runs through because with an epic level found family like Sam has in the Alpha Girl crew (all fated mates whose stories are available to read when you're ready to gobble them down) they all want her to be happy and not lonely. We get some personal embarrassment from Sam over her past crushing on Phoenix, we get some conversations, hints of strength of character from Phoenix that lets us know he might be able to handle all that Sam has to live with. There some simmering interest, some hand holding and my favourite the "I'm not leaving" moments.

This will be a continuing saga of a story, so while not officially a cliffhanger, there are a LOT of loose threads dangling after the climax of this specific set of moments. I am very much looking forward to finding out what happens next in the saga and how Samantha deals with the fallout from the climactic events of this one.

There are moments of humour, some world building, action and lot of tension this story. And while it's not the full rollercoaster, it is a taste of what is to come. This ride has just begun and I'm really excited to see where Aileen takes us.

I requested and was provided an advanced copy of the ebook. These are my honest opinions.

I was hoping for a bit more from this book. The cover and the description sounded interesting and I was excited to read this book. The book itself is fine and does its job for a teen audience, but it was a struggle for me to get through. My main issues with the book include:
1) not as action packed as I was led to believe, only two things happened in the book that I would consider "action,"
2) the CONSTANT talk about the FMC love live and how invested everyone in the story was about it,. There is no way that many people care about this person's love match.
3) again, the CONSTANT discussion on how the FMC doesn't eat enough/take care of herself, I think that same conversation happened 3 or so times with same or different people and it went on for pages.

Thank you to netgalley got the ARC of this book.

I kind of really liked the cover and the story description sounded interesting as well, so I was really looking forward to reading this book. Invocation is the first part in a new series, and a spin-off of another series by the author. I hadn’t read any other books by this author, and while I did manage to follow the story without major problems, I do think having read the other books set in this world would have made reading this book a bit easier, because of the numerous references to stuff that already happened in the original series.
Invocation follows Samantha, daughter of a mortal mother and demonic father, as she helps people who get into demonic trouble – and with her father constantly trying to lock her up in hell, this is no easy task.

The short description promised an action-packed, romance-filled, paranormal series and I do have to say I was disappointed with how the story progressed. I did like the beginning of the book, and it made me wonder what would happen next. The story is written from Sam’s POV, and I really liked her inner monologue at first and the dialogues felt alive and authentic. As the story progressed there were more and more things that made it hard for me to finish the book though.
One of those things was the constant talk of Sam’s love life and how getting her a boyfriend seemed the only thing anyone around her was really interested in – even her much older friend who is also a priest, made it his mission to find a romantic match for her. At some point it seemed to be all everyone talked about, so much so that all the promised action made up only a small part of the actual story. And even then, the execution of the action scenes, aka the scenes where something was actually happening, was the opposite of satisfying. The whole book is also told over three days in total, without a lot actually happening, so it felt like a little bit of action mixed with a lot of, often repetitive, filler. In my opinion there just wasn’t enough happening to warrant the number of pages this book has.
What is more, there is a heavy focus on religion, and I can imagine that this might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Another thing that negatively influenced the reading experience immensely was the amount of typos in the copy that I read.

I did like the character of Gabriel, Gabe, though and would have liked knowing more about him and his backstory and how he ended up where he did in the end. He was by far the most interesting character (if only he wouldn’t have had to add “babe” to every second sentence he said).

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 rounded up. I went into this blind. The cover caught my attention and I just saw the word “demon” in the description and was excited to read it. I thought it would be closer to City of Souls demons but it was an urban fantasy story. Which is totally ok if that is what you are looking for/ enjoy reading. I was a bit thrown off by the religious bits at times but that is just a personal thing.
The main thing for my rating is that although most of the story happens when the fmc is 23 years old, it felt more like following the life of a teenager. I noticed this in the first few chapters but thought it was only because she was 17 at the time and was socially awkward, however even 6 years later while living among many others, she still thought and acted immature for her age.
There was also a lot of repetition. For example, the fmc pointed out her relationship to the main side characters three times in the same chapter.
One last thing, I didn’t feel the romance. The dialogues felt awkward and robotic instead of flowing smoothly throughout the whole book. It would be one thing if it was like this when they first met, but it kept happening.

It wasn’t a bad book as clearly seen by other reviews, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you for the e-arc of Invocation. I'm in the part of deconstructing where reading books with bible verses in the beginning just isn't my jam. Hidden allegories and all of that, that I just don't have the capacity to read into right now.

INVOCATION kicks off an intense yet exciting delve into the spiritual realm with a quirky badass female lead and an addicting thread of romance spun around the chaos. Days of Iron and Clay is a spin-off from the Alpha Girl series that follows Samantha and the terrifying challenges she faces from the spiritual realm including the dark obsession of her father in Hell. If I had to try and describe this book in a sentence, I might say it's a bit like The Exorcist but with other supernaturals backing up the action and a romance with a hot neighbor thrown in.

The main character, Samantha, appears to be a strong and determined person, facing demons and his own father, a general of Satan. The mixture of paranormal and spiritual elements, together with Samantha's personal struggle, creates a complex and attractive story. The mention of ports to hell and the possibility of being withdrawn back to that kingdom adds a sense of danger and urgency to the plot. It seems that readers can expect an exciting journey full of supernatural encounters, internal battles and a touch of romance. And it's great to know that fans of the Alpha Girls series can enjoy this new series set in the same world, while new readers can enter without any prior knowledge. Overall, it sounds like a promising start to a new series that combines action, fantasy and personal growth.

The story is intriguing and kept you on your toes. There were a few times where I felt the characters argued too long but overall I enjoyed the book.

I unfortunately did not enjoy this book, I was really hoping that I would enjoy it.

I just didn’t really connect to the characters or the story at all.

Invocation by Aileen Erin is like a rollercoaster ride through a fantastical realm.
With a fey princess bonded to a normal werewolf, the story breaks the mold of typical creature interactions which I found interesting. The author seamlessly weaves in essential details without disrupting the flow. While it's a bit predictable with Phoenix's return later in the story, the humor, especially Frank's banter, kept me entertained. However, the lack of clear motivation for risking everything dampened the plot, and the rushed details about Claudia’s abilities left me wanting more. The anticlimactic kiss to bring Sam back from the realm, not being able to see her side of being in hell in much detail, and the overall progression left me undecided; there's potential, but it needs better development. I'll give it a 2.5/5, rounding up with the stars, with a 50/50 chance of diving into the next book in the series.

3.75 ⭐️

This was the very first ARC that I was approved for and for that alone I‘m thankful, though it did make me a bit nervous. I‘m not lying when I say I dropped everything else I was reading to start this because I wanted to provide feedback as quickly as possible. Unfortunately it also got to me right as I had to be preparing for my upcoming exams so though busy and stressed I gave this my best shot.

The cover made me click on it initially and then I read the description and thought „Demons huh? Sounds interesting.“ So I applied for the ARC and against all odds (aka me having no real qualifications or a previous feedback history) and I‘m truly grateful for that.

Samantha‘s story began with an intense start, one that would most likely freak me out if it happened to me. That’s something that remained throughout the book as she got thrown from one turmoil into the next. However, she managed just fine with her powers that I found really interesting. In a similar vein I also liked the concept of the spiritual realm being layered right on top of the normal mortal realm, I‘d never seen it written like this before.

Granted, I‘m not a very spiritual or religious person, which is also why at times this story felt somewhat religion heavy. In a context of demons and angels, I do suppose that makes sense, but it is something I noticed.

Something else I noticed that bothered me slightly, was the obsession that every character had with getting Sam a boyfriend. I liked the characters, Frank, Eli, Sam‘s mom and the werewolf pack (also Steve that I was very interested in from his two sentence appearance), but a lot of their dialogue/interaction was centered around finding Sam a partner and it just felt a bit much.

Speaking of partner, while I also liked Phoenix, my other slight criticism is that I didn’t fully feel the chemistry between him and Sam. They liked each other no doubt, but with what little time they actually spent together, I just had a hard time feeling that. It wasn’t the worst relationship I‘ve read about at all, also knowing there‘d already been some sort of history and they „knew“ each other before, but as they admitted themselves in the book they were moving a bit (very) fast. I‘ll give them brownie points for at least being self-aware though.

Aside from that however, I don’t think I have any more criticism on it. The concept and plot were interesting, Sam was relatable to me at more points than I‘d like to admit and the stakes were just high enough to keep me on edge while not stressing me out too much.

Overall this was a solid and suspenseful read and I enjoyed it!

When I started this book I absolutely thought it was a different one. I had requested this via NetGalley on accident but I'm glad I made the mistake! I've never read this author and therefore didn't know that the MC appears in previous books.

The book started out with me thinking this would be a YA novel but quickly (clearly) is a NA. Most events take place 6 years after the first chapter (the MC starts out being 17). I enjoyed the writing style and descriptions of Hell. The characters are likeable and I loved the Nephilm aspect and am excited to read the rest of this series

This book was interesting. It starts off with the main character at 17, and I was preparing for it to be a very young adult book. I will admit to being very confused when reading the first chapter, as there are very clear references to characters and events that occurred prior to the start of the book. After looking the author's prior works up, it appears that this character is present in another series, so that makes more sense now.

The majority of the book is set 6 years after the events of the first chapter, so the characters are adults and it is more New Adult fiction than young adult, to me at least.

With the main character being a Nephilim who works as an exorcist, the story contains very prominent Constantine vibes. With a twist, of course! I really enjoyed the character development and how that tied to the plot progression, and the inclusion of other supernatural beings beyond angels and demons was unexpected.

While I did enjoy the book, my C.A.W.P.I.L.E. rating is 3.5 stars, and I will probably not continue the series.

Amazing. This storyline is gonna be fire, literally and figuratively. It’s a slow burn, but worth it. I’m locked in.

This gave me Constantine vibes. It is really well written and the flow is awesome. Great read and cant wait until book 2. One of my new favorite authors.

I don’t even know how to write a review for this book. I want more!! Having read all of Aileen Erin’s Alpha Girl series, I was super excited about this ARC. It did NOT disappoint. This was incredible.

I loved that we got to see other characters from her Alpha Girl series, and I loved the new characters, too!

Phoenix is awesome, and so is Frank. The amount of times this book had me laughing at the dialogue… It was amazing.

There was a perfect mix of romance, action, and banter. I loved it so much and I can’t wait to read book 2!

I highlighted so many quotes… but I’ll just share one.

“Chilled was good. Chilled meant I was safe. There was nothing cold in Hell.”

Also ELI! I love him too.

The whole group is incredible. I love that they’re basically a family.

I’d say more but I really don’t want to spoil anything other than go read this ASAP.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

The plot and the world in general were done so well and is different than other paranormal books I've read previously. We follow our FMC, Samantha, as she helps humans (and sometimes non-humans) who get into demonic trouble. She's uniquely perfect for this role because her father is a very powerful demon, and that gives her certain abilities that normal humans do not have. I wasn't expecting it to have such strong religious themes, but I guess it makes sense considering the book is centered around Heaven and Hell, angels and demons. That real-world religious aspect made it feel very eerie, bordering on scary at times. There is also a romance subplot that I like the idea of, but the execution left a little to be desired. In theory their story is so cute, but it felt very rushed at the end and sometimes didn't seem like the two characters had great chemistry together. On the other end of the spectrum, there was decision-making that needed to happen very quickly (as a matter of life or death) at the end of the book and it felt like everyone involved took FOREVER to come to a decision. Which just seemed out of character for everyone based on actions earlier in the book. This was still a really fun read, and I know I'll be continuing the series!

This book was interesting and had a very descriptive way of hell it made almost feel as if I feel it myself. I can not wait to read it again. I stayed up all night to finish this book in one setting.

🌵ARC Book Review🌵

✍🏽Invocation @aileenerin
📍(Will be published on March 18, 2024)

‼️Content Warning: Death, Magic, Kid Napping

📖favorite line from the books is “There will be battles and souls to safe, but Id make sure we found time to take breaks and enjoy life, too.”

🌸I would definitely add this book to your wish list. It surprised me so much! But honestly was amazing. It about supernaturals and i’ve read a lot of books with supernaturals but Id say that this guy is at the top of the line. Its sucks that i have to wait for the second book but its going to be worth it. Sam the main character is a powerful woman! I have high hopes for her and her journey. The same for her friends as well. The book does hang off with a cliff hanger that is going to make me think about it for a long time but nothing can ever go wrong with that. Overall i recommend this book and happy reading to you all!

⭐️5/5

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