Thanks to D. A. Roach and Limitless Publishing, LLC for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

At eighteen years old, Cassidy has suffered more loss than most…

At the end of her senior year, her boyfriend, Jace Peters, was killed in a car accident, and her grandmother died only weeks later of a heart attack. Emotionally lost, Cassidy desperately searches for an heirloom her boyfriend was wearing in the crash—her mother’s gold ring. But during her search, Cassidy discovers more than her ring.

She finds a gate to the Demon Realm….

A battle is brewing, and Killian—head of the Demon hunters—preps his Clan for the approaching conflict. They’ve been working to secure the gate between his realm and the mortal world. But it’s been nearly impossible since Rya—a voracious demon on a quest to expand her power—devoured the soul of his Clan’s necromancer. Now Rya is possessed with the necromancer’s powers and she may break through the gate at any moment.

Apparently Rya isn’t the only one Killian has to worry about…

When Cassidy accidentally crosses into the Demon Realm, Killian can’t understand how a human girl survived the transition. Now he has to find a way to return her to her own world, or risk her being caught in the crossfire, which is a complication he definitely doesn’t need.

Once back in the Human Realm, Cassidy readies herself for battle. She signs up for Krav Maga classes, where she meets Tyler Romaitis—a handsome, tenacious, humble guy. He seems almost perfect, but nothing is ever that easy.

And as the balance between good and evil shifts, Cassidy finds herself—and her ring—at the heart of the conflict for the survival of mankind.

Cassidy is an 18-year-old who has suffered a lot of loses in her life. Her mother died giving birth to her, she’s never known who her father was, and at the end of her senior year her boyfriend of four years dies in a tragic car accident. Then just weeks later, her grandmother, who raised her all her life, passes away of a diagnosed heart attack. Thoroughly devastated by these tragic losses Cassidy pulls away from the world around her. One evening she goes in search of the ring that was given to her that once belonged to her mother. She had given it to Jace after an incident of his own, and it was never recovered after his tragic accident. While searching for it at the scene of the accident, she believes that she sees him in the shadows, but it couldn’t be him. He was dead. Cassidy returns again and finds the ring, but what she also finds is so much more. She discovers that there are demons and demon hunters. She also learns that her ex-boyfriend is now a demon, and a very dangerous one at that. Cassidy wants to help him, but is that even possible? She wants to join up with the demon hunters but Killian, a demon hunter, doesn’t think that she’s strong enough. Danger is heading their way and Cassidy is going to find herself right in the middle of it all.
Between the Bleeding Willows by D.A. Roach is book one in her The Demon Hunters series. I am an avid fan of paranormal novels, so I was curious to see where this story was going to go. Cassidy is an interesting character. She’s been through a lot in her young life. Overall, I feel that this story flows pretty well. The story focuses mostly on Cassidy starting from after/around the time that her grandmother passes away. While she is looking for the ring that belonged to her mother, she is pulled into another realm. She learns about demons and demon-hunters. The story shifts to following Killian and what he experiences. Killian is a strong character and an overall good leader. He puts the needs of the Clan before his desires for Cassidy, which I like. He’s attracted to Cassidy but he doesn’t let that rule his actions.
I’m glad to say that this book is professionally edited and that I found few to no errors throughout. I like this story overall, and it was a page turner, but I just felt it was a bit bland in spots. We as the readers will see that there is something special about Cassidy, but I’m disappointed that there is no realization of this with the characters in the story. I was hoping that there would be an older character who would recognize something special about Cassidy and point it out to the others, but that is never the case. There also some odd situations that occur that also don’t make sense. I’m hoping that they will be explained in the next book.
All in all, I am rating this book 4 out of 5 stars. It’s a good story, but there are spots of where I really feel that it has a lot of potentials to be more, but the author holds back. The story is engaging but I want more exciting moments that will truly draw the reader in and leave them wanting more. The story doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, so for those who hate cliffhangers, there is no need to worry. For those who like demon hunter novels, this is a good book to read.

Between the Bleeding Willows was one of those books that had the potential to be great but consistently fell short.

We start with strong emotions as Cassidy grieves the loss of two loved ones before being thrown into the crossfire of a conflict with all sorts of otherworldly beings. Although it wasn't really why I wanted to read the story (I was all about that paranormal bit), the opening chapters were so strong emotionally that I couldn't help but keep reading. Sure, it moved the story along slowly but I expected that. It's when the book shifted toward the action and supernatural that it all went downhill.

I think the missing piece here was a connection with the reader. The author offered little ways to become invested in any character other than Cassidy. Which meant that any attempts at a romance subplot fell flat. That all the random character deaths had no impact beyond "oh, that happened, whatever."

I nearly DNFed Between the Bleeding Willows at around the 25-30% mark. But I had hope that it would pick up the pace and something would just click. It didn't, but I ended up finishing the book.

So it comes down to whether or not I really enjoyed that experience and I'd say not really. Points for potential and a solid opening but this paranormal simply doesn't stand out from the multitude of others I've read over the years. I don't plan to read others in the series but may try future books by the author.

I can do a fun, entertaining, fast piece that doesn't require a lot of brain. But this book just wasn't original or fun enough for me. I couldn't get past everything that was retrod without being improved or made fun.