When given a chance to read a new author, I’ll generally take it, which is how I came by a copy of The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes. I’ll say this, it really wasn’t what I was expecting.

Lucy Burns wants a normal life: friends, love, and a family of her own. And she could have it all if only she could break free from the job she hates.

That job? Facilitator to hell.

And her boss is a real devil.

After nineteen years of doing the Devil s dirty work, Lucy wants out, but it all seems hopeless until Teddy Nightingale, her easy listening music idol, gives her the answer: a little-known loophole.

If she succeeds, Lucy gets love, happiness, and everything she ever really wanted. But the consequences? They’re considerably worse than death. To make it through, Lucy must decide what is evil and what is good, what is right and what is wrong, and if, in the end, there’s ever any way to truly know.

The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns wasn’t quite what I was expecting.  After reading the description, I thought there was going to be a lot more action than what there actually was.  Lucy works for the devil, so I assumed there would be demons of some sort interacting with her and at least one trip to hell; however, none of that was there and while that isn’t a bad thing, again, it was just unexpected.  The novel seems more like a coming of age story rather than anything really centered in fantasy; where the way.  I’ll be honest, I like a bit more fantasy and/or romance in my novels and I really didn’t get any of that with this.

The story itself is pretty good, but again with the honesty, The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns generally isn’t the type of novel I gravitate to.  I’m really not a fan of the “coming of age” novels and this really had that feel to it (at least for me).  The paranormal element was barely there and the one time we should have seen some fireworks, it was more a monologue than anything else.  There was a lot of dialog going on in Lucy’s head and it was obvious that The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns is very much a character driven story.  We’re given a lot of development on Lucy, but very little on the supporting characters, who seem to be the catalyst for Lucy wanting out of her job.  I do have to say, I loved Luke, Lucy’s love interest.  Luke’s whole character was hilarious and it was very refreshing to read a novel where the other half of the romance had such an interesting handicap.  However, while we do have the budding romance between Lucy and Luke, it’s very much downplayed due to Lucy’s employment.  I would have liked to have seen a little more tension between the two, because quite honestly, if Lucy hadn’t been getting tired of her job, I wouldn’t have been able to buy that Luke was the one Lucy wanted to really have a relationship with.  Their romance was still too close to the friend level and they never really move out of that enough for me to see Lucy changing her life and taking the chances she had to.

Overall, The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns is a pretty good story for those who like a little paranormal, but really don’t want it to be the focus of the story.  I was enthralled with the story, while I was reading it, however, I never had a problem putting it down to go do something else.  At a short 167 pages, it’s actually great for someone looking for a quick read.

Also reviewed by:
Book Thingo
A Novel Menagerie
Patricia’s Vampire Notes
Alpha Heroes