The Holy Terror

I have a love-hate relationship with Jenna Black's books. I've read the entirety of her Morgan Kingsley series and I was left feeling frustrated and angry. I chose to give her a second chance though, and I started reading this teen series of hers. I ... actually like it. If you look at the reviews you'll see the evidence of this love-hate relationship that Black garners, but at least in this case, I don't hate this series. In fact, I'm enjoying it.Dana is dealing with the aftermath of her actions of the previous book. People want to kill her, she's unsure of who's really on her side, and she's struggling with making the right choices. She makes some stupid mistakes and doesn't ask enough questions, but it doesn't get to the point where it makes me think she's absolutely too stupid to live. She's a teen, she recognizes her mistakes and she doesn't act like a brat too much of the time. I normally get sick of the whole, "I'm gonna do what I want no matter how much danger it puts me in!" trope, but for the most part, when Dana does something stupid, she owns up to it. Yes, she didn't ask enough questions when dealing with the Erlking, but she at least acknowledged that she probably didn't have all of the answers, but dealing with the time constraints she did what she thought she had to do.Maybe some people don't like sex in their teen series, but it's not something that would ever bother me. Granted, there is actually no sex in this book, but there is a lot of naughtiness. I think teens deal a lot with when and who to have sex with, and I'm glad that this series doesn't gloss over the fact that a lot of teens do in fact, have sex. Oh, the horror! You mean to tell me that senior year of high school isn't just a lot of hand holding and gazing longingly at each other? I applaud Black for not making her characters "shiver" in each other's presences. I also like that her mom's alcoholism isn't forgotten. Her mom's disease is something that Dana is constantly battling; it's a very human problem within this Fae world. This added a bit of realism that I think most teen paranormal books are lacking.Now, the Erlking. He's so ... HOT. Manipulative, yes, but not sleazy at all - to me, at least. He's old, powerful, and knows how to use people to get what he wants. He wants something from Dana, and he maneuvers a series of events in a way that is just downright SMOOTH. I applaud him for how he works things to his advantage, and yes, even at the main character's expense. I don't find his actions disgusting or deplorable, and I actually think he cares about Dana more than most of the other characters. I felt more chemistry between him and her than any of the other teen boys, and I definitely look forward to what will happen in the next book between them.This is the type of book that takes me 3-4 hours TOPS to read. I almost want to say it gets extra points for being a quick read, but to be honest, it's really the subject matter that makes me read so fast. It's interesting! It's the type of book you can't wait to flip the pages to see what happens next.I'm definitely excited to see what happens; I like the characters, I enjoy the world she's created and I'm invested in this series. I applaud Black for not sugarcoating the teenage years, and also not making her characters a bunch of dumbasses who don't learn from their mistakes. I look forward to the next book in this series, and I've even preordered her next adult book, Dark Descendant, because she's made me like her all over again.