Stone Cold Mortal, by Disa Dawn is an urban fantasy looking at demon-fighting and the struggle between good and evil. Tennessee England is the main character, a strong female lead who knows how she wants to run her life and knows who her friends are. This novel is great for 15+, I am in my thirties and thoroughly enjoyed the read of this book, and got to know the author who really loves the main character, Tennessee.
Tennessee is a mortician, which I thought was a nice change to Disney princesses and legally blonde pampered girls, trying to show young women a more ‘normal’ way to look at life and behave. While Tennesse isn’t perfect herself with a smoking habit and cussing way too much, she loves her friends and would fight to defend them… which she does end up doing.
This story moves on to show Tennessee have a near-death experience, be shackled to a demon who feeds on her pain and negativity, fighting demons and ***SPOILER ALERT*** – saving her beloved dog Polar, a giant fluffy white pooch who pinged my heart strings when described.
The concept of Tennessee having a ‘demon’ be tethered to her, so she can fight and kill 1000 demons for a demon-queen, to ultimately be free… is immense. Disa Dawn warms up in the first three chapters, to get readers to love Tennessee and her friends, set the scene and thrusts the reader into this demonic struggle.
Tennesse shows a huge amount of courage, by facing demons who are trying to kill her, facing people who she secretly love (yes there’s a love-triangle!), managing several jobs and having health issues is example to the reader on how to look after yourself, and fight for what you believe in. It shows that Tennessee is resilient, is a fighter, which is a far more attractive quality than a preening princess, and her old love interest flares up creating more emotion for her.
This book is engaging, Disa Dawn has researched how to engage an older audience, and while I don’t get the American slang (being British) it just set the character up to be more realistic and approachable, rather than some gorgeous blood-sucking heartthrob.
Tennesse England could be a good example for young women: fight for what you believe in, don’t give up and have friends around you.
Go check out Disa Dawn’s work, this is Book 1 of a series, and if you like the supernatural or fantasy, I do think you’ll enjoy this series.
disadawn.com
