Blue Diablo: A Corine Solomon Novel

by Ann Aguirre

Book Overview

Read Ann Aguirre's posts on the Penguin Blog "Gritty, steamy and altogether wonderful urban fantasy."--New York Times Bestselling Author Patricia BriggsView our feature on Ann Aguirre's Blue Diablo.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451462645
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Ace
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.9" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

A deliciously charming Southern urban fantasy!

I admit that I picked up BLUE DIABLO because of (1) the blurb from Patricia Briggs on the cover: "Outstanding and delicious!" and (2) because the lovely reviewer piqued my interest in the setting. BLUE DIABLO is the first in the Corine Solomon series by Ann Aguirre (Pronounced, apparently, "Ah-GEAR-ay"). Corine has been on the run her entire life. She started running when her mother was burned for being a "witch". The last time she stopped, she fell in love with Chance and nearly died, so she left him in the middle of the night to move on to Mexico City and start a new life. However, Chance, who has always been unnaturally lucky, finds her and asks her help in finding his missing mother. Corine--heiress of her mother's power--is a "handler" and cannot do anything but agree to help her ex... I enjoyed BLUE DIABLO much more than I thought I would, to be honest. I expected fluffy romance with a twist of mystery and fantasy, but what I got was much more. Aguirre has a talent for characters, firstly. The entire cast of BLUE DIABLO is amazing--and I would very much like to see all of them have reoccurring roles in the second volume. Corine, herself, is a flawed but understandable protagonist with a good head on her shoulders. Her two love interests, Chance and Jesse, oppose each other nicely. Both Chance and Jesse appeal to different needs that Corine possesses and bring out different qualities within her. Their friends, Eva and Chuch and Booke and even Butch... Well, I love them all. To add to the awesome, the cast is matched by a wonderful setting. Rather than the usual, bland, nameless cityscape in which urban fantasy almost always seems to take place, Aguirre chose the colorful south. The story takes place entirely in Mexico and Texas. Just to top everything off, the cover is gorgeous as well. I'd rather see Corine with the longer hair and her "hippie chic", but I can't deny that this is certainly eye-candy. And, of course, I forgive any truly beautiful eye-candy of discrepancies. (If you need proof of this, see Patricia Briggs' Mercy series, in which the beautiful covers give Mercy about a dozen tattoos she does not have.) The next Corine Solomon book seems slated for April 2010 and will be titled HELL FIRE. I'll be waiting eagerly, myself. My final thoughts: Recently, I've been branching out to try new, different Urban Fantasy authors. Vampires and werewolves are well and good, but the unique talent of Corine Solomon and equally unique landscape reminded me how nice different perspectives are. In fact, I challenge any of you to pick up this novel or a new vampire-less contemporary fantasy today and give it a try. Who knows, you may discover a gem like Ann Aguirre.

Ann Aguirre is the BOMB!

Corine Solomon is a woman in hiding, hiding from her past. Mexico City is where she ended up, running a pawn shop trying to have a normal life. When she was twelve, her mother was murdered. With her death, Corine was haunted by the loss and gifted with magic but not the way her mother probably intended. Handling involves touching objects, metal is the best and worst as it burns her palms, seeing what happened to that object. But doing it for a living with her boyfriend Chance brought her in contact with the most heartbreaking of cases and almost killed her. So she fled from her life and crossed the border in order to get as far from it as possible. Then one day, Chance comes to the store with his mother's pocket Buddha and asks for her help. His mother has been kidnapped and he needs to handle the Buddha. In return, he will help Corine find the people who murdered her mother. Corine is torn between staying safe in her new life or helping the man she still loves. On April 7, 2009 you must go to the bookstore as fast as your car can carry you and buy this book!!!!!! Ann Aguirre is the BOMB! I loved this book, loved it so much that I could only make myself read a chapter at a time and then put it down. Otherwise, I would have flown through it in a big gorging rush! But there came a point in the story a little over halfway that I just couldn't do it anymore. I read in big chunks desperate to see what was going to happen. The character of Corine is so awesome; I wish she was real so we could go have margaritas with tequila shots. I loved the fact that just because she had a gift (or curse depending on your point of view), it didn't make her all knowing and all powerful. I liked the tug of war between her old life with Chance and the possibility of a romance with someone new. I loved the descriptions of Mexico and Texas that really gave a wonderful atmosphere to the story. This is one of the best urban fantasies I have read. I urge everyone to give this book a try as it will rock your socks off!

Blue Diablo

Corine Solomon's peaceful life in Mexico changed in the blink of an eye. One minute she's happily running her shop and the next, Chance strolls in and her life becomes chaotic once again. His mother has disappeared and he needs her help. You see, Corine isn't just your everyday, average person. She's "gifted". She can touch an object and it will show her parts of the past, but this talent comes at a price. When Corine meets Officer Saldana, an empath, sparks fly. Figuratively and literally. She finds out that she is not alone in the "gifted" world. Saldana takes her under his wing but she soon begins to wonder if that's a good place for her. Corine begins to see that this will not be an easy task. They'll have to battle warlocks, zombies, and maybe even each other. With the help of some friends, an enemy and Butch, a chihuahua Corine hopes to unravel the truth about Chance's mom. I loved this book! It had a wonderful plot, the characters were likeable, the writing was fabulous. A great read all the way around!

"Corine Solomon", Reluctant But Awesome Heroine

"Blue Diablo", is an Urban Fantasy written in the first person and what I liked about the heroine and narrator of the story, "Corine Solomon", is that she is real. Corine doesn't see herself as beautiful; in fact she talks about her imperfections, and dressing "hippie chic". She possesses a dry wit that permeates the narrative of this novel and had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions. Corine isn't a gun toting, martial arts expert; her mother gifted her with a unique, rare ability that while provided her a source of income for a time also causes her heartache and nearly cost her life. She is a "handler", which means she has a psychic or magical (whichever you believe it to be) ability to touch an object and visualize what the owner was doing at the time they last handled it. And, her gift gets her into a truckload of trouble. Blue Diablo After leaving her lover and manager, Chance 18 months earlier, Corine Solomon has made a life for herself in Mexico City. She opened a little pawnshop and sells goods of all description, making a decent profit. She has been comfortable and made very sure she covered her tracks when she walked out on Chance and her previous life. However, we would have no story without a hitch right? Chance turns up at her shop to plead for help in locating his mother Yi-Min-Chin who has gone missing and considered kidnapped. Chance presents Corine with a little pewter Buddha that his mother considered her "luck" and begs her to handle it so they can glean some information with respect to Min's whereabouts. Corine and Chance's relationship history is extremely tumultuous and needless to say, it goes against her better judgment to become involved with him again. She is about to send him packing, however when she sees the pewter Buddha, she knows something horrible has happened to Min, because she was never without it. Min is a woman who Corine had grown to care for. When Corine "handles" the Buddha, she senses Min's feelings, her fear and resignation at being taken, and she sees a white van she is escorted to. Corine's gift does come with a physically painful price that you will understand if you read the book. Chance is gifted with luck. Essentially, wherever he goes things seem to go in his favor, no matter how bad the situation, nothing happens to him. However, his power doesn't extend to protecting those around him and because of this Corine was very nearly killed during their last "job" together. Corine agrees to go to Laredo with Chance where his mother was last seen and Detective Jesse Saldana, from the "Crimes Against Persons Unit" or CAPERS is working on Yi-Min-Chin's disappearance. Chance knows the police have his mother's purse because it was found in the blood-spattered corner of an abandoned warehouse. Chance wants the purse so Corine can handle it. Saldana, it turns out, is an empath and he and Corine feel and instant connection because of their gifts. Here is a short example of the wonderful prose and

Urban fantasy with a twist

f you haven't read anything by Ann Aguirre yet, what are you waiting for? Blue Diablo is a refreshingly new entry in the urban fantasy genre, featuring a sassy protagonist who is haunted by her past. Corine Solomon is a handler, who can read the history of an object by touch alone. Her ability was given to her by her mother as she died in a fire; consequently, every time Corine uses the ability she experiences extreme pain and burn scars. Formerly Corine used this ability in partnership with her lover Chance to locate missing persons, but when their last case went horribly wrong, Corine fled the country and opened her own antique store in Mexico City. But when Chance's mother goes missing, Corine agrees to use her abilities to help find her, and she finds that chapter of her past hasn't quite closed yet. I really loved this book, and Corine in particular. She's sassy and a survivor, but she's not the stereotypical kickass hard-bodied heroine you usually find in urban fantasy. She's short, dresses in bohemian chic, and likes to eat; she could be me or one of my girlfriends, except for her ability and the tragedy of her past. To me, she seemed quite real, as did her relationship with Chance; these are people who knew each other deeply in the past, but are uncertain how to relate to one another in the present. There's chemistry there all right, but Corine is uncertain whether she wants to go down that road again. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is how real Corine's world felt. Aguirre is herself an ex-pat living in Mexico, which no doubt helped in portraying Corine's life in Mexico City. What really impressed me, however, was how the supernatural details were intricately woven with the details of daily life. It was really easy to believe in the magic that powers Corine's world because there are a lot of people who do believe in it; among the magically skilled are curanderas and practitioners of wicca and voodoo, who are credited with such abilities in the world outside the novel as well. I like urban fantasies with winged fay and gargoyles, but it's also a nice change to read something that doesn't stretch my credibility too far. Highly recommended, for its appealing characters, fast-paced plot, and authentic magical world.