From Share My Destiny's Archive: Laurie Olerich's Primani is a plucky supernatural fun, #fictionreview

Laurie Olerich’s Primani, first in a series of plucky, angel, action adventure novels is a fun, hopeful yarn. Mica Thomas is an above average girl in a world of hurt. Primani opens as she is assaulted by a small town psychopath. She’s nearly finished off in the novel’s first quarter, which sees her through the early stages of recovery from rape and assault. And who better to help her recover in the world than Sean O’ Cahan, a handsome, hunky, ripped, Irish young man who has arrived from out of town as Mica gets her feet underneath her? Sean and his buddies are not what they seem, and in the early stages where Mica and her friends lust over their finely sculpted bodies and pine for sexual release, Sean and his friends remain distant from the girls who lust after them. They offer distraction, safety, and mystery to Mica who only wishes for life to move forward. To forget about the recent violent past. The tension is palpable, and as Mica’s fate rushes towards a second encounter with her assailant, Sean and his buddies reveal they are more than human.

Sean’s buddies, Dec, the protective one, and Killian, the strongest, and most aggressive, do not approve of Sean’s affection towards Mica, as the three carry themselves like trained special ops about upstate New York. And, as the narrative unfolds, are trained ops, just not of the human variety, they are Primani, soldiers of the first legion, and through a physical and romantic connection between Sean and Mica, Mica learns the truth, and sees the world through the eyes of the soldiers, quite literally, as she gains psychic powers.

Olerich’s gift is expressing the sensuality of the characters, as Mica’s body drives her character through much of the novel. She’s young, she’s got a rockin’ body, and she means to use it, whether it means hiking with her dog through the forest, or feeling it react to Sean’s warm naked body; Primani is a feast for the senses, and Olerich homes in on the sensations Mica and Sean feast upon as they grow closer and closer.

The boys are stationed in Mica’s neighborhood as part of a larger military plan in the age long war against demons, and Mica is drawn deeper and deeper as she and Sean grow closer and closer.  Primani is a sweet novel, the heart and life of a young woman at stake, and though Mica faces mortal danger she’s got guardian angels to show up and help her, hunky ones at that, and her relationship with Sean smolders; Olerich keeps the reader hot, but doesn’t let it boil over, after all Sean has more important matters to tend to than his hot and bothered earthly girlfriend.

The Primani and Mica head to New York, where she is inducted into a deeper world of angels and their associates. Demons run rampant in the city, and the boys gear up for a fight with Dagin, a demon whose history with the Primani goes way back. And as Mica’s new psychic abilities round into form, her powers grow, as does her importance to the growing circle of Primani guardians and warriors she hangs with; her new family.

Olerich amps up the action in the city, and brings the action to a satisfying conclusion as the team, as it were, heads back to the mountains to foil the demon advancement. Olerich doesn’t dwell much on the nuances of demon plans, or how exactly, the angels hope to deal with the threat, she instead focuses on the relationships between Mica and her new family. The emotional setting is Mica’s heart and mind, and as she grows into her new role with the Primani, the relationships grow deeper, and more intimate. If you like your butt-kicking action with heart and levity, the Primani series will deliver.  Three stars.