ARC Review Damned If I Do by Alexandria Bellefleur – Readaholic Book Reviews

Damned If I Do by Alexandria Bellefleur

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Heat Level: 🔥🔥

Release Date: September 22, 2026

Publisher: Berkley Romance

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

SYNOPSIS

The devil’s right-hand woman must convince her long-lost husband to renounce their vows so she can wed a prince from Hell.

Effie MacLeod is no stranger to making desperate decisions, but making a deal with Lucifer himself—sacrificing her soul to save a loved one—has got to be her most monumental. Several hundred years into her tenure as a demon, Effie’s found herself engaged to Belphegor, a handsome, seductive, and successful Prince of Hell. It’s not a love match, but it’ll do. There’s just one teensy-tiny little She’s still bound to her sixteenth-century Scottish husband. While Effie has completely cast her human life aside, Finn has been reincarnated through several lifetimes.

Effie must convince Finn to renounce their age-old vows in order get the Office of Infernal Internal Affairs off her back. The kicker? When she finds him in this lifetime, Finn doesn’t remember anything, but he refuses her request for a divorce. 

Annoyed to be stuck with him in small-town Georgia until she can persuade Finn to renounce their marriage, Effie must convince him that yes, she does want to get on with her devilish shenanigans despite the physical pull she feels toward him. As they get closer in hopes of recovering his lost memories, Effie can’t help but notice murmurings of her deeply buried feelings resurfacing. But while all’s fair in love and war, that’s not the case in Hell—and Lucifer may have his own reasons for wanting to keep Finn and Effie apart for the rest of eternity.

REVIEW

What to expect in Damned if I do:
-fated mates
-paranormal rom-com
-demon x human
-forced proximity
-yearning

Effie, a demon in Hell has just accepted a marriage proposal from her boyfriend. She’s not marrying for love (she’s had enough of that to last a lifetime), but rather for strength. All seems well enough until she’s informed that she’s still bound and married to her reincarnated husband Finn. She has to find him and have him revoke his vows in order to break their bond. There’s only one teeny-tiny problem…when Finn sees her he refuses to revoke his vows and instead wants to get to know Effie. Will Effie convince him to let her go and if not, how does a relationship between them (he’s mortal and she’s immortal) even work???

I went into Damned if I do without knowing too much about this book and ended up reading half of it in one sitting! I love Alexandria Bellefleur’s writing and I immediately connected with Finn and Effie. Their banter was funny and so sweet. Finn was such a golden retreiver, but at the same time would go to any length to keep Effie safe and I loved these two together. I’m a sucker for fated mates and the connection between Effie and Finn was so beautiful. Clearly I was rooting for these two to end up together. And yes, I did have tears in my eyes on a few occasions.

Highly recommend this fated mates paranormal rom-com!

*favorite chapter: Finn’s interlude