Now, this is much more in line with the quality I had come to expect from Kelley Armstrong. Right from the beginning. She does an excellent job of getting across to the reader what kind of character Hope is. I particularly loved the yellow dress, Hope's intention to be a beacon, a ray of sunshine surrounded by swathes of black, but instead she stood out more like a banana. And the stain that she worsened when trying to clean it up. These things are relatable, and really humanize Hope.And she does a great job introducing Hope's demonic nature, as well. Despite the short length of this, there is introspective and real character development in Hope.
The romance with Karl was perfect. It was hot, reminiscent of Armstrong's earlier work, where she didn't skip over the steamy parts. I admit I was reading this after I'd watched some Castle. This had the unexpected side effect of hearing all of Karl's dialogue in the voice of Nathan Fillion. I strongly recommend picturing him as Nathan Fillion. It works surprisingly well.
The one problem I had with this, and it's something Armstrong did in Thirteen as well, was the conflict getting resolved by Deus Ex Machina, rather than the characters' own actions. I'd really prefer to see less of this.
Chaotic was a fun novella, and it holds up well against Armstrong's longer works.
