Imagine seeing a book in the bookstore that is so pretty, has the most beautiful sprayed edges there is in store but is way to expensive. Imagine getting this book as a gift from someone which is very much appreciated, don’t get me wrong! But the story is not how you imagined it would be, the description was ace but the book couldn’t compete. Yeah, that happened to me.

The book I’m talking about is ‘For whom the Belle tolls’ by Jaysea Lynn; 630 pages thick with the most beautiful sprayed edges you can imagine, the description was really good and so I thought that it would be action packed, oh how wrong I was. The ‘stirring beyond the boundaries of their world where they have to fight hard as hell for?’ yeah, that’s about at the end of the book and not even 50 pages. It was a very slow burn romance with more spice than I can handle. I skipped the last 30 pages because I couldn’t be bothered anymore.

Lily is a 34-year-old woman that has metastasized cancer and not long left to live. She works out the logistics and will be living with her parents for the remainder of her time. At the end, she welcomes death without being afraid.

And there she is, in an enormous space with wandering souls in neat rows directed to desks where other souls or deities help you move on. Lily has a feeling that she’s done this before, multiple times before but has it in her head that with this lifetime, she’ll go to hell. Arriving at the desk and getting the run down of what’s next – Judgement, after judgement you’ll either go to hell or you can choose between realms or your own paradise. Lily gets her own paradise which she can’t really believe, but once stepping in that paradise someone is waiting for her. Her favorite cat, Max. Spending eternity with him again, well… Until she chooses to reincarnate.

After settling in she decides to wander around the afterlife. Not daring to step into Heaven’s realm but she is wondering what Hell looks like. When stepping into their entrance hall it kind of looks like the great entrance hall; Demons behind desks and souls that are standing in rows; waiting to hear the verdict. Hell has 9 levels; level 1 and 2 are therapeutic levels after you finish those you get the chance to reincarnate. Level 3 to 6 are punishment levels but you can work your way up but levels 7 through 9 are hard to come out off.

The absolute chaos in this hall; she get’s the idea to help with her own Hellp Desk; get it? In the land of the living, you have to behave and have respect for the one that has a complaint, in hell? You can beat them to a pulp and you’re still all good. She gets to know a couple of demons and they become friends; even Game nerds where she meets a demon with the deepest voice she ever heard.

Beleth is a general and a prince of hell; what he doesn’t do? Fetch jobs; but when Lucifer asks; he decides to go, stretch his legs. Little does he know that once at the Hellp desk, he falls head over heals for the woman manning the desk. Slowly; painfully slow do they go from friends to lovers. With the possibility of reincarnation still on the table for her and her wanting to be a mother; she doesn’t know if she can stay forever even if she loves Bel with all she’s got. Will she stay? Or does she reincarnate to be a mother in a new lifetime?

This story was so slow paced, it had humor yes, it also was beautifully written. I could actually picture the afterlife in my head but still; I expected there to be action and there was almost none. The spice was a bit too much; but for the smutty readers it would be glorious I guess.

I’m giving this book ⭐⭐⭐ stars.