Author: Sidney Ayers
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Series: Demons Unleashed, Book 1
ISBN: 1402251742
Purchase Information:
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*Novel provided by the publisher for a honest review
For more information please visit Sidney Ayers' website.
With demons the hottest new heroes in the romance category, this is a fantastic debut paranormal.
When beautiful half-succubus Lucy Gregory's antique chest unleashes a Pandora's box of demonic activity in a suburban beauty salon, brooding demon Rafe arrives to run damage control. He's darkly sexy and everything she's avoided-icy and reserved-but that only adds to his mysterious appeal. Being a demon, he knows he should be able to resist Lucy's charms, but his resistance is slipping at the worst moment. And Lucy has no idea of the power she possesses.
Demons Prefer Blondes, the first novel in the Demons Unleashed series by Sidney Ayers, is everything you’d expect about a novel centered around a beauty salon. Its fun, witty and a very girly read filled with fashion and demons. What more could a girl want, right? Well, how about an ancient chest filled with demons which brings out a sexy Paladin to find it before it gets opened located smack dab in the middle of Lucy Gregory’s shop. A great romantic read that is light and fun and sort of reminiscent of the 80’S romantic comedy ‘Earth Girls are Easy’ only without the colorful aliens and musical numbers!
From the beginning I definitely liked Ayer’s world building. There’s a very light hearted atmosphere despite the obvious weight of the subject matter. While the sense of immediacy is nice, I found it often off set by the witty characters and the sassy heroine. It was definitely nice seeing a fully dimensional story still maintain an easy going appeal. It was very unusual as was the setting making for a wonderful tale aimed directly at lovers of chick lit. I even hate to say it because I know people won’t think it’s the compliment that it is, but it reminds me of the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo centering around a Daphne like character. That’s the sort of atmosphere that Ayer’s created and I really loved it!
The characters are also a wide range of personalities offering characters capable of being serious and those of offering comic relief. Lucy, while being a very approachable character for readers as she struggles to keep her business in the black with a wonderful sense of independence, had a great spunkiness that was wonderful to see develop. She’s sassy, passionate and above all else, a very caring and loyal individual. She treats her friends and employees with great respect and admiration that I really found quite endearing. But, it was also her easy going nature that made me respect her. She doesn’t fight against what she considers to be unfair or impossible, instead she goes with it, embracing those things about herself that defy definition and sanity. But, if Lucy is all things light, then Rafael is all things dark and serious. He’s imposing and has a presence that is very dominating and intimidating. The air of power about him is obvious and a great contrast to Lucy and her Scooby gang. This creates and interesting dynamic in their relationship that was wonderful, sort of like oil and water, but somehow it really works creating a very passionate and tense romance. Also, I feel that I have to mention the secondary characters which were pure fun! From Lucy’s wacky employees, to her amusing friend, to the long list of characters who pop in and out throughout the story, all of them definitely offer something to the story one way or another that I truly enjoyed.
The writing was exceptionally well done, creating a fun yet wonderfully written story that managed to be light and airy without being too silly. In fact, there was a perfect balance of inane witticism, action and romance that kept the story shy of being completely vapid. Instead, this novel was simply put, fun. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I believe will really enjoy this novel as it has that same feeling of fun and action that is enthralling as it manages to be at times quite serious and dramatic as well as being light hearted and amusing.
In the end, this novel was a joy to read with a great cast of characters and an interesting plot that I had a lot of fun reading. To be honest, it was something of a surprise as I was expecting the story to not be quite as well rounded as it was. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself reading at every chance that I could just to delve back into this amusing and lush world. Can’t wait for the next installment, Demons like it Hot, due out in December!
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Scars
Advisory: Sexual Content
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