Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Review: The Demon Lover


Reviewed by Jen
 
I'm going to start this review by telling you what I wish I knew when I started this book. It's the first in a series and the ending is horrible. It's a cliffhanger; there is no HEA; and frankly, as annoyed as I am, I am having a hard time remembering the things I actually liked about this book. But I'm going to try, because I really was pretty into it, until the last 25 pages or so.

Callie is a published author and is something of an expert in the folklore surrounding demon lovers and gothic literature. As the story begins, she is offered a job in a quaint little New York town, with a small private college. She's hesitant to accept at first, thinking she'd hold out for an offer from NYU, but she is drawn to an amazing old house. A famous author named Dahlia lived there before her death... and that, coupled with an intangible attraction, compel Callie to buy the place.

It's revealed that in her childhood, Callie would often be visited by a shadowy prince in her dreams. Well, now he's back and he wants to do more than talk. He visits her every night in her dreams and sexes her up. She spends her days at the college --and going through old papers that Dahlia left in the house. Now, even though Callie is an expert on the study of the incubus and Dahlia's journals detail her encounters with the same being... it takes forever for Callie to realize exactly what she's dealing with.

Once she does, the book really reeled me in. We find out all manner of supernatural beings inhabit the town. Callie is exposed to an entirely different world and learns alot about herself as well. She gets a new love interest whose identity is pretty transparent, but I found myself really drawn to him anyway. I enjoyed watching Callie grow into her new identity and fall in love (whether she acknowledges that's what's happening or not.) There's even a mystery that pops up as several members of the community grow ill.

I could forgive the ease is which I saw through Liam; I could even forgive the thoroughly obvious nature of the villain. What I couldn't forgive was the ending. I need a happy ending. This was not that. Will I read the second book? Yes. Am I still pissed? Yes. Would a different ending have given this book a higher rating? (Say it with me:) Yes. Grrr. 3 1/2 stars.

*ARC Provided by NetGalley

Click to purchase: Amazon
The Demon Lover
by Juliet Dark (Carol Goodman)
Release Date: December 27, 2011
Publisher: Random House

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4 Comments:

At Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:06:00 AM CST , Blogger Molli @ Once Upon a Prologue said...

I'm about to start reading this book today or tomorrow...realized it's about to expire on NG! It seems very intriguing, but that sucks about the ending. Yikes.

 
At Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:36:00 PM CST , Blogger ahz1 said...

Great review, Jen. So true about the ending...

 
At Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 7:51:00 PM CST , Blogger Amber I @ Awesomesauce said...

The villain and Liam were pretty obvious but I still really enjoyed the book. I am used to the cliffhanger endings so I wasn't crazy bothered by it. Great Review! I agree with it all.

 
At Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 7:13:00 AM CST , Blogger Brie said...

I hate cliffhangers! Hate them! I almost requested this book but now I’m glad I didn’t, I think I’ll wait until the whole series is done or until we get a better for-now ending.

I leave today to spend Christmas with my family and my bf and I’ll probably be incommunicado until next year, so have a fun Christmas with you family, get lots of present and may the New Year bring you joy and lots of great books!

See you next year!

 

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