Mariel knows not to trust a demon, especially one who wants her soul, but what's a witch to do when he won't leave her side—and she kind of doesn't want him to?
Mariel Spark is prophesied to be the most powerful witch seen in centuries of the famed Spark family, but to the displeasure of her mother, she prefers baking to brewing potions and gardening to casting hexes. When a spell to summon flour goes very wrong, Mariel finds herself staring down a demon—one she inadvertently summoned for a soul bargain.
Ozroth the Ruthless is a legend among demons. Powerful and merciless, he drives hard bargains to collect mortal souls. But his reputation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry—if he can strike one with Mariel, he will earn back his deadly reputation. Ozroth can't leave Mariel's side until they complete a bargain, which she refuses to do (turns …
Mariel knows not to trust a demon, especially one who wants her soul, but what's a witch to do when he won't leave her side—and she kind of doesn't want him to?
Mariel Spark is prophesied to be the most powerful witch seen in centuries of the famed Spark family, but to the displeasure of her mother, she prefers baking to brewing potions and gardening to casting hexes. When a spell to summon flour goes very wrong, Mariel finds herself staring down a demon—one she inadvertently summoned for a soul bargain.
Ozroth the Ruthless is a legend among demons. Powerful and merciless, he drives hard bargains to collect mortal souls. But his reputation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry—if he can strike one with Mariel, he will earn back his deadly reputation. Ozroth can't leave Mariel's side until they complete a bargain, which she refuses to do (turns out some humans are attached to their souls).
But the witch is funny. And curvy. And disgustingly yet endearingly cheerful. Becoming awkward roommates quickly escalates when Mariel, terrified to confess the inadvertent summoning to her mother, blurts out that she's dating Ozroth. As Ozroth and Mariel struggle with their opposing goals and maintaining a fake friendship, real attraction blooms between them. But Ozroth has a limited amount of time to strike a deal, and if Mariel gives up her soul, she'll lose all her emotions—including love—which will only spell disaster for them both.
Review of "A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon" on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
Solid book, interesting take on why demons collect souls.
I really enjoyed magic misfirings and the rules binding the accidentally-summoned demon Oz to a witch. No huge surprises here, of course they get closer and fall for each other. This was a cute and comfy read, and I laughed a couple of times. Will read the other books of the series as well, but probably not right away.
Review of "A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon" on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
3 stelle scarse: 2.75 o 2.5.
Review to come. It was overall a meh read. there were a few points I liked but were treated very superficially to focus more on the romance, which felt shallow, with an immature FMC and toxic side characters. Glad I have it behind me and I am not sure I want to read about Calladia, which I didn't like, and Astaroth, who was the evil guy.
In terms of plot and pacing, nothing happens, if not towards the end. Many moments are spent around Mariel's mother who is very braggy and toxic and it was totally unnecessary. It just conveys that ridiculous sit-com tone throughout the book that was just cringy. The story was treated very superficially. I was very annoyed by that, because it could have been interesting and more gripping. The book could have been easily 180 pages long to tell the …
3 stelle scarse: 2.75 o 2.5.
Review to come. It was overall a meh read. there were a few points I liked but were treated very superficially to focus more on the romance, which felt shallow, with an immature FMC and toxic side characters. Glad I have it behind me and I am not sure I want to read about Calladia, which I didn't like, and Astaroth, who was the evil guy.
In terms of plot and pacing, nothing happens, if not towards the end. Many moments are spent around Mariel's mother who is very braggy and toxic and it was totally unnecessary. It just conveys that ridiculous sit-com tone throughout the book that was just cringy. The story was treated very superficially. I was very annoyed by that, because it could have been interesting and more gripping. The book could have been easily 180 pages long to tell the same story without the sitcom episodes with Mariel, her mum and Oz. Here below a couple of examples:
Diantha took a deep breath, and Ozroth felt a prickle of dread, sensing the arrival of a monologue. "I suppose I could have gone to the hospital," she said, "but I wanted Mariel's first moments to be connected to magic, and it's hard to access magic while machines are beeping and a doctor is elbow-deep in your vagina." "Please stop talking about your vagina," Mariel said. Diantha looked at her fondly. "Darling, I don't know how you turned out to be such a prude. We're all adults here, and at least half of us have vaginas. It's the same as talking about an elbow." "Is it?" Cynthia asked skeptically.
So many eye-roll moments, like how obsessed is Mariel with the demon's dick size. WTH!
Mariel has suffered all her life from her mother's pressure to become a witch worthy of the name spark. She feels a failure and constantly behaves in a way to confirm her negative opinion about herself. Her development doesn't feels realistic. She redeems herself towards the end, but it happens so fast that it felt like someone pressed a button and she is cured from her psychological issues. She is also very immature and vents all of her frustration out on ozroth for sticking around instead of looking at what she did wrong or even improving in her spell making.
There were aspects of this book that I like because I love nature and animals, like that Mariel has a talent for nature magic or that the plot was revolving about the conflict between nature and economic interests.
In general, I am very annoyed and fed up with the paranormal romance genre. always including a love story, it would have a lot of potential. Very often a world is introduced that remains constantly underdeveloped even after 15 books, in the case of the Ward and Adrian series for example. the plot and events are very often centered on a drama concerning the couple. Developing over a series, there might be a longer and more complex story arc concerning all the characters involved, but very often even that is not known where it goes and often remains in an undefined limbo. and then, there is the erotic aspect that I don't understand why sex scenes have to be described in such detail and not left partially to the imagination. I find them always embarrassing the way they are written and I don't feel like going into detail on example sentences.
Review of "Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This was fun. It was a bit quick to go from soul-bargaining to mushiness but there was plenty of other plot things happening to keep me invested. Full review to follow.
