publisher: Ballantine Books
date of publication: December 27, 2011
format: eGalley
pages: 371
source: Netgalley
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N
From Goodreads:
I gasped . . . or tried to. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t draw breath. . . . His lips, pearly wet, parted and he blew into my mouth. My lungs expanded beneath his weight. When I exhaled he sucked in my breath and his weight turned from cold marble into warm living flesh.
Since accepting a teaching position at remote Fairwick College in upstate New York, Callie McFay has experienced the same disturbingly erotic dream every night: A mist enters her bedroom, then takes the shape of a virile, seductive stranger who proceeds to ravish her in the most toe-curling, wholly satisfying ways possible. Perhaps these dreams are the result of writing her bestselling book, The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers. After all, Callie’s lifelong passion is the intersection of lurid fairy tales and Gothic literature—which is why she finds herself at Fairwick’s renowned folklore department, living in a once-stately Victorian house that, at first sight, seemed to call her name.
But Callie soon realizes that her dreams are alarmingly real. She has a demon lover—an incubus—and he will seduce her, pleasure her, and eventually suck the very life from her. Then Callie makes another startling discovery: He’s not the only mythical creature in Fairwick. As the tenured witches of the college and the resident fairies in the surrounding woods prepare to cast out the incubus, Callie must accomplish something infinitely more difficult—banishing this demon lover from her heart.
What I Thought
I was quite taken by surprise when I began to read this book. I went in expecting an adult paranormal romance with an intriguing premise. What I found was so much more. The author took the time to fill out her story with such amazing background information and character development in such unexpected ways that I couldn't help but become more intrigued. The Demon Lover is one of those books that comes out of left field: you expect to enjoy it, but it surprises you in some way in the end that leaves you feeling refreshed and pleased.
The Demon Lover is just the type of book that I look for when I need a slight break from YA novels. Before I began reading YA books again, I read quite a number of adult paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and high fantasy novels. This is just the type of book I would have gravitated toward then. Filled with intriguing elements such as folklore and mythology, a town established to house varying supernatural creatures, and enough literary terminology to make an English major feel warm and fuzzy, The Demon Lover takes what is already an intriguing premise and runs with it. I was especially pleased to find mention of a bit of Celtic lore that I have read about before, though the Anglicized version of the name threw me off (leave it to me to know the Irish word before the English one). The gean-cānach (or Ganconer, as he is known in the book) is such an interesting version of the incubus. While he isn't entirely recognizable in this book, I did like the changes made to the character that rendered just the right adversary for this book. It wouldn't have worked quite as well had he been more like folklore describes him when held up next to the other characters at play within the story, which range from witches, faeries, and brownies to lidercs (a Hungarian version of the succubus) to vampires. This book is a mythological free-for-all that left me very excited to read all of these old stories once again. I'm sure the main character, Callie, would approve of that, as she is very much a researcher and a huge fan of literature. For the most part, I adored her and can't wait to read more about her in subsequent installments.
While there is much about The Demon Lover that I loved, there was one issue that I became disappointed by. About half-way through the book, the plot seems to lag in a way that felt disruptive to the reading experience. I can see now what was taking shape, but it made for a halting flow for the plot that I wasn't too fond of. While it gave time for some of the subplots to float to the surface and gain attention for a little while, it just wasn't done as though it were all part of the same book. The best way I can describe it is to say that it felt almost as though I were reading a book within a book (which actually does take place, oddly enough, although with less fits and starts). This aspect left me feeling frustrated with my own rating system, as it isn't quite adequate for a situation such as this.
The Demon Lover is a great read for fans of adult paranormal romance. I wouldn't recommend it for young teen audiences, as it gets quite racy at times, but it also isn't so over-the-top as other novels of its kind. If you love novels containing lots of mythology and folklore, then you should definitely give this one a chance. It was vastly entertaining and I couldn't have been more pleased to have been approved to read it. I think it is safe to stay that I've still got it when it comes to selecting adult novels for myself to read. The Demon Lover rates as a 3.75 for me, so it earns a 4 hoot distinction.
Obligatory legal statement: This eGalley was provided to me free of charge by the publisher via Netgalley. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this fair and unbiased review.
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