Saturday, September 14, 2024

Review: A Demon's Book of Shadows by Amanda Casey

I'd like to start by thanking Ms. Casey for approving my request and allowing me the opportunity to read her book and give it a fair and honest review. 

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Lucy has abstained from practicing magic for too long, according to her two single witch sisters. The equally single children’s librarian is fed up with the magic her Crow family has long been known for. All she wants is to publish a picture book and help kids cope with dyslexia. Like her fictional character Crystal the witch, Lucy possesses a special ability to see spirits. The last thing she needs is for a hot, tattooed demon haunting her library.

Amon has lived in the cozy Midwestern town of Midhaven for too long. He spends his time hanging out at Shadow Daddy’s bar with his demon brothers, or designing artwork at his tattoo parlor. His shadows all know that his romance life is lacking color. One fateful day, he is summoned by a wendigo who demands that he track down a grimoire his father lost over three hundred years ago.

Lucy and Amon are forced to put their beliefs about magic aside and work together to track down the grimoire. The one thing they can’t ignore is the magical chemistry between each other. Their feelings for one another ignites, leaving the witch and the demon wondering—can one really read magic? Or is magic like a good book, one that keeps you captivated forever?

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I'm prefacing with the fact I have exactly zero recollection of signing up for this eARC. Not that I particularly mind when that happens. It's a fun surprise. 

That said, I'm not entirely sure this particular book was for me. The connection between Amon and Lucy seemed really contrived. There were many many moments throughout the book that gave me a bit of ick. I really didn't understand their absolute obsession with sex all the time. That it's only sex that will cure/solve any kind of problem. 

Lucy is a librarian. She has not been practicing magic for quite some time. And that seems to be causing interesting things to happen in Midhaven. And by that, I just mean a bunch of demons that showed up and opened a magical bar that I guess only other magical folk can see, you know, demons or witches. That was a unique thing that happened, but then there was no explanation that it was only demons and witches (and probably vampires, I don't know, they are mentioned in passing) that could even see and interact with the place. Lucy ignores it, focusing instead on her work with the library and then going home to be an introverted bookworm. 

Until Amon, a demon, begins basically stalking her and harrassing her. He's looking for this grimoire that his parents wrote that he lost. I think that he lost something like 300 years ago. In that time, he hasn't found it? Or even knew where it had ended up? You'd think something like that would have been a higher priority, but who am I to say anything. 

There were many times that I considered DNFing this book, but I wanted to see if it got any better or at least not so pent up? This was so just awkward, reading about them thinking about sleeping with each other and then just not bothering. It was like watching a very slow car accident. 

It did pick up a little bit after they finally get together, but by then my interest had wholly waned with the book. I think I would have been far more interested in it had there been more about the relationship between Familiars and Witches, a history of what happened at the Earth Uprising, more on the Bone Threader, the history between Melrose, Jeffery, and Amon. It felt really rushed at the end because she only gave herself half the book for all of this to happen. 

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This book will be available for purchase on 13 October 2024

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