Monday Book Review: DEMON LORE by Karilyn Bentley

Demon Lore by Karilyn Bentley

Published 2014 by The Wild Rose Press

About the Book:

Gin Crawford has enough problems dealing with her empath abilities. Finding out she's the world's newest demon-slayer is the last thing she needs. Unfortunately, when she slips on a mysterious bracelet she is given no other choice. On the plus side, her new gig comes with Tall, Dark and Handsome, a mage who may or may not have her best interests at heart. Thrust into a power-play between good and evil, Gin must choose a side before she becomes the next victim in the ongoing battle.

My Take:

The second book of this series recently released and the excerpts I read on the author's blog tour sounded intriguing.  I realized I'd never read the first book and didn't know the backstory of what sounded like a whole new take on demon hunting... So I purchased book one to catch up and see what the deal was.

Oh. My. God.

I whipped through this book and had the urge to start over at the beginning and read it again more slowly just to make it last longer. And then I remembered book two is already available. Happy dance over to Amazon!

Back to my review of Book One.

Gin Champagne Crawford sounds a lot like your average twenty-something (her exact age isn't ever made clear) who works as an emergency room nurse. The twist is that she's also an empath, with a psychic connection to her twin brother, named Tonic, who's a ghost whisperer. Okay, not so average after all. And the names? Gin and Tonic, so named by their alcoholic parents? Hilarious.

In the very first chapter,  Gin's  life gets even more strange, if that's possible, when a coworker somehow gifts her a silver bracelet after being shot in the chest.  The silver bracelet connects her with a whole new group that hunts demons and minions, protecting the Earth from evil for centuries. She finds out about all this in bits and pieces, after one of those said minions follows her home from the hospital and tries to kill her. Talk about a bad day at work.

The saving grace is her handler, or Guardian, who's a hot hunk of muscle named Aidan Smythe. The sizzle between the pair is instantaneous and ever present, but both of them are way deep in denial. Here's to hoping that relationship gets explored a lot more fully as the series continues! (Did I mention I already bought Book Two?)

Why did I love this so much? First person narration is never my favorite... Except, for some reason, when it comes to these types of paranormal adventures. I loved Gin's snarky narration and self-deprecation. Okay, so there were a lot of questions left unanswered as I reached the end of the story, but somehow they didn't leave me frustrated.

I have total faith that the story will unfold naturally over the course of the series, and all secrets will be revealed. The story was too fast paced to allow for a lot or backstory or wallowing in the past,  which was probably why I was okay with it being unanswered. Well, that and I already have Book Two downloaded.

So yeah, I can totally Totally recommend this book as a fast paced nonstop paranormal romp that will leave you wanting more, but in a good way.

Grab a copy on Amazon