A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon
Ratings64
Average rating3.8
This book was hard to finish. The protagonist was very unlikeable. I finished, but felt like I wasted my time. It read a lot like bad fanfiction.
The way her family keeps treating her is annoying me and also making me feel shitty. So putting this aside for now.
3.75 stars
- Paranormal Romance
- Witches
- Demons
- Magic
- Fake Relationship
- Smalltown
- Rom-com
- Opposites Attract
- Witty Banter
- Sensitive Horns
- Grumpy x Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
TL;DR Review: Cute, quirky, with a memorable and interesting cast of characters. Plot was pretty predictable, kept expecting the stakes to go higher but they never did. Added a full star for the excellent portrayal of a narcissistic mother and the personal growth required to set boundaries. Will continue with the next book in the series.
Audiobook Notes: Listened on 1.2x speed. I enjoyed most of the narrator's style. I wasn't a huge fan of the voice/accent she used for Oz, but got used to it after a bit. It just wasn't sexy, to me, and he was definitely supposed to be. She did an amazing job of Mom Spark's voice though. Grating, pushy, can't be ignored! Just like the character.
Longer Review: Mariel is an endearing character and I loved her cast of supportive girlfriends. Glimmer Falls itself is a campy sort of cozy paranormal town, and many of the other characters (like the mothers in this book) are very stereotypical of their type. I was immediately sympathetic with Mariel's feelings as the disappointing daughter, and wanted to see how she would deal with her “inability” to do magic – since it was obvious in the first chapter that would be the focus of the story. I do love the grumpy/sunshine trope so as soon as Oz was on the page I was at least somewhat invested.
Cozy, Magical, Fake Dating, Forced Proximity
A cute paranormal romcom that gave me grown up Halloween town vibes. The setting is steeped in magic, but at its core, it's a story of finding your own path and learning to set boundaries with your dysfunctional family.
It was fun to read. There's a lot of pop culture references (which always throws me off) and all the conflict is tied up a little too neatly at the end, but I'd still recommend reading it. Maybe with some hot chocolate and a delicious cookie.
Sadly, this book did not work for me. And if I'm completely honest, I'm not sure I can pinpoint a specific thing that bothered me, it was just average overall.
I feel like the focus of the book was all over the place. It was trying to straddle the line of serious discussion on trauma while still having a happy unserious tone and it just didn't work for me. I felt like the magic was under-explained, the whole family situation was a mess and so awful that I have no words. The friends were there as plot devices when the FMC needed them to show up in the story. Arguments were happening so often, and it would all resolve in the next chapter despite them saying some awful stuff to each other or other side characters.
Also, the whole conversation where she admitted who MMC was to one of her bff but let the other one believe an assumption without correcting her (for absolutely no reason) is just wild. Also, I can't be the only one who finds it weird when her friend makes her sleepover at her house to keep her from going home with MMC while drunk, but not even once tries to shield her from the abuse her mother is having on her every single day. All of the parent-child relationships in this book were pretty poorly handled tbh.
And despite all of this, I wouldn't say it was badly written or that nobody would be able to enjoy this, but I just don't think it handled any aspect of the story very well. If you are looking for a quick story for when you are in a specific mood with the right expectations, I could see people liking this more than I did.
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.
This was a nice sweet, witchy romcom. I do have a. Few issue with this, pacing and even plot elements, but it was a nice sweet romance.
4.25/5
This book was delightful. I loved Mariel and her character, I related to her a little in terms of her lack of self-confidence. But I love how much she grew into herself and settled into her powers with Oz's help. And I really related to ger struggling with the language of power, I hated learning languages at school, especially Latin was horrible and impossible for me to learn.
Oz was AMAZING, I loved how grumpy he was at the very beginning and as he and Mariel grew closer he was more open and allowed himself to be happy no matter the consequences.
Calladia was the best friend anyone could ever hope for, I adore her! The way she just marched up to Astaroth and punched him for destroying Mariel's garden was brilliant! I want to be her when I grow up, ngl. Can't wait for her book!
THE WAY MARIEL STOOD UP TO HER MOTHER, HELL YES. YES, I LOVED THAT MOMENT SO MUCH, I WAS CHEERING FOR HER! YOU GO, GIRL!
I also loved the old tiny warlock (I forgot his name, I'm sorry!), he was a great mentor to Mariel and I liked that he FINALLY had her back.
The ending was pretictable but that didn't take my enjoyment away. I loved that it ended this way, despite being able to predict it and I'm very happy for Mariel (and Oz!).
4.5 stars
Ok so I wasn't planning on reading this book this month but when it all of a sudden became available on Libby I had no choice unless I wanted to keep returning it and waiting for it over and over again until I was ready. I am so glad I decided to go ahead and read it because I really enjoyed it.
So we have Mariel Spark who at her birth was prophesied to be the most powerful witch in centuries of the famous Spark family but she is in her 20's and can't manage a summoning spell to save her life which is where Ozroth the Ruthless comes in. She is trying to summon flour and instead gets a demon. Ozroth deals in souls which means he can't leave until she gives him her soul which she is very adamant is never going to happen. And the story goes from there.
I don't want to get into to much detail because I think you should read it with as little information as possible like I did. I didn't even read the synopsis before picking it up. I loved Mariel as a character. I loved her personality so much. She the type who can be talking about something and then something will pop and her head and then she will start talking about that. I kind of found it to be funny at times. Ozroth is supposed to be this big bad demon but circumstances has changed him a bit. I love how they go from “enemies” to friends and then to lovers. I did see the conflict coming from a mile away but I didn't care. I will say I couldn't stand Mariel's family and I was so happy when Mariel finally started sticking up for herself.
Overall this was a laugh out loud enjoyable read and I can't wait for the next book to come out later this year in November.
the sex scenes were the most boring things ever but i would have taken them over the many MANY contrived situations these mfs got into. every other chapter it felt like something. ohhhhhh looook someone is being mean to main girl so main guy can defend her and prove himself! oh looooook contrived way to get him half naked. ANOTHER person is being mean to main girl. time for main guy to jump in AGAIN!
literally every character felt flat. the supporting cast was full of the most one dimensional characters ive ever seen.
Also way too predictable and WAYYYYY too long. could have been a novella. also the guy isnt even very demon-y. all this shit being talked about ohhhhh barbed demon dick this demon porn that and this man is literally just regular man with horns. not even a tail. MAJOR SPOILERS we later find out hes got this half-mortal sitch going on but literally all that changed in the sex scenes in this book were his horns were an erogenous zone. boring for demon sex AND boring for regular ass people sex. terrible news. AND the fake dating isnt that big like the title makes you think. AND neither of the main characters are very likeable.
BOTH mains are obnoxiously immature. everyone acted all of like 16, tops. I think the writing makes this worse because it was nottttt as humorous as it thought it was.
Also no offense but i would rather die than have another book talk about how BIG the male character is all the time like this one did. like girl. we get it. youre REALLY into adam driver. youve written reylo fanfiction before. literally WE GET IT.
also imo one of the worst things for me when fanfic authors jump to original fiction is because in fanfic readers are already familiar with the characters and world, they seem to have trouble introducing characters, plots, and concepts in original fiction, since they have very little practice in it. It feels like all of them need to told the show not tell rule like eight more times. This was incredibly prevalent here, even from the first chapter. It felt like every character had to have narration attached explaining who they are and what their deal is, and none of the side characters had ANYTHING going on besides their various assigned roles.sporty sensible best friend. energetic influencer friend. they, respectively seemed to always be coming or going from a workout or attached to a phone. And the bits we DID get that were interesting i.e. themmies (also side note. wtf is that name) classes for college and her more insensitive nature fleshing her out werent expanded on. The family is the same. Overbearing mother, disinterested father, vaguely “thoughtful, artistic” younger cousin, powerful eccentric uncle. they were all basically caricatures. It was awful. Even the main characters imo lack depth.
Not the best book I've ever read, ending was pretty predictable, but it was funny and enjoyable to read.
I just finished A Witch's guide to fake dating a demon by Sarah Hawley and here are my thoughts
Mariel Spark comes from a witch lineage with exceptional powers and Mariel has been prophesied to be the most powerful to have been born in centuries. Problem is, Mariel isn't living up to the expectations much to her mothers displeasure. She literally has trouble with the most basic spells but excels as a garden witch... The type of witch far beneath notice.
When another of her spells go awry and instead of summoning flour, she ends up summoning a demon to bargain for her soul.
Knowing she can't tell anyone the truth of what he is, Mariel turns the most feared demon, Ozroth, into her fake boyfriend while she figures out how to undo what she has done.
Knowing he has to return with her soul and Mariel putting up the fight of all fights, this hilarious tale between the unlikely duo will have you smiling into the pages but can Mariel find a way out of the soul bargain before it is too late for them both?
This might be the cutest book I have read in a long time. I am all about the supernatural romance on any day but this one really took it to a whole other level.
Things go wrong for Ozroth after a summoning goes wrong and he ends up with the soul of the warlock he was bargaining with, inside of himself. Making him as much human as he is a demon and collecting Mariel's soul will redeem him in the demon plane. Mariel has her own problems and knowing she doesn't measure up to her family legacy makes for a skittish witch.
I found the whole thing delightful and funny and the spice was red HAWT!! The writing was beautiful and lucid which made putting it down hard to do. I loved the plot and Mariel finding herself. Watching her and Oz together had me wrapped up in all the warm fuzzy feelings. Very well done and I am eager to read more from the author.
4.5 stars! Thank you @negalley and @penguinrandomhouseca for my review copy