*ARC* Book Review: The Accidental Demon Slayer

Title: The Accidental Demon Slayer

Author: Angie Fox

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone/ Series: First book of Demon Slayer series.

Summary: It’s never a good day when an ancient demon shows up on your toilet bowl. For Lizzie Brown, that’s just the beginning. Soon her hyperactive terrier starts talking, and her long-lost biker witch Grandma is hurling Smuckers jars filled with magic. Just when she thinks she’s seen it all, Lizzie learns she’s a demon slayer – and all hell is after her.

Of course, that’s not the only thing after her. Dimitri Kallinikos, a devastatingly handsome shape-shifting griffin needs Lizzie to slay a demon of his own. But how do you talk a girl you’ve never met into going straight to the underworld? Lie. And if that doesn’t work, how dangerous could a little seduction be…?

Why did I read the book: I thought the blurb was a hoot. When I read it, I just had to get this book and was ever so happy to get an ARC from the publisher.

Review:

It is Lizzie Brown’s 30th birthday and like everything else in her life, her birthday party is minutely organised – her friends are waiting for her at that new cool restaurant, she even mustered the courage to approach that guy from the gym and invite him. Sadly her 30th birthday is also the day she is supposed to become the Exalted Demon Slayer of Dalea , a piece of information she comes by when her blood grandmother, walks through her door for the first time in her life and shoves her into her own bathroom. Trapped inside she can only listen while granny is going around chanting strange spell-like words and telling her that at 6:43 pm she will come into her powers. And she does, even if at first she thinks she is hallucinating due to sanitising spray inhalation, only to find that a demon called Xerxes who seems to be looking for HER specifically, has appeared on top of her toilet bowl. Oddest thing of all though was that she feels the urge to smile at him full of hate because he was evil and foul and smelled like rotten cheese and somehow manages to fight back his attack and send him away.

She comes out of the bathroom and her life will never be the same again. Lizzie learns that grandma is a witch that belongs to a coven on the run (they got kicked out of the coven in Westchester – they really are not the best guests in the world) and Lizzie must hop on her pink Harley Davidson so that they go to Memphis , meet the rest of the team of geriatric witches and start her training pronto.

But Lizzie is the least adventurous person in the world – she is a pre-school teacher who only wants to be left alone with her dog, Pirate – who incidentally starts to TALK and it’s ever so excited to go away with granny – but she really has no choice here. It seems she comes from a very powerful lineage of women slayers and so she makes a deal with the witch that she will accompany her to Memphis and see what can be done about ending any demons complications.

On the way they are attacked again and helped by a shape shifting man-griffin called Dimitri Kallinikos who claims to be her protector and ends up being her coach when her grandmother is taken to hell by a 5 level demon called Vald.

Now Lizzie must learn everything she can about her powers within a few days so she can go to Hell (literally) and rescue her grandmother within the small window of time they are granted, whilst struggling to find a place in her grandmother’s coven of crazy hostile witches, fighting power-hungry werewolves and at the same time trying to find out whether Dimitri is really trustworthy or not (he may or may not have his own reasons to have approached her) because on top of everything she really does have the hots for him. Plus everybody seems to be keeping things from her, throwing half-truths that bug the hell out of Lizzie and expecting that she will just accept everything. Oh well, good thing Lizzie is her own woman.

The Accidental Demon Slayer is non-stop action full of quirky details: I mean, geriatric witches in Harley Davidsons with names such as Ant Eater that carry their spells in Smucker’s Jars and that barbecue road kill? A heroine that has an inner compass that makes her move TOWARDS any kind of trouble (not only Demon-like trouble) and who as a pre-school teacher is incapable of cursing and goes about saying things like “ouchie” or “mother fudrucker? A hot Greek griffin that is not the kind of guy who would want to just have sex without commitment? And the cutest little talking dog ever? It’s all in here. And I loved these details – if felt very fresh.

Still, I had few minor peeves – some things felt a bit too rushed, specially how Lizzie came into her powers and started to use them ( I was bit confused at the “hows” – especially the special trick she does in the end when they are in hell) . I also wasn’t very convinced about her loyalty to her grandmother so soon especially given all the half-truths thrown at her.

Another thing is that I thought Dimitri lacked some depth, I wasn’t sure of who or what he really was – and their connection felt a bit too much too soon, but to be fair to Angie Fox, there were no love words spoken which leads me to believe that theirs is going to be an ongoing relationship with potential for growth along the way, particularly after what happened in their trip to hell – their connection runs even deeper now, even if Dimitri does not know about it (how is that for cryptic?) I rather like that idea.

There are many twists and turns and a very cool climax with a descent into hell to meet a scientist demon that likes playing with souls and if we take into consideration all of the aforementioned peculiar details this is a very promising debut – I will certainly be reading more of Lizzie’s adventures, hoping that some of the small problems I had with this book will be tweaked in the next.

Notable quotes/Parts: When Lizzie was trapped in the bathroom at the beginning of the book she looks for any kind of weapon and decides to use Purple Prairie Clover sanitizing spray against her grandmother, she sprays the thing and then Xerxes, the demon, appears and she freaks out and the resulting inner monologue was hilarious:

Somewhere, there existed a reasonable explanation for what was happening. I just had to find it. Had I inhaled some of the sanitizing spray? Naturally. Yes. That could explain a lot. Please. This had to be a warped Purple Prairie Clover head trip.

Additional Thoughts: Come back tomorrow for an exclusive interview with Angie Fox where she dishes all about the series and for a chance to win a copy of The Accidental Demon Slayer!

Verdict: Funny and action-packed with quirky details that makes it a very interesting debut. I had some minor problems with a few characters and some of the plot developments but still think it’s well worth a read.

Rating: end of scale of 6. Good.

Reading next: Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake