Review: Demons are a Girl's Best Friend by Linda Wisdom

Title: Demons are a Girl's Best Friend
Author: Linda Wisdom
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: 04/01/11
But the Book:

Summary:

A bewitching woman on a mission...

Feisty witch Maggie enjoys her work as a paranormal law enforcement officer -- that is, until she's assigned to protect a teenager with major attitude and plenty of Mayan enemies. Maggie's never going to survive this assignment without the help of a half-fire demon who makes her smolder...

A hotter-than-sin hero with an agenda...

Declan is proprietor of an underground club and busy demon portal. No way he'll allow his demon race to be blamed for the malicious acts of some crazy evil Mayans. But he's already got his hands full when the sexy witch offers him a challenge he can't refuse...

Plot: 3 Stars
This novel was one of those that suffers from the blurb on the back of the book not matching so well with the actual story that is read. Sure, everything mentioned actually happens, but there was a point where I wondered if they had put the wrong blurb on the back. The Mayan plotline wasn't nearly as involved as I thought it was going to be, which was a bit disappointing because it was one of the main reasons I picked the novel up. Basically, the blurb leads you to believe that the majority of the book is going to be the described events, when in reality these events didn't really start taking place until about halfway through the novel. The first half of the novel was a lot of set up between the characters, plus a number of scenes that played a large part in the plot and probably should've been mentioned in the blurb. By the time I finished, I really had enjoyed the novel. I just couldn't get over how long I was sitting there reading, wondering when the Mayans and teenagers would come into play. Outside of this fact, the author wove a great world where numerous paranormal creatures interact. And I always love paranormal law enforcement agencies. They tend to happen more in Urban Fantasy, so it was great to see one highlighted in a Paranormal Romance.

Pace: 2.5 Stars
Along with the strange blurb leaving me wondering for a while, the first half of the novel was a bit slow. I'm sure a part of it has to do with waiting around for certain plot elements that were promised. But I think a larger part was due to the amount of information the author shared about the world, the characters, and the law enforcement agency. Some of these details that were given to us right up front, could've been spread throughout the novel a little more. It seemed like the author wanted to make sure we had all of the information in the first half, so that the second half could focus more on the action. But the beginning ended up a bit muddled with a lot of long descriptions. Once the plot really took a turn in the direction that the blurb promised, the pace picked up and it was a race to the end.

Characters: 3 Stars
Maggie was one kick ass chick! I actually wondered at time if this novel would have a happily ever after (since it's a romance) because she was such a strong independant woman. Her powers were also very interesting. I've read many novels that included witches, but this was my first where all of the spells are little rhymes or phrases that are made up on the spot. They were silly without being cutesy, perfect for Maggie. I didn't really care for Declan at first because I had trouble connecting with his character, but he grew on me as the book continued. I wish we could've learned more about his powers as a fire demon. He rarely used them. The teenager they were tasked to watch wasn't as rambunctions and rebellious as I expected from the blurb, but I really enjoyed that plotline and her character, so I'm glad she was more toned down. The smaller characters that Maggie worked with were a wide variety of creatures, and I hope we learn more about them in future books.

Cover: 3 Stars
I'm not the biggest fan of the outfit worn by the cover model, but it is described in the novel, so I like that the cover artist picked up that detail. I also liked the bar detail in the background. The cover model's pose is great. It really gives her a kick ass vibe. And I love that she's looking away from the reader. It allowed me to picture Maggie how I wanted, and hinted at a bit of mystery. The model chosen for Declan was not how I pictured him at all though. My favorite part of the cover is the title placement and font choice. A long title like this could've easily taken over the cover with the wrong font, but this title stands out without detracting from the cover itself. My one problem with this cover is that I've seen it before, from the same publisher no less. One month early, on March 1st, Sourcebooks released Taste Me by Tamara Hogan, and the covers are eerily similar. It looks like another image taken from the same photoshoot, with small details such as hair color digitally changed. I can totally understand using multiple images from the same photoshoot for multiple books in a series, or years later with more drastic changes. But to use such similar images two months in a row just bugs me a little.


Overall: 3 Stars

Disclosure: I borrowed this novel from the local library.