Customer Reviews

The Demon King and I

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Caruthers Sisters are the Guardians who protect Earth from the creatures of various other worlds who would do harm to humankind. It is their job to keep demons, dragons, Fey, and more on their side of the portals used to travel between those worlds. Or at least, keep them off of Earth.

Gillian Caruthers is known to the world as a lawyer and high-powered business woman, a jet-setting arts dealer and celebrity in her own right. What the world doesn't know is that she is the Guardian who stands between the Demon realm and mankind. When demon butt needs to be kicked it is her responsibility.

Then a new demon king comes to town. Arath isn't anything like his predecessors - in fact he looks disturbingly like the most exciting man Gillian has ever lain eyes on. But it could never work between a Demon King and a Demon Slayer, could it?

They'll have plenty of time to explore that possibility while trying to ferret out the mysterious threat that brings danger and death to both their worlds, not to mention the people Gillian cares most for.

When I saw the blurb for THE DEMON KING AND I by Candace Havens, I knew I had to read this book. Something about it just struck a chord about me. Maybe it resonated with me somewhat because of my love for the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV series and its similarity to that show.

Having now read the story, I can say that comparing it to "Buffy" is a more than fair comparison - but only a comparison. While Gillian and her sisters share some qualities with that legendary heroine, this is very much a different world and they are very different characters. Of course, when you have any kick-butt female slayer there will always be some comparison to Buffy.

Although this is a paranormal romance complete with the requisite demons, mages, and similar creatures, what makes the world a mite surreal (in a good way) is the way it is set in a contemporary world, lending it a normalcy that makes the paranormal bits even easier to believe, even if just for the story's duration.

The story is told in first person, completely from Gillian's perspective, so we get to know this character intimately. We experience her pain, her longings, her dreams, her nightmares and more. We see her hero, Arath, through her eyes, and that isn't a bad thing at all. Truly, both Gillian and the reader would be hard pressed to find any fault with the Demon King. Bold, decisive, strong, caring, and even a little nurturing, he is everything a leader and a hero should be. I know I would fall for him in a heartbeat, so it never surprised me that the demon slayer would also.

I have to say that I am hooked on this new series. Having enjoyed every minute of THE DEMON KING AND I, this reviewer is very much looking forward to the next CARUTHERS SISTERS story!

**Courtesy of Wild on Books**

What I Loved: Snark? Check! Kick Butt Leading Lady with great clothes? Check! Hot Half-Demon Stubborn Man? Check! This was snarky fun at its best and you just couldn't help but fall in love with Gillian and Arath. They were perfect for each other despite the fact that she has been deemed with the responsibility to kill any of his kind that uses the portals to earth. That is the price you pay when you are a Caruthers sister and guardians of Earth. Oh well because Gillian's dating life has always been messy. There were some great storylines in this book and some teases into the future books that make you want to pick up the next one soon!

What I Liked: The Caruthers family in general. They are complicated, smart, fashionable, and multi-taskers that make you go WOW! This book was defiantly a good launch to this series.

Complaints: None

Why I gave it a 4: Snark, Fun, Hot Leading Man, and my face was in a permanent grin when I finished :) Reason enough for a 4!

Who would I recommend it too: PNR readers that like Chicklit because this was a great cross between the two!

Author Website: http://www.candacehavens.com/

The four Caruthers sisters knew from birth that they were special Guardian Keys protecting humanity from select paranormal killers. Each of the siblings is a specialist with a unique power to fight a specific horde.

Gillian, owner of a Sao Paulo, Brazil art gallery and the CEO of the family owned Texas based Caruthers Corporation, caught her boyfriend in bed with one of her art gallery managers. Her talent being super strength she broke the sink. Her super strength comes in mighty handy when Gillian works her other job, the Assassin of dimension hopping demons. So even she is taken back when Arath, the new king of the demons, asks for a truce so they can team up to battle an unknown third force killing human and demon without regard. Even more shocking to the Guardian is her attraction to her temporary ally

The first of a new romantic urban fantasy is a piece of haven for sub-genre fans. The lead couple is a delightful pairing of beloved enemies fighting against a sly sinister unknown force killing both sides. The story line is fast-paced from the moment that Gillian kicks the butt of her sink and never slows down until the final confrontation; in between are several super twists. Readers will be whistling a happy tune with this superb paranormal romance.

Harriet Klausner

The start of Haven's Guardian Key's series, The Demon King and I, is a pleasant enough read but a bit on the schizophrenic side. The heroine Gillian is one of four sisters who guard our world from other worldly invaders, her speciality is demons. But Gillian is not only a demon slayer extraodinaire skilled at loping off demon heads with her trusty sword, but she is also also rich and famous with a name dropping designer wardrobe. The story moves back and forth between her duties as slayer and as socialite with equal time for descriptions of her battles and her fashion dilemmas. So as you might have already guessed this was not a deep read.

I liked the demon king love interest Arath, Haven's descriptions give him a strong sensual presence in the book, though there wasn't a great deal of development of the romantic part of the relationship between the pair and Gillian doesn't suffer much angst as she finds herself falling for the enemy. But still if you are looking for a light read with a bit of mild romance and you like chicklity first person heroines, you will probably enjoy this one and be glad to know that there are three more sisters to go (the dragonslayer sister with her former enemy dragonshifter is up next).

Ok, so I was reading reviews about the 2nd book in this series. It caught my attention and then I realized it was the 2nd book. So in order to be able to read #2, I had to go through #1. I didn't have high expectations. I was kind of imagining Paris and Nicki Hilton as demon hunters. So you can imagine my hesitation. I was pleasantly surprised. The characters were very well developed and not snotty and vapid in the least. They did have a couple girly things about them, like their love of clothes but the main character in this one, Gilly, was a very mature woman. She was a lawyer and art dealer. Some of the lines in the end between her and Arath were a bit cheesy, but overall this has been one of my favorite books in a while. This is definitely one that I will return to the library and then purchase. So, in conclusion, don't be put off by some of the book jacket comments, and the cover - it really isn't Paris Hilton with a sword. And thank GOD for that!

I am a Candance Havens fan, don't get me wrong but I found this book to a bit in the drab area. I felt no real connection to the romance the story was TOO full of 'I'm a part of this life, I'm a part of that life, I'm rich, I'm powerful, I save the world, I go to art Shows' for my taste. In worlds such as these its fine to have fantastic, unreal things but overloading a person makes them lose interest. It takes the realism away, which okay readers yearn to escape reality, sure, but not to the land of the absurd. I enjoyed her other series much more. I felt the connection, the romance, the world was much more grounded. This story was all very blah for me. I won't be taking a deeper look into this series. Sorry.

I got this book on clearance at the bookstore so i wasn't sure what to expect but it was a good book. The end wasn't as developed as it could have been but it held my interest well. I loved the main characters!

This is the first book that I have read by Candace Havens, although I have all of the Charmed books. I enjoyed the book for the most part. There was a lot of talk about portals and different worlds and different demons that I often got lost and confused in. But I enjoyed the characters a lot. I really liked Gillian. I could sense a warmth from her and there was a scene where she goes through the Taco Bell, that while its an extremely tiny scene in the story, it made me like Gillian even more. And Arath sounded so hot! I could totally picture him as the way he was written and I liked that he had a hidden softer side to him. And I really liked the sisters. The next book in the series, Dragons Prefer Blondes, is centered around another one of the sisters. I look forward to reading it.

I really wanted to like this book. It started off promising, but Gillian quickly grew annoying, especially with the first person event log. I'd rather have read in third person during the scenes, so it didn't feel as much like a report. She flitted all over the place attention-wise, chattered on about unimportant things, and glossed over battles and murders. She went off on tangents about law, art, technology, and clothes...things which had no real impact on the story. She seemed vapid and self-involved, even for a celebutante heiress.

It was so slow that I ended up speed reading through it, only slowing down to read scenes between Gilly and Arath in the hopes that their romance would be good, which was a waste of time, since they had zero chemistry. Also annoying was the fact that Gilly and Arath fought a lot, then Gilly would get whiny and insecure and would apologize and grovel to Arath. The murders, mystery, and invading demons took a backseat to a very forced "romance", which was more like sexual attraction than love. I would have liked to have seen more emotion between them - a better connection - so I could believe there was more there than just wanting each others' bodies ... as it went though, I ended up wishing Havens had spent more time on the action, since the romance was a dud.

It was hard to remember Gilly's sisters' names because they all sounded and acted alike. Havens differentiated between them with hair colors and choice of clothing, not personality. Characters were in no real danger because a portal always opened for them ... or they got healed ... or there was an herbal remedy that made them magically better. Convenient, definitely. Gilly liked to chop off demon heads with a big old sword, but when that failed to make a dent during a big battle, she whipped out a snazzy laser gun and took down twenty demons in a few seconds. Why she didn't use the laser gun from the beginning is beyond me.

There was no real character development, and no reason for me to root for anyone. Everything seemed too easily accomplished for the one-dimensional Caruthers sisters. I do credit Havens for trying to build an interesting and complex new world, but she could have spent more time making the characters interesting and likable. The big mystery was only partially explained, so this was basically a setup for a series ... a series I won't be continuing.

I must say I really, really wanted to like this story. I loved the concept and thought it was very cool. However, I was really disappointed after I finished. I found the writing to be subpar and frankly the whole book had this feeling of glaring disjointment. There was very little character development, the plot felt superficial, and there was a real painful rushed quality to the whole story. I love a strong heroine, and the beginning promised a really great character, but by the end of the story, this one just came of sounding insipid and clueless. Frankly, the published piece felt like this was a rough first draft that the author hastily compiled rather than a polished, seemless narrative. It was disheartening to feel when I know this author has had a succesful writing career prior to this.