Customer Reviews

Personal Demons

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dr. Megan Chase is a counseling psychologist and has a new radio call-in show. Though Megan hates the show's motto, her boss insists Megan begin each call by stating that she will slay their personal demons. But her clients are not the only ones that seem to believe the motto, so do the personal demons. Although Megan does not know it at first, she is the only human without a personal demon on her shoulder, whispering in her ear. This fact, coupled with her being psychic, makes her the target of an army of tiny personal demons and of a soul-sucker known as The Accuser.

Enter the fire demon called Greyson "Grey" Dante. He represents a demon family that want to use Megan as a way to gain more power. Grey becomes her most powerful ally against the creatures, including zombies and vampires, out to kill her. Grey has three demon bodyguards (named Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud) constantly at her side, as well as a witch named Tera teaching her how to focus her psychic abilities. To top it all off, Megan's boss has a tabloid reporter, Brian Stone, writing an article about "Dr. Demon Slayer", who has been digging into Megan's past and finding things she does not want to talk about.

***** I found this story to have a unique twist on the over done subjects of demons and psychics. If there are other stories out there like this one, I've never read it. A fanciful walk on the creepy and dark side that will keep you up reading long into the night. A great beginning to a new series. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Personal Demons is a supersexy urban fantasy, some might say paranormal romance, but like all good demon fiction, the sin of lust takes precedence over anything as wholesome as that other L word. Megan Chase, psychic therapist (though the psychic part is a secret), is up to her ears in crazy clients, radio station politics and zombies! After a near fatal attack, she's let in on a little secret: those personal demons she claims to slay on her radio talk show? Um..a wee bit miffed. It seems she's been marked for death, which is really bad timing because she's being tailed by a reporter hot for a story and a demon hot for some tail. To make things right, Megan must do battle with the spawn of Satan (both in and out of the bedroom) and the skeletons in her own closet.

Kane serves up a malevolently entertaining entry into the urban fantasy genre, the action is fierce and the sex is scorching, her characters are well drawn--Megan, in particular, is so engaging you'll be missing her from the second you turn that final page--and the story clips along with the urgency of a freeway car chase.

Highly recommended!

When I picked this book up, I wasn't sure whether it was Urban Fantasy (my preference) or Supernatural Romance. It quickly became clear that it was the later: there was only one real possible character for the heroine to be attracted to, and the plot seemed to exist to service the relationship rather than the relationship flowing from the plot.

I thought the worldbuilding was a bit weak here as well. Granted the heroine is a newbie and still doesn't know all the details, but a number of things didn't seem to make much sense. For instance, some humans know all about demons and how they generally seek to mess up human lives, so naturally they are dedicated to ... keeping the rank and file of humanity from finding any of this out. Um, that would seem to be helpful and important information..

The setting was a bit generic too. The city is never given a name that I can recall, and sometimes it seemed as though it had English characteristics and sometimes American.

I also thought the author didn't know very much about counseling and therapy. She had a few buzz words, but I never really believed the heroine was a skilled therapist. Likewise, we only get one therapy phonecall (I think..) on the radio show that is the impetus for the whole plot, and the situation with her partners just seems bizarre and not something I can imagine happening.

That's not to say the book isn't entertaining. The author often comes up with very funny and pithy metaphors and similies, her bodyguards are a hoot and there are some interesting twists such as when she meets up with her worst nightmares and they serve her milk and cookies.

I am a great lover of both urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and this book didn't quite work as either. The worldbuilding was lacking, and the whole 'demons' thing was poorly integrated into the world as a whole. Also, the attraction between the heroine and her main interest seemed forced. Worse, the writer seems to be trying too hard to be 'literary', and it just comes off as stilted. The prose itself regularly threw me out of engagement with the story, a major flaw.

First off let me say that I read a lot of books and after time you prety much read the same plot over and over again. This books however was very refreshing and unlike anything i have read before.

But..

It seems to me as it somebody took about 50 pages out of the book. Scences jump around, one second you'll be in one place and another in a totally different place with a whole other group of people, as if somebody took a couple pages out of the book.

This drove me nuts reading the story but i do give it 3 1/2 stars for it's originality. I hope this books gets re-edited and reprinted i would love to read a final draft instead of what looks like an unedited one.

Dr Megan Chase is a counsellor and now has a radio call-in show which gives her the title of 'Personal Demon Slayer'. It's a joke title, of course, but unfortunately for Megan various real personal demons don't realise that and a mini war is started to have Megan on their side. Megan meets the mysterious Greyson Dante, a lawyer (or is he) who seems to want to protect her and has some strange bodyguards that he issues her. A reporter wants to write a feature on her and soon discovers the guilty secret from her past - along with some other secrets. Megan attends a group therapy session that makes one want to run the other way screaming. And she begins to see strange things lurking on people's shoulders. All this whilst trying to keep her radio show going and placate the other partners in her counselling practice makes for a busy few days for Megan. But there is something significantly darker trying to get hold of her - can she keep herself safe when she can't trust the motives of anyone else?

This was a really enjoyable read with great pacing and some interesting settings. It wasn't particularly innovative but it still felt fresh and the variety of characters added to the interest, although some of them weren't very convincingly explored. For example, the reporter character Brian wasn't all that clearly drawn and his behaviour seemed rather unlikely for a reporter - in other words, he didn't appear to write about any of the amazing events happening around him. Megan herself is well drawn, however, and she was a likeable and believable characters; Greyson Dante was necessarily mysterious and his motivation was hard to fathom but he was an appealing character and the sparks between him and Megan were well written. There are various technical terms for different demons and their organisational structure given and not explained, along with other plot elements that felt rather vague, but it was overall a good read and the beginning of what seems to be an interesting series featuring Megan and Dante.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

No SPOILERS or plot summaries. Recommendations included.

HIGH LEVEL: MEH. The ideas in this book are fantastic- the spin on demons and the creative use of magical creatures and abilities are genius. HOWEVER, the main character was just plain weak and the relationships felt forced. If you're not looking for an alpha female and prefer a poor girl-next-door story, then you might like this more than I did.

Megan, the heroine, constantly allowed herself to be pushed around- her boss, the reporter, Greyson Dante (the love interest), her body guards, her patients, other demons, her rivals; EVERYONE was able to force her to do something she didn't want to. Having anger issues doesn't a strong character make, unfortunately. Her anger issues manifested as a whole lot of grumbling and sarcasm and then some increased magical strength. Uh-huh. Sure.

From the first chapter to the last she was the subject of other people's wishes or a victim of circumstance. She isn't a bad character, but you won't find any kick-ass chicks here. This is much more of a Beta or even Omega female just trying to survive, rather than a strong female lead working to save the day. Her actions are motivated out of obligation or desperation and she seems unable to stand on her own at any point.

In terms of the relationships- can anyone explain to me why Megan would accuse a man (Greyson Dante) of being a stalker and then call him to arrange to meet up and talk the next day- at night, outside a closed hospital?? And why would a woman who was introduced as having a prickly, superior disposition suddenly try to be Megan's friend after meeting her maybe twice or three times? Yet, somehow, prior to these events, our poor girl was able to make NO FRIENDS AT ALL. She was alone in the world... until, very suddenly and inexplicably, she wasn't. Naturally.

Everything else aside, the magical world created for this book was fantastic, though. Very well done- intricate, funny, powerful. I just thought it was wasted on the main character. She was annoying to enough to me that I'm not really interested in reading the rest of the series- but I'm an alpha-female kind of girl. If you're less concerned with that, then you'll like this book.

RECOMMENDATIONS: (I liked these better...)
1. Cat Adams' vampire body guard series Blood Song
2. Ilona Andrew's gritty, post-apocalyptic magic vs technology world: Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)
3. Katherine Bayless' fun, if somewhat overwritten Deadly Remains: A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life (Volume 1)
4. Laura Bickle's cool, fire-laden Embers
5. Jennifer Estep's stone-magic wielding, hard, cold, vicious assassin Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, Book 1)
6. Nancy Holzner's fabulous take on zombies in Boston in Deadtown (A Deadtown Novel)
7. Faith Hunter's bounty-hunter shifter series Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1)
8. Katie Macalister's humours & sexy take on dragons, demons and more in You Slay Me (Aisling Grey, Guardian, Book 1)
9. C.E. Murphy's creative use of culture with fae & dreamwalking Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, Book 1)
10. Chloe Neill's spunky vampire themed Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 1)
11. Diana Rowland's demon summoning cop Mark of the Demon (Kara Gillian, Book 1)

I had trouble really embracing this book until about half-way through. I enjoyed the beginning, but -- to use the Amazon stars -- it was more a 3 star experience than a 5 star experience. The main character's reaction to events seems somewhat muted, scenes seem a little too short, and nothing seemed to be really progressing. Megan seemed to have no urgency to find out information, even when it seemed in her best interest, and exposition was doled out slowly. However, the second half of the book was gangbusters, and I hated to stop reading for any reason. During the last 10% of the book -- Kindle, remember? -- I ordered people not to talk to me, and became annoyed when the conversation around me lured me into participating.

After having read the whole book, some of my issues with the beginning remain, but the muted nature of Megan's reactions make better sense. I believe it was a choice in characterization which was paid off rather than a true flaw. Megan ended the book as a very interesting, and strong, character.

Stacia Kane is really good at action scenes, and I say this as someone who usually prefers the talky bits. I zone out on car chases in movies. There were two or three scenes in the latter half of the book that I read with my mouth open and completely involved in what was happening. Ms. Kane gives good demon-fight!

The romance aspect of the book was also quite good. I understood the attraction she had to her love interest, even though the guy has spinelettes. While there was a misunderstanding that anyone having read 1.5 romance novels would not be fooled by, there's a reason why that plot line is so common -- readers like me eat it up with a spoon, because it leads to an extra-satisfying ending!

Good stuff! (Can't quite give it 5 stars, because of the issues mentioned in the first paragraph.)

Sparks fly in this hugely-enjoyable paranormal romance. When central character Dr Megan Chase takes a job as a counsellor on a radio show, the tagline, "how can I slay your personal demons?" attracts unwanted attention from, yes, personal demons.

Fortunately, Megan has fire demon Greyson Dante to protect her--or is the heat he gives off blinding her to his ulterior motives? Her life is further complicated when the reporter tasked with a puff piece to promote the radio show uncovers her involvement in a fifteen-year-old murder. And what exactly is going on at Art Bellingham's Fearbusters meetings?

Kane writes with conviction and verve, drawing the reader into the book's world with nary a blink of disbelief. Just as Megan is forced to be convinced by events that demons exist, and aren't exactly what we've been taught to think they are, so we are carried along to believe in them too--at least for the moment.

The book is nicely paced and the writing lively. The characters are fleshed out so well that they all seem to have lives outside the interactions we see when those lives collide. Megan in particular is a convincing mix of strength and vulnerability, and as for the fire demon, well...he's hot!

With exciting action scenes and hot, hot passion, this romance-with-a-plot is perfect for snuggling up with by the fire, or for wiping out the tedium of a train or plane journey.

A .pdf was reviewed.

[Reviewed by Debbie Moorhouse]

First of all, I LOVED the Downside Ghosts series by the same author, which is why I started reading this book.

This book is NOTHING like the Downside Ghosts series, and I could only get through about 1/3 of it before I finally just put it down for good. It's not very well-written, but more importantly, I HATE all of the characters.

The main character is a born victim. By the time I put it down, about 4 different men (that she barely knew) had grabbed her arm so hard it hurt and all she could say was "You're hurting me." Everyone is angry at her, but I'm not sure why. She doesn't seem to either, but apologizes anyway. People walk into her house and she wonders vaguely who they are and wishes they would leave. People say the most terrible things to her, and she thinks about how hurt and upset she is that they're saying them. She has no redeeming qualities, and she's the heroine of the story! I like flaws (her Downside heroine is a drug addict & liar... but at least she's likeable, sharp, funny, and you're pulling for her), but this was just too much. I couldn't suspend disbelief enough for her to be believable (and I was totally willing to go with the whole demon angle).

She was so passive that I just couldn't take it anymore and had to put it down. That combined with the utterly ridiculous plotline that demons have misunderstood that the show's tagline is just that... a tagline. And that she's NOT an actual demon slayer. I knew about this plot before I read the book, obviously, and I assumed there would be some humor in regards to it or that it would be better explained why the demons are that stupid. But no. Are we to believe they take EVERYTHING literally and they they're also gunning for Sarah Michelle Geller because she played Buffy?

I don't understand how this book got so many good reviews. I love PNR. I usually love anything paranormal. I love Urban Fantasy, sci-fi, you name it. But not this. I highly recommend the author's other series as well as the Darkfever series by Moning.