The Accidental Demon Slayer [Mass Market Paperback]

Angie Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

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...?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Prim and proper preschool teacher Lizzie Brown is on the verge of her thirtieth birthday when her hitherto unknown grandmother shows up, quickly followed by a demon erupting out of her toilet who Lizzie surprisingly manages to blast into “a million flecks of light.” Raised by distant adoptive parents, Lizzie had no idea that she was born to be a demon slayer. Her granny, a biker who communes with spirits in a metal lawn shed, then takes her to join her coven of senior biker witches who will help her defeat the demons who want to kill Lizzie before she can go after them. Along the way, Lizzie meets sexy shape-shifter Dimitri Kallinkikos, a sometime griffin who claims to be her protector but may have a hidden agenda that will take her straight to hell. This rollicking paranormal comedy will appeal to fans of Dakota Cassidy, MaryJanice Davidson, and Tate Hallaway. --Diana Tixier Herald

Review

With its sharp, witty writing and unique characters, Angie Fox's contemporary paranormal debut is fabulously fun. --The Chicago Tribune

With its sharp, witty writing and unique characters, Angie Fox's contemporary paranormal debut is fabulously fun. --The Chicago Tribune

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Love Spell; First Printing edition (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0505527693
• ISBN-13: 978-0505527691
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (147 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Angie Fox is the New York Times bestselling author of several books about vampires, werewolves and things that go bump in the night. She is best known for her Accidental Demon Slayer urban fantasy series. She is also writing a series about a group of paranormal MASH surgeons. The first book in the Monster MASH trilogy, titled Immortally Yours, is out now. It will be followed by Immortally Embraced in February 2013.

Angie earned a Journalism degree from the University of Missouri. She worked in television news and then in advertising before beginning her career as an author.

Visit Angie at www.angiefox.com. You'll find freebies galore and answers to burning questions, like What is Your Biker Witch name?

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One sexy griffin, a wild Harley motorcycle riding grandmother and a talking Jack Russell terrier! July 21, 2008

By D. Merrimon Crawford VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Preschool teacher Lizzie Brown's life may never be the same when her long lost witch grandmother shows up driving a hot pink Harley and starts casting magic spells from Smucker's jars. Pirate, her Jack Russell terrier, starts talking! Lizzie discovers that she is the exalted Demon Slayer of Dalea and a demon, Xerxes, emerges from her toilet to cause even more havoc! As they head to Memphis to join the grandmother's just as strange coven to learn magic, Dimitri Kallinikos, a shape shifting griffin shows up as her mentor. Teaching her the three rules of demon slaying, he is both protector and teacher. Dimitri, however, needs her to slay a demon of his own and as their feelings for each other grow, Lizzie and Dimtri are forced to make tough choices when family loyalties come into play in a battle begun generations ago.

Told through Lizzie's eyes, THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER, follows the heroine on the journey of her maturation and self-discovery in a well-imagined world ever so kooky yet touched by wonderful dash of tenderness. Within 12 hours, Lizzie has lost her home, her job, her clothes, and her friends to follow her grandmother, accused of murder, to be trained in magic and face demons and her destiny as the new family demon slayer. Unaware of the extent of her powers or her family history, Lizzie struggles to make sense of the crazy world her grandmother opens before her. As she comes to face with The Witches of the Red Skull with its cantankerous witch Ant Eater, werewolves, and above all her own magical powers, Lizzie sees the humorous outrageousness of her situation with a unique sense of innocence and irreverent sass. Although her dog Pirate plays the tough guy, the reader sees the tenderness within Lizzie's heart through him. Dimitri, her protector and mentor, awakens the woman in Lizzie with his body and kiss. Dimitri helps Lizzie focus on her powers and concentrating her magic when her magic turns her familiar world topsy-turvy.

Oh my, THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER is a fun book! Angie Fox's world and adventures had me laughing as the vivid and hilarious scenarios got funnier and funnier. The grandmother and her group of witches were a total scream. Angie Fox mixes paranormal with a fun, bold smart tone but by the end, I felt myself immersed in Lizzie's whole world and the drama playing out in her family. Angie Fox's humor gives way to a suspenseful adventure that keeps the reader on the edge as Lizzie and Dimitri face the ominous dangers ahead. The final leg of the journey is spectacular ---.not a gradual let-down but an ever increasing delightful unveiling, not just once but in several gradual layers. Intricacies with wonderful twists and revelations of the paranormal world kept me riveted to this book. What an ending! With her debut book, Angie Fox has created a wonderful magical world that will have readers eager to re-enter and anxiously awaiting her next release!

62 of 73 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed August 16, 2008

By Christina Brunkhorst VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I have to agree with Helen Hancox below. And frankly, I wish there'd been more readers like her who'd spoken up, because I would have saved myself some cash.

"I actually found it quite hard to get through this book as it felt very disjointed and the lack of flow and of coherent direction most of the time made it rather disappointing."
-- Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

If I had realized that when Reviewer: D. Merrimon Crawford mentioned "Told through Lizzie's eyes" meant told via 1st person as opposed to primarily focusing on Lizzie's point-of-view, that would have been my first clue that I would not enjoy this novel. There have been only a true select few authors (P.C. Cast among said few) who've been able to pull off the "first person narrative" and make it work for me, even forget that it *is* being told in the first person (which I usually find very distracting).

I also made the mistake of assuming (I know, I know) that Pirate the dog would be more like a "familiar" than whatever his purpose is in the story (I still don't know... if it was to provide comic relief, I didn't feel it).

But what I found to be most frustrating with this story, and what made it hard for me to get truly absorbed, was the fact that every single character outside of Lizzie and Pirate consistently acted as though Lizzie should know more, know better, be better, even though she had been raised with *no knowledge whatsoever* and *they all knew it*. It drove me crazy that Lizzie never really called them on that point to my satisfaction.

I also thought there'd be more "shape-shifting" and magic revealed with Dimitri the Griffin... I think he was a griffin only twice in the story, and that was it. No depth to what could have been a truly interesting character, based on his griffin half and what griffins represent in mythology. No expansion. He was flat, and their relationship felt forced to me. Rushed.

Actually, come to think of it, the entire story, all 292 pages of it, felt rushed. Perhaps it was the publisher, the editors who hacked and sliced at the depth of this story. Perhaps it never had it to begin with. All I know is that for me, multiple characters were tossed into the reader's direction with no rhyme or reason, little --if any-- development, and the story overall never got off the ground. It was all surface skimming throughout.

A fact: I devour novels. A 292 pager normally reads for me in 5 hours or less. This one took me 3 days. Why? Because I was willing to put it down to do other things before picking it back up. When I finally finished it, instead of setting it down with my "keepers", I threw it across the room to land in my "library donation" pile.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Accidental Demon Slayer August 7, 2008

By M. Nix

Format:Mass Market Paperback

It's Lizzie Brown's 30th birthday and she is really looking forward to spending the night with friends and a certain guy that is showing up. However, what she gets is an unknown grandmother, who's a biker, a demon in her toilet who is tossing poison at her and her dog is suddenly speaking to her. If that isn't enough to overload her, she meets Dimitri Kallinikos that night. He's a sexy and handsome shape-shifting griffin who says he's her protector.

Lizzie soon discovers that there is a whole lot about her family's past that she has to discover and learn to control in a hurry. On the run, Lizzie meets the rest of her grandmother's coven, yep a grandmother biker coven, and finds out that Dimitri has not been totally honest with her. Lizzie's only hope to make everything right is to go to the underworld and fight a demon - gulp.

The Accidental Demon Slayer is a humorist romp while Lizzie learns her heritage. Lizzie's life has suddenly becomes a beginner's guide into the paranormal and is funny and at times silly. There were many times that I felt as lost as Lizzie and other times when I wished Lizzie would just stand up for herself. In the end, however, Lizzie gets a handle on the world she is suddenly thrust into and shows just what she can do. I found The Accidental Demon Slayer to be a light hearted, fun and silly story that can help you escape during a long summer afternoon.

Jo
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed