Juliet Dark's The Demon Lover

I was drawn to The Demon Lover because of the name and the cover. I looked it up in Goodreads when I bought it and realized it is the first book in a series. I decided to save it to read at a time closer to the release of book two. The Demon Lover is a paranormal novel in a normal world, the world we live it. The main heroine in the novel, Callie, has been visited by the shadow man since she was a child. It started with him telling her folktales and later turned into ravishing sexual experiences. These experiences shape Callie’s life. Callie has finished school, has successfully published a book, The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers, accepted a job at Fairwick College, and then buys a cottage that was owned by a famous author. Callie is soon inducted into the Other world and she a card holding member. She finds out her shadow man is a dangerous incubus, she works with deamons, witches and fairies and that Callie is herself paranormal.

The Demon Lover is a fun read. It reminded me of Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches. I would definitely recommend it for people eagerly waiting for book two of Harkness’s series to be released. The Demon Lover does not have the depth and details that Harkness’s novel has, but it has a gothic flair to it that I enjoyed. There is mystery (and I was guessing between a handful of players of who-dun-it), romance (both the endearing kind and the hot and spicy kind), friendship, sadness, bravery and love. The Demon Lover is a well-written, enjoyable novel. It has some fun deviations from today’s paranormal/fantasy genre and re-introduces the gothic elements that made authors like Anne Radcliff beloved. I am giving it a four dragon rating as a recommendation for those fans of A Discovery of Witches, the paranormal, gothic novels and people looking for new authors infused with folklore.