Dealing with a Desperate Demon

Dealing with a Desperate Demon by Charlotte Stein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am not usually one for a retelling of a classic story (like Beauty & the Beast), but somehow the self-awareness of this story had me giving it a pass at every turn. I also didn’t read book 1 of this series, but did not have any trouble diving in to this small town and all the oddities.

Nancy is a bookstore owner and she finds herself stunned when the town loner and jerk (who eagerly hates on books) shows up in her shop. When trying to have a conversation with him, he freaks out on her and leaves, departing before buying the book he was looking at. A nice thought on her part, just dropping the book off at his house, ends up upending both their lives. Turns out that Nancy has been hiding her past, having already been exposed to the supernatural but shoved it down hard.

Jack, her new rather reluctant BFF, has a bit of a hidden side too - a much darker one than Nancy. He is tiptoeing around a devil’s bargain put on him, while trying to navigate “normal” human life as a man. I didn’t want to enjoy what was very obviously a blind spot for Nancy, but I really did. This book is dirty in a great way, but also heart-warming. What a great not-fairytale!

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