Book Review: The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Ebury Press (21 July 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0091940184
• ISBN-13: 978-0091940188

I gasped . . . or tried to. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t draw breath. . . . His lips, pearly wet, parted and he blew into my mouth. My lungs expanded beneath his weight. When I exhaled he sucked in my breath and his weight turned from cold marble into warm living flesh.

 

Since accepting a teaching position at remote Fairwick College in upstate New York, Callie McFay has experienced the same disturbingly erotic dream every night: A mist enters her bedroom, then takes the shape of a virile, seductive stranger who proceeds to ravish her in the most toe-curling, wholly satisfying ways possible. Perhaps these dreams are the result of writing her bestselling book, The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers. After all, Callie’s lifelong passion is the intersection of lurid fairy tales and Gothic literature—which is why she finds herself at Fairwick’s renowned folklore department, living in a once-stately Victorian house that, at first sight, seemed to call her name.

But Callie soon realizes that her dreams are alarmingly real. She has a demon lover—an incubus—and he will seduce her, pleasure her, and eventually suck the very life from her. Then Callie makes another startling discovery: He’s not the only mythical creature in Fairwick. As the tenured witches of the college and the resident fairies in the surrounding woods prepare to cast out the incubus, Callie must accomplish something infinitely more difficult—banishing this demon lover from her heart

Folklore and mythology have always been a large part of Callie’s life. Her parents told her stories that felt real to her, and after their untimely death, a handsome prince visited Callie in her dreams to continue their stories. But they all stopped when Callie started researching her book, The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers.

Callie is on the hunt for the perfect teaching opportunity at a university. She is less than impressed with Fairwick, but nevertheless something draws her in, enticing her and changing her mind to stay. Especially when she discovers Honeysuckle House and it seems to call her home.

When she moves into her new home, Callie is greeted by an old friend. Her handsome prince returns to her dreams, only this time he is not interested in telling her stories. Every night Callie has intensely orgasmic and toe-curling dreams of him that feels so real her muscles ache come the morning. Her co-workers at the university stage an intervention, and inform her that she is being preyed upon by an incubus. But he isn’t the only mythical being at Fairwick, and Callie learns she has been living and working alongside witches, faeries, even vampires. Callie knows she must expel the incubus before he devours her, but expelling him from her heart proves a lot more difficult that banishing him from her home.

The Demon Lover had an amazing mix of folklore, sexual intensity and mystery. It was refreshing for a book to go back to the bare bones of paranormal, the ancient views of demons and mythical creatures rather than the somewhat jaded modern types. The relationship between Callie and her incubus is intoxicating and their chemistry leapt off the page.

Callie’s discovery of what Fairwick is really like proves life-altering for her, and leads her to question her own background. Watching Callie grow as a character and make incredible decisions was a pleasure to read, and I am sure not to forget The Demon Lover for sometime yet.

This book is full of heat, difficult choices and incredible sacrifice. Be drawn into the incubus’s charm and let this story seduce you.