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The 2nd book I read for the Love in the Night Readathon was Deal with the Demon by Chace Verity. This is a standalone demon romance novella set in Alberta, Canada. It was chosen as the group book by the hosts. I also used it for the LGBTQ+ prompt for the Romancing Summer Challenge.
Deal with the Demon was a quick and cute read. I really enjoyed how sweet Drystan was towards Heidi. The demon mythology created in this book was definitely unique. While I enjoyed a lot of the premises of how Drystan's world worked, I wanted more. Some of his quirks were just kind of mentioned once or twice, but I wanted more explanation or for it to be used. For example, we find out about half-way through that he has a second mouth in the neck area. It makes sounds, but can't talk. It only makes sounds sometimes throughout the rest of the novel, except for when they finally get intimate we randomly find out that it has a tongue. However the author doesn't go into what exactly happens with that extra tongue. If we're going to go into weird, let's really get into it. It just felt like at times the author wanted the love interest to be this huge monster demon, but yet when it came to times where his physiology would make a difference (not just intimately), she wouldn't actually go there. If felt like she didn't want to alienate or weird out readers for going that far. As a reader though, I went into this for a demon romance. Dang-it! I wanted her to go fully into the demon parts of the romance.
Heidi is also a single mom, and her two kids were super cute. I did however feel like the younger daughter at 13 was too mature at times. I was an overly mature kid and I've known other kids that are more mature than most their age. It just felt off sometimes, especially at the end. I don't want to keep harping on this book because overall I did enjoy my time reading it, but there's one more thing I want to point out. Sometimes it got really repetitive with the phrasing. The only time the Drystan's "junk" was referenced was with the term appendage. And while that is a fine term, I'm used to authors using several words. It just bothered me that it was only that word. There was also several references to how "Canadian" Heidi acted. Like, the book is set in Canada and was born and raised there. Isn't it normal for her to have similar countenance as others around her? That was off-putting to me the more it happened. Then it felt weird when I read the author's note that she's from Tennessee and now living in Canada. That made it feel more icky to me. But maybe I'm being too sensitive. Maybe this won't bother others, but I just don't like stereotypes. I think it felt even weirder in this book because Chase is known as being a very positive open writer that focuses on inclusion and writes mainly queer romances.
Like I said, overall it was a pleasant read and I'm not mad at the 99 cents I paid for it. I just really feel that this book could've been a gem if it was longer and we really got to see the meat of the demon world. If you are newer to demon (or even just monster) romances this would be a good introduction I feel. It was very sweet and not very angsty at all (even though it was written sometimes like it should've been). I'll most likely check out her other works, but look maybe for something longer.
Have you read Deal with the Demon?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: Deal with the Demon, Chase Verity, 3-stars, 0 days, eBook, 102 pages, published in 2020
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