Review – Devilishly Sexy by Kathy Love

Publisher: Kensington
Publish Date: Out Now
How I got this book: Review copy from publisher

Every office has one…
Demon slayer Michael Archer longs for the old days when his work required a lot less strategizing and a lot more ass-kicking. Unfortunately, his current boss at Hot! magazine, a.k.a. Central Demon Intelligence, is more concerned with bad press than beheading…

Hot! fashionista Liza McLane has been possessed by an exasperatingly chatty demon that can only be hushed by high doses of Benadryl. But when Michael spots her gulping a handful of pills, he assumes it’s a suicide attempt. Next thing Liza knows, she’s under Michael’s sizzling watch…

Now Michael’s in the bind of his life. He’s just saved a demon—who happens to be stuck inside a woman he’s wildly attracted to—which goes against all his principles. What’s a demon slayer to do?
*Blurb from Goodreads*

I was so excited about this book, mainly because the Young Brothers Series were some of my first and favorite PNR reads, and Stepp Sisters Trilogy were fun and sexy contemporary reads. But for some reason, the 2nd Devilishly book just didn’t work for me.

Michael is back among the world and looking to kick a lot of demon ass. Instead, things have changed in the years he has been frozen, and killing demons on the street is no longer acceptable. In an effort to help Michael learn the new ways, he gets put in the mailroom of Hot! Magazine, keeping tabs on the demons in the organization. After just a few days on the job, Michael finds Liza and everything changes. He isn’t sure what exactly her deal is with the demons, but he knows there is something special about her.

Liza refused to sign over her soul, so instead she is possessed by the most annoying demon imaginable. She doesn’t want “Boris” to be able to read Michael, so once they start to pursue a relationship, she begins drugging the demon with allergy medicine. Unfortunately, as she and Michael get closer, the demons become more and more skeptical of her. Will Liza and Michael be able to make a real go at it before Liza’s soul gets sent to hell?

The premise of this one had such promise, but it all seemed to fizzle out fairly quickly for me. I did like a few things, and the beginning with having Michael adjust to life after being frozen for a few decades was really well done. However, it wasn’t a theme that was carried very far into the book. I liked that both Michael and Liza were trying to keep hidden the fact that they knew about the paranormal world from one another. It was fun to see them dancing around the subject, and was one of the stronger aspects of their relationship. And while I’ve come to expect some funny and hilarious situations from Love, other than Liza’s possession and a few one-liners, there wasn’t the same level of fun that I found so charming about the Young Brothers series.

The book started off a bit slow, and didn’t really seem to pick up much steam the further I got into it.  While the world-building was well done and a different take on demons than we normally see in mainstream fiction, it was also one that didn’t seem to hold my attention as well as others. I kept waiting for that spark, and I just never saw it come through on the pages. Then, once the truth came out between Michael and Liza, it seemed as if the book ended somewhat suddenly with a perfect HEA.

All in all, I wasn’t as satisfied with this book as I had hoped I would be. The fun and sexy feeling that I expected from a Love novel just weren’t there. The romance didn’t live up to my expectations, and instead felt slow to start, and rushed to finish. While the book had a really interesting premise, the execution just wasn’t what I was expecting.
I give Devilishly Sexy a D+

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