Book Review: A Demon's Guide to Wooing a Witch by Sarah Hawley

About the Book:

Title: A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch

Author: Sarah Hawley

Series: Glimmer Falls #2

Page Length: 432

Publication Date: Nov. 28, 2023

Publisher: Berkley

Synopsis: Calladia Cunnington curses the day she met Astaroth the demon, but when he shows up memoryless, why does she find him so helpless . . . and sort of hot?

Calladia Cunnington knows she’s rough around the edges, despite being the heir to one of small-town Glimmer Falls’ founding witch families. While her gym obsession is a great outlet for her anxieties and anger, her hot temper still gets the best of her and manifests in bar brawls. When Calladia saves someone from a demon attack one night, though, she’s happy to put her magic and rage to good use . . . until she realizes the man she saved is none other than Astaroth, the ruthless demon who orchestrated a soul bargain on her best friend.

Astaroth is a legendary soul bargainer and one of the nine members of the demon high council–except he can’t remember any of this. Suffering from amnesia after being banished to the mortal plane, Astaroth doesn’t know why a demon named Moloch is after him, nor why the muscular, angry, hot-in-a-terrifying-way witch who saved him hates him so much.

Unable to leave anyone in such a vulnerable state–even the most despicable demon–Calladia grudgingly decides to help him. (Besides, punching an amnesiac would be in poor taste.) The two set out on an uneasy road trip to find the witch who might be able to restore Astaroth’s memory so they can learn how to defeat Moloch. Calladia vows that once Astaroth is cured, she’ll kick his ass, but the more time she spends with the snarky yet utterly charming demon, the more she realizes she likes this new, improved Astaroth . . . and maybe she doesn’t want him to recover his memories, after all.

LINKS: Goodreads | Ama z on

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Review:

I was so looking forward to this book after reading A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon. It was such a fun and sexy romance, and so is A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch. It’s comical and has amazing banter, and the enemies-to-lovers romance is fabulous.

The villain of the first book is the main character in this one, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about him, but I ended up really liking him! Astaroth has a great redemption arc, and he changes a lot while he has amnesia. I enjoyed his story as he tries to figure out who he is, why he’s being hunted, and more. There are a lot of layers to Astaroth, and now that he’s stripped of his memory, he can’t use it as a wall to keep up the ruthless deal-maker reputation he’s curated. Though he’s still pretentious and a bit snooty, he is also really caring and thoughtful. It’s like having amnesia gave him the opportunity to be a better version of himself, though he’s not let off easily. Astaroth has to face his mistakes and those he hurt, especially Oz (loved this part), and he has to prove that his change is sincere.

Astaroth’s story also highlights the political unrest on the demon plane and the prejudices and extremism that parallel real-life situations. It’s an interesting plot that ties in some of the events that happened in the first book quite cleverly.

Calladia is pretty great, too. She’s prickly and combative and never backs down from a fight. In fact, she likes to start them. But she’s not as cold and hard as she pretends to be. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have rescued and helped the demon she and her friends recently defeated. And as much as she hates Astaroth, she reluctantly also finds him pretty attractive. And when he calls her his warrior queen…Whew! Calladia fights her feelings so hard, much to Astaroth’s delight.

Astaroth finds Calladia’s strength, snark, and prickliness attractive, which I loved, especially since not many people accept her wholly and completely. The banter, the sarcasm, and the bickering – Ahhhh, there’s so much sexual tension between these two, and there’s more than one laugh-out-loud moment between them. And can we talk a bit about Astaroth’s views on sexuality, autonomy, consent, and being one’s authentic self? My word, what a marvelous demon! By the end of the book, I totally forgot about how much I disliked him before, and I was rooting for his redemption.

This is a fun addition to the series, and I loved seeing the characters from the first book and how their lives are progressing in the fabulous Glimmer Falls. ( Can I live there for a day or two, please?) Special thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

Rating:

Favorite Parts:

The romance.

The characters.

The world

The banter.

Favorite Lines:

Like anything else worth having, love was earned, not seized.

“Just because these are less violent times doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten how to be a monster.”

“You deserve everything you want. You should take everything you want, the way you once promised me you would. And if you can’t do that yet, say the word and I’ll do it for you.”