A review by blewballoon
A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

There's a lot of good stuff here, but I was also really frustrated. Starting with the good, I like the universe. I like the mix of magical races and a magical town. I liked that Mariel had friends and her friends seemed like decent people. I liked the plant magic Mariel specialized in. I liked Ozroth's descriptions of the demon plane and his upbringing. I thought the audiobook narrator did a good job with everything apart from the male character voices, I really think the book would have benefited from a male narrator for the sections from Ozroth's perspective. 

Unfortunately, I did spend most of the book feeling exasperated. The cartoonish portrayal of Mariel's family, her mother in particular, made the entire character journey
of standing up to her family
feel cheap and forced. The romance was okay most of the time, but became unstable in the later section of the book. The author seemed to condone
Mariel's complete lack of faith in Ozroth and immediate acceptance that he would betray her, despite him having never given any evidence that he would do so and having always been honest with her. The book treats the physical and emotional pain he faces afterwards as justified, even when the misunderstanding is cleared up.
I found most of the book predictable, but that doesn't tend to bother me unless things are so obvious that the characters look like idiots for not figuring it out themselves.
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