TL;DR: This has been one of my hotly anticipated paranormal romances and while it started out strong, the overall execution fell a bit flat for me. At first, I found the writing witty, the characters funny and their narration entertaining but somewhere along the way, I found myself connecting with it less and less until I was glad that it was finally over. Mariel and Oz have interesting arcs, the mystery of the sick forest was compelling and I was all for standing up against the environmental destruction of such a magical place and against toxic families. Ultimately though, I think there was too much stuffed into this to really do each part of it justice and I wanted more despite also thinking that this could have been shorter. Considering how well-loved this is though, this might just be an “it’s not you, it’s me” thing so take this review as you will! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oz was a surprisingly relatable demon and I loved his character. Although he’s the notorious “Ozroth the Ruthless”, following a mishap with his last demon bargain, he now finds himself with a soul and it has made him a lot less ruthless than his reputation paints him. It was easy to empathise with Oz—I mean, I can relate to being overwhelmed by ALL THE FEELINGS and I also sometimes wish that they would stop, lol. Despite valiantly trying to stay strong to his cold unfeeling demon bargainer ways, there’s simply no resisting the feelings that being with Mariel stirs up in him. All things considered, I think he handles everything pretty well! He’s a bit of a grump but like most of the romance grumps that we love, he has a gooey cinnamon centre that makes him quite easy to love.

Mariel is his sunshine opposite and I have to be honest, although I did like her a lot at the beginning, by the end I found myself growing irritated by her actions. My heart went out to Mariel and I hated her family so much. Since she was a child she has been belittled and berated and every time her mother, the mayor, and all the other horrible suck-up townspeople came on the page, I wanted to slap them right back off it! They made me incredibly angry. 😤 This lifelong cycle of abuse has shaped Mariel as a failure in her own eyes as she continues to be unable to harness magic the way her family expects no matter how hard she practices and tries. I hurt reading how she accepted their abuse and that it stamped out her shine but I appreciated her journey to embracing her magic and understanding why she can never get the spells right. It took a while—a good 85% of the book—for her to recognize her own brilliance but it made me so happy to see her stand up for herself and speak out against her abusers. And let’s be clear, that is exactly what her family was and her mother especially deserved a lot less kindness from her daughter. I wished that more time was devoted to her growth and the addressing of the toxic issue because it suddenly happened and by then we were already at the end.

Having said all that, where I struggled with Mariel was how she treated Oz, who was trying to help her see her worth and make her realise that she had the power to not accept that toxicity in her life. I know it’s not easy and I know hurt people do irrational things—like that saying goes, “hurt people hurt people” but her anger and the way she pushed him away whenever he tried to help was frustrating. I especially didn’t like the way she so quickly believed that he. the person who stood in her corner, helped her embrace her badass witchy self and loved her just as she was, would do something so cruel and deceitful as harming one of the things she loves most. The change in her behaviour (not to mention her change *back* when she realised her error) honestly gave me whiplash. Like, are you for real right now? 🤔

But, like I said, it seems that mine is not the opinion of the majority and perhaps this is more of a me thing and not a book thing. For the most part, I did have fun while reading this but in the end, it’s not one that’s particularly memorable for me or that stands out in any way. I don’t think I will continue with this series because the love interest in the next book is someone who I can’t see deserving a redemption arc? Pls. No. 😮‍💨

Have you read A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating A Demon or is it on your TBR?

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