Sophia Rose Reviews - Taming Demons for Beginners by Annette Marie

 

Taming Demons for Beginners by Annette Marie

#1 Guild Codex: Demonized

Urban Fantasy

Publisher:  Self-Published

Published:  9.11.19

Pages:  315

Rating: 5 stars

Format: ebook

Source:  KU borrow

Sellers:  Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

GoodReads Synopsis:

Rule one: Don't look at the demon.

When I arrived at my uncle's house, I expected my relatives to be like me—outcast sorcerers who don't practice magic. I was right about the sorcery, but wrong about everything else.

Rule two: Don't listen to the demon.

My uncle chose a far deadlier power. He calls creatures of darkness into our world, binds them into service contracts, and sells them to the highest bidder. And I'm supposed to act like I don't know how illegal and dangerous it is.

Rule three: Don't talk to the demon.

All I had to do was keep my nose out of it. Pretend I didn't find the summoning circle in the basement. Pretend I didn't notice the shadowy being trapped inside it. Pretend I didn't break the rules.

But I did, and now it's too late.

--
From the author of The Guild Codex: Spellbound comes a new series that will plunge an unprepared young woman into the darkest magic of the mythic world.

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

After encountering Robin Page and a mysterious demon in the Guild Codex Spellbound series book, Demon Magic and a Martini, I sat up and took notice when the first Demonized series book came next and told that same story from Robin’s perspective.  I just knew there was a whole other adventure going on and I was right.

 

Taming Demons for Beginners opens with Robin, miserable in grief, loneliness, and a whole lot of frustration staying with her uncle and his family after the death of her parents.  She’s as non-confrontive as it gets and other than a sidelines knowledge of the magical world, her parents kept her far away from the family roots in magic.  She is made to realize her magical heritage is darker than she could imagine when she comes across a demon in the basement and her uncle is planning to contract this demon to his clients- and this is business as usual though its completely against the magical law.

 

She’s told to stay away from the demon, but curiosity is her weakness so she ignores this especially since her uncle is holding back on her rightful inheritance from her folks and part of that is a cherished family grimoire her mother kept in a safe.  Between cookies, cake, and some unfortunate stops and starts, Robin becomes the one person in the house the demon responds to and they come to an agreement just in time for hell on earth to break loose.  It’s a fifty-fifty whether the demon will kill her or keep her safe from what is unleashed.

 

Robin is so ordinary and every day that I liked her immediately even if she sees herself as a spineless loser who can’t even confront her greedy uncle, snarky aunt, and self-centered cousins.  But, her very warmth and generosity are what seem to get through to a being she is taught to believe is thoroughly evil and murderous.  I enjoyed seeing the first awkward connections begin with Robin and Zylas.  His demon thinking about the human world cracked me up.  Yes, Zylas, we humans are idiots a lot of the time.

 

This had a long build up that wasn’t utterly devoid of tension, but the real action and magical suspense was saved for the second half and boy howdy was Robin tossed into the deep end of the magical pool when it came to her family heritage, demons, guilds, and life in general.  There was a surprise twist that I saw barely before the reveal.  I loved seeing how this parallel time period story fit in with what I read in Demon Magic and a Margarita.  Much of this book was resolved, but there are some series dangling threads and I can’t wait to see what comes next for Robin and Zylas.  I’m as excited for the Demonized stories as the Spellbound and Warped now.

 

Author Bio:

Annette Marie is the best-selling author of over thirty books, including the expansive urban fantasy series The Guild Codex, epic urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter.

A 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist in Fantasy and an Amazon Charts Bestseller, Annette has sold over 2 million books. Her books have been translated into French, German, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian, with readers coming back again and again for her addictive blend of fast-paced adventure, tantalizing forbidden romance, and unforgettable characters.

Annette lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad) with her husband and their furry minions of darkness. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in her garden or an art project while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.

To find out more about Annette and her books, visit www.annettemarie.ca

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

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