Review of The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark

The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I started reading this book I thought I had mistakenly gotten my hands on an erotica story (not generally what I like in a novel), but this story turned out to be so much more than it first appeared to be.

Callie McFay moves to an isolated town in New York state to teach folklore at Fairwick, an exclusive college. Orphaned as a child, she was raised by a cold grandmother who wasn't happy with Callie's choice of colleges to teach in. This was Callie's first teaching job out of grad school and she's a bit surprised when she gets an immediate offer from the college. Meanwhile, she is immediately drawn to the abandoned Victorian home across the street from the bed and breakfast that she's staying in during her first visit for the interview. What lies behind the door of that house and the surrounding woods begin a mystery that is revealed in layers through the course of this novel.

Juliet Dark has created an enthralling story told in first point of view person from the perspective of our main character. The beauty of the use of first person viewpoint in this story is that we only know what Callie knows, which isn't a whole lot at the beginning, and that serves to enhance the mystery and suspense of the story. Dark gave her the name Cailleach McFay (Callie for short) - the symbolism was not lost on this reader, but McFay was a bit heavy handed with symbolism with this name, particularly the McFay part. Still, on the whole, less a couple jarring ambiguities, this was a very well told story that had me reading into the wee hours of the morning.



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