A WITCH’S GUIDE TO FAKE DATING A DEMON by Sarah Hawley (BOOK REVIEW)
“Life wasn’t a fairy tale full of true love and redeemed villains. The villains were called that for a reason.
Mariel had just never expected her heart to be the weapon wielded against her.”
It all starts with an exploding chicken and a spell for summoning flour gone awry… Meet Mariel Spark, our wildly chaotic, scatterbrain-daydreaming, accident-prone witch. Mariel lives in Glimmer Falls, a place ripe with magic which attracts fantastical creatures and species of every variety. It’s no surprise that Mariel’s family reside there, as her entire family has quite the legacy behind them. Mariel’s mother, Diantha Spark is an award-winning Teleportor and as her daughter is prophesied to be the most powerful Spark witch in centuries, she expects Mariel to follow suit. However, Mariel only thrives in nature magic, but this is not prestigious in Diantha’s eyes, all she sees is her daughter failing at every other aspect of magic. Desperate to prove her mother wrong, to live up to her expected prophecy, Mariel practices spells daily but with little success. It is this that leads to her accidentally summoning a demon, more precisely, Ozroth the Ruthless, her most monumental fuck-up yet!
What follows from then is a tug of war between Ozroth who needs to bargain for Mariel’s soul, and Mariel, you know, wanting to keep her soul! The pair must also enter into a fake relationship to keep others from discovering who Ozroth truly is, yet it isn’t long until sparks (get it?!) begin to fly between them.
A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley is a debut filled with magical chaos, close friendships, eccentric families and will take you on one hell of a steamy ride. If you love rom-coms, witches and sexy brooding demons then you’ll love this.
“Magic is half intention, her mom had taught her. You have to want something to make it happen.
What Mariel wanted was to feel like less of a failure. She wanted flowers and muffins and the contentment of being exactly enough for someone.”
The novel meanders through two perspectives, that of Mariel and Ozroth, which works perfectly for readers to gain a true insight into how these characters develop an attraction for one another. Mariel is a character whom I immediately liked. She’s bubbly, squirrel-brained, messy and often too rash but so very kind-hearted. She’s insecure about herself and of her magical abilities as over the years her mother has chipped away her self confidence and sense of worth; she easily sees her flaws but not her attributes. She’s relatable in a variety of ways. Ozroth, on the other hand, is aloof, organised, more guarded with his emotions and as we delve deeper into his backstory, as we learn about his deeds as a legendary figure in the demon realm, we see the lonely existence he has led.
Though these two characters are opposites in many ways, they are both the result of dysfunctional parental figures. It is through this that they compliment each other, that they help each other become stronger. We first see their attraction bloom when Mariel becomes obsessed with the size of a demon’s erm… I’ll put this as bluntly as the book does…dick! Yes that’s right, if you’re easily offended by crude humour or lusty characters then this is definitely the wrong read for you because this book treads steamy grounds. Although their relationship holds much intense sexual attraction, I actually found it more significant that their blossoming romance gives them the courage to be more defiant to those who try to control them, to prove them wrong. They enter into a relationship of equality where they lift each other up rather than put each other down.
“Ozroth looked down at himself. Oh. The only thing he was wearing was a pair of black boxer briefs, and thanks to the drenching they’d gotten, they left little to the imagination. He turned away, not wanting to alarm her.
“Sorry,” he choked out. “There was a snake in my pants.”
“I’lI say,” she muttered.”
Hawley also includes an eclectic group of side characters which enriches the story with a variety of humour and quirkiness. We first meet Mariel’s two best friends, Calladia Cunnington, an athletic witch skilled in thread magic and Themmie, a pixie social media influencer. Whilst these two are fun, feisty protective friends, I did find they portrayed stereotypical roles and acted rather young for their ages, almost like teenagers. However they both grew on me in the final scenes. Throughout A Witch’s Guide it is Diantha and Alzapraz, Mariel’s great, great, great (times a lot!) grandfather, who I completely loved for their eccentricity! Let’s be clear, Diantha is equal parts a very toxic mother and downright bloody hilarious. She’s overly confident, boastful of her own achievements, quick to point out Mariel’s shortcomings, and also does not hold her tongue in the slightest. The wild stories and sweary crude speeches she comes out with made me laugh out loud! Then there’s Alzapraz who has found the key to immortality but doesn’t stop ageing. So picture this extremely aged, wrinkly warlock/wizard wearing a robe with bunny ears, or a tiara or even… a banana hammock! You can easily see why these two were my favourite.
Alongside these wonderful diverse characters was also fantastic worldbuilding which was another one of my favourite aspects. Glimmer Falls is illustrated as a vibrantly colourful, enchanting town. Hawley not only includes fantastical species such as centaurs, werewolves, warlocks, pixies and so much more, but she also takes time to develop how the world would accommodate for all their needs. For example, diner booths have slits in the back of their benches for those who have wings to sit more comfortably. How cool is that? We are also presented with the conflict of a construction project to build a spa in Gimmer Falls, which would essentially destroy a natural area where many species such as rare fire salamander’s inhabit. The deforestation that is proposed would also devastate the ley lines in the soils thus reducing the magical potency within the town. As Mariel’s passion and her strength lies in nature magic this is of course a problem she will do anything to fight against. This may have been explored in a whimsical setting and in a somewhat comical way, but it still cleverly brings to light environmental issues we face today.
At its heart A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon is a really entertaining, wildly chaotic, light and fluffy, feel-good fantasy romance. This is definitely a book to read on a day when you need an enchanting story to make you smile.
ARC provided by Jenna at Gollancz in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the copy!
A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon is out 9th March but you can pre-order HERE