#BookReview :: The Demon Lover (Fairwick Chronicles #1) by Juliet Dark

Since accepting a teaching position at remote Fairwick College in upstate New York, Callie McFay has experienced the same disturbingly erotic dream every night: A mist enters her bedroom, then takes the shape of a virile, seductive stranger who proceeds to ravish her in the most toe-curling, wholly satisfying ways possible. Perhaps these dreams are the result of her having written the bestselling book The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers. Callie’s lifelong passion is the intersection of lurid fairy tales and Gothic literature—which is why she’s found herself at Fairwick’s renowned folklore department, living in a once-stately Victorian house that, at first sight, seemed to call her name.

But Callie soon realizes that her dreams are alarmingly real. She has a demon lover—an incubus—and he will seduce her, pleasure her, and eventually suck the very life from her. Then Callie makes another startling discovery: Her incubus is not the only mythical creature in Fairwick. As the tenured witches of the college and the resident fairies in the surrounding woods prepare to cast out the demon, Callie must accomplish something infinitely more difficult—banishing this supernatural lover from her heart.

Callie McFay is on the market for a teaching job. Her initial interest was in a New York University, but she ends up accepting a position at the Fairwick College because of its specialization in folklore. But ever since she has stepped into this town, she has been having highly erotic dreams. Soon though she realizes that there is more to the man in her dreams, the house she has moved into and the town.

I had heard a lot about this book and to top that off with my lack of experience in reading about an incubus, pushed me to requesting this book at the NetGalley. I was happy when my request got accepted and I got the chance to read this book. But now that I am done reading it, I am kind of happy that I got the chance to read it but also disappointed at the same time.

The best part of the book is the author’s style of writing. It is indeed opulent and engrossing. As I look back (I finished reading this book over a week ago) I think it is her writing style that stands out most prominently. Also, I liked how she had incorporated the details of various mythical creatures into this story. It was kind of fascinating to read about the author’s take on so many of them. I also loved the many references to other authors and classics – whether agreed to Callie’s take on them is a different matter though! The okay part of the story is its plot. It’s nothing extraordinary and it isn’t too bad either. I could figure out quite a few things early on. Also, the first quarter of the book is a bit slow. But once things start happening there’s hardly any time to slack off, so I guess that makes up for it.

Now the parts I didn’t enjoy as much were the characters. Callie seemed a bit too thick to me at times, especially when she is slow to understand something that is supposed to be in her field of expertise. The others characters didn’t really make an impression on me, except maybe for Liam. I am all about characters and they usually make or break a book for me. In this case it was a deal-breaker of sorts for me. Also, though this book is not rated as an erotica, and its contents may not require it to be rated as such, but still it was a bit too graphic for me. Some of you may think it has just enough details and some may even want a bit more – so for this point I’d ask you to be your own judge. Just because it’s a ‘con’ for me doesn’t mean it would be the same for each and every one of you.

Overall, I am kind of between 2 & 3 stars to this book. I would like to read more from this author but I am not really sure that I will be picking up its sequel. So I guess it is going to be a 3 stars from me – and entirely for the author’s language and the parts involving folklore.

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