If you like your books with a paranormal twist and snarky attitude, then get When Life Gives You Demons by Jennifer Honeybourn on your shelf stat!
Sixteen-year-old Shelby Black has spent the past year training to be an exorcist. Her great-uncle Roy—a Catholic priest and Shelby’s guardian—believes she has a gift for expelling demons, and he’s put her through exorcist boot camp hell, but he still doesn’t trust her to do an exorcism on her own.
High school is hard enough without having to explain that you fight demons for a living, so Shelby keeps her extracurricular activity quiet, especially from Spencer, her cute math tutor. Secrets run in Shelby’s family, though: her mother has been missing ever since an exorcism went horribly wrong, and Uncle Roy is tight-lipped about it. But Shelby’s hell-bent on finding her mom, no matter what—even if what it ends up costing her her soul AND a date with Spencer.
This was a super fun, fast read that gave me a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes. It’s got a contemporary setting, so there’s no fantasy world to understand — readers need only accept that in this version of reality, demons are a thing and exorcism can actually be effective AF, if performed correctly.
Shelby is a great character to follow though her unlikely life of balancing high school with exorcism training, and the potential romance with Spencer is just too darn cute for words.
This book is funny, sassy, snarky, and sweet — and while it’s a standalone, I could easily see this being serialized or at the very least given a sequel. (But honestly, it would make a great series of standalone adventures for these characters. Oooh, maybe a TV show? Somebody alert Netflix! I’d like to start streaming season one soon, please.)
When Life Gives You Demons will make you laugh and swoon; look for this adorable book in stores July 17th.
Novel Novice 