Book Review: The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark

Goodreads Summary: I gasped, or tried to. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t draw breath. His lips, pearly wet, parted and he blew into my mouth. My lungs expanded beneath his weight. When I exhaled he sucked my breath in and his weight turned from cold marble into warm living flesh. 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.

Title: The Demon Lover
Series:  The Fairwick Chronicles #1
Author: Juliet Dark
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: 21st July 2011
Format: e-galley
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

This was a fantastic read, something dark, mysterious and romantic. I would suggest this is aimed toward an adult genre with all the lovely detailing of the dreams and storytelling. It was a little longer than the books I have been currently reading, but it was needed to tell the whole story of Callie McFay. The writing style of Juliet Dark was awesome and the story was fast paced.

Callie McFay started having very sexy dreams when she was a teenager; after her parents died she started having these dreams when she needed somebody to watch over her and then they faded as she aged. After finishing college and having a long term, long distance relationship, Callie is offered an interview at a small exclusive college called Fairwick College, in upstate New York. Hoping her boyfriend will soon get a job in New York, they will finally be able to move in together.

Callie goes to Fairwick for her interview and is drawn into the woods and to an old Victorian house hidden away. It appears run down and covered with honeysuckle, but the windows are open and Callie is enchanted. She stays overnight in the local Inn and just has to see the realtor about looking through the house. The next day, it is all set up and Callie falls in love with the house; she must buy it. This changes her plans with her boyfriend, but Callie is drawn to it and the woods surrounding.

Seeing strange things around the house and in the house, Callie isn’t sure if the house is haunted by the previous owner, also an Author and one that Callie has read. The house has old manuscripts and notebooks from the author and all her journals, but the only problem is that they are not to leave the house. So Callie sets up office in a spare room and sorts them through. The funny thing is that the story in the notebooks doesn’t match the printed version and some of the details match the sexy dreams that Callie started having again.

Since moving into the house and taking the position as Folklore Professor at Fairwick College, Callie has started having the same strange sexy dreams from her adolescence, the return of The Demon Lover. She is sure they are dreams, but at times they feel so real that in the morning she is sore and doesn’t know what is a dream and what is real.

There seems to be an outbreak at the college where the students are all extremely tired and anaemic, Callie is not sure if it is the local Vampires or there is an incubus in town.  This is a mystery and Callie is also having the same symptoms, she is determined to find out who the culprit is and banish them. Callie discovers there are other Professors at her College that have special abilities and the town in general isn’t what it seems.

Will Callie be able to ascertain what is real and what is just a dream? Who is The Demon Lover and why is he visiting her again? Who is the creature draining the students and Callie of their soul? What will happen to Callie’s long distance relationship?

I really enjoyed this book, it is so very unusual and dark gothic, something I don’t generally read, but it was fantastic. The romance aspect was very intriguing and I was left guessing the whole way through the book as to what happened to The Demon Lover and if Callie would ever get to be with her boyfriend. The Demon Lover was a great introduction to the series, giving the reader a little insight into the paranormal beings that inhabit Fairwick College. Each book appears to be a stand-alone, but has a common theme, the College. I can’t wait to read The Water Witch, which I have also received from NetGalley.

5 DARK MYSTERIOUS BOOKS

About the Author

Juliet Dark is a pseudonym for Carol Goodman and is also the author of The Lake of Dead Languages. Her work has appeared in such journals as The Greensboro Review, Literal Latt, The Midwest Quarterly, and Other Voices. After graduation from Vassar College, where she majored in Latin, she taught Latin for several years in Austin, Texas. She then received an M.F.A. in fiction from the New School University. Goodman currently teaches writing and works as a writer-in-residence for Teachers and Writers. She lives on Long Island.

~ via Goodreads

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