Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley

34 reviews

k_winchester's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was absolutely excellent. So much fun, genuinely funny - the amount of clever jokes/chuckling puns was high and I was smiling the whole time. (GhoulTube...)

Loved the characters - both strong, flawed, insecure, funny, surprising, grew so much, supportive, well-matched... There was so many fantastic bits to be had with Oz's lack of knowledge, there was so much greatness in Mariel and her nature magic, and great side characters (I'll get the spelling wildly wrong so the quirky elder relative A was incredible). I love how the world/setting is so easily infused with magical things and people and even social media (pixies, creatures, magical plants, etc).

Bonus, I did not see that climactic scene coming - excellent, great mystery, great build up, reveal, solution, etc (the visuals were EPIC and this book needs a mini series/movie. 100% casting Rege Jean Page as Oz....). And the actual ending was thoroughly delightful. 😊❤

10/10, totally enjoyed this. So cute!

(Personal Spice Note: TCA)

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chelbelle122's review

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

With a mom like that...she needed friends like those.

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tspice24's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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tea_coffee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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ziracrow's review

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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amy_in_the_city's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a cute book. I loved Oz, the cinnamon roll demon. I would have liked for the timeline to have been stretched out a bit as I find falling in love to the point that you'll give up everything to be together in the span of about 2 weeks (I think?) to be unbelievable. The

third-act breakup

, while annoying, was understandable as it fit with the characterization. I think

Mariel

should have apologized more at the end. I appreciated Mariel's character journey dealing with her narcissistic mother and finding her own sense of self worth after years of being told she wasn't good enough.

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etymoye's review

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

1.0

The good:

I loved the setting, the small, magical town of Glimmer Falls. It has kind of Harry Potter-ish vibes but for grown ups. Once the bad taste of book 1 has left my mouth, I think I’d be up for book 2 to see if it’s more my style based solely on the setting.
The beginning and the ending are pretty decent. They’re honestly the only parts that feel like there’s anything happening, plot-wise.
Also, I LOVED Calladia, the heroine’s friend. And book 2 is her book. So I could see myself giving it a shot at some point.

Calladia’s dating history had left her with a hair trigger when it came to shitty men, and she loved fighting, especially when defending a friend, but Mariel wasn’t sure she wanted to sic Calladia on the demon just yet.

Calladia’s a real one.

The not-so-good:

Honestly, most everything else, unfortunately.

For most of the book, I kept thinking how the pace of the plot felt really strange. Like we were meandering through events. Like, at one point, the heroine admits she needs to go to the library to research demons, but doesn’t want her mom to find out (it’s a small town, her mom is a powerful witch and a big deal). So she doesn’t go, until she just randomly does, and…nothing happens? Her mom never finds out, and what’s even weirder is that the scene happens on-page, but it’s all information the reader already knows. So it ends up feeling really boring and a waste of time.
There were multiple scenes like this, where the characters don’t know something and the reader does, but the author chooses to go into detail about it as if it’s new information to the reader. And it really ends up messing with the tension and momentum of the plot.
Once I read the afterword, the strangeness of the plot made sense. This was Reylo fanfic at one point, right? I love fanfic and have no problem reading it, but this, to me, read like a really good fanfic and a not-so-good professional novel, like it needed a little more reworking before publication.

Safety Stats:

Ages:

The hero is two hundred years old, the heroine is an adult in her late twenties, I believe.

Cheating:

None.

Other OM/OW:

None.

Separation:

Well, the third act breakup feels pretty random, but they’re still tied to each other through the bargain. So even though they “break up” for a bit, nobody goes anywhere.

Triggers:

The heroine's mom is pretty toxic and borderline verbally/emotionally abusive, but otherwise none.

HEA/HFN?:

Honestly, I’d almost call this more of a HFN. The hero is mortal and they agree they want to spend the rest of their lives together, but there’s no marriage or anything.

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greystory's review

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lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was cute. Quick, easy read. This felt more urban fantasy than anything. Demon was basically like a human with horns.

* Mild grumpy/sunshine (demon wasn't that grumpy)
* Accidental demon summoning (love that)
* Green witch
* Learning to establish firm boundaries and speak up for yourself
* Emotions are exhausting
* Learning to love life
* Dealing with shitty family
* Very supportive ride or die friends
* Mild fake dating (if you love this trope because of people genuinely pretending/practicing to be a couple, that doesn't happen much here)

Listened to the audiobook and the narration was decent. Ideally I would have loved a different narrator for the demon so it could have a male voice but I got used to the female narrator's fake dude voice pretty quickly.

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unicornofthesea's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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whatbeccareadnext's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I've tried countless times to get into this genre of light-fantasy romance novels, (like The Ex-Hex, The very secret society of witches etc.) but I usually struggle with them.

This one was a happy exception. I loved the characters, the writing was great and I found some moments hilarious. The magical elements didn't overshadow the romance, but were still a huge part of the plot. Overall, a really enjoyable read.

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