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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'
A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley
50 reviews
bzliz's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Mariel Spark is a very powerful witch as foretold by a prophecy at her birth, except she has only ever shown an affinity for nature magic which her family looks down on and belittles her for. She has difficulty doing simple spells for any other kind of magic. Case in point: while trying to summon flour to do some baking, she accidentally summons Ozroth the Ruthless and now she’s stuck with him unless she wants to make a deal and give up her soul. Oz really needs this deal to go well because he’s been essentially shunned from the demon world since he made a bad deal six months ago and ended up with a warlock’s soul bound to him. Now he has to eat and sleep like mortals do (ugh, so inconvenient!) and he’s struggling to handle so many emotions. The two have to learn to handle the forced proximity and their growing feelings for one another as the need to make a deal hangs over their heads. Not to mention now Mariel’s overbearing mother thinks they’re dating!
I really adored this book and I’m delighted to see there’s another volume in this universe coming out in November 2023! The world is so fun and colorful and the characters (minus the overbearing families) are very charming.
It easily could have been a five star read for me if the timeline wasn’t so tight. Serious feelings after the days is a lot and being fully in love after like two weeks is too fast for me. I wish the timeline was more spread out and less rushed, even if it meant a lot of that timeline was mentioned only in little snippets between existing scenes. For example: Oz could spend a full week or even a month coming up with silly deals that Mariel would never agree to while catching feelings for her human quirks that he finds endearing. It’s established that time means nothing to these immortal demons so Astraroth could set any time frame and it would be the same outcome either way. I also wouldn’t have minded another spicy scene or two sprinkled in there but that’s absolutely not a deal breaker.
Content warnings:
Sexual content (on page):Oz has a big demon dick and they put it to good use a few times, including a quickie against a tree
Toxic relationship, emotional abuse, gaslighting (on page):I’m tagging this because of Mariel’s family, especially her mom. Her mom’s attempts to force Mariel into being powerful in the way she wants include belittling her privately and publicly, making her doubt her own abilities, and refusing to acknowledge Mariel’s strengths. This behavior is not written as cruelty but seems to be well intentioned but misguided. Her mom does apologize in the end and Mariel maintains the boundary she set for their relationship.
I really adored this book and I’m delighted to see there’s another volume in this universe coming out in November 2023! The world is so fun and colorful and the characters (minus the overbearing families) are very charming.
It easily could have been a five star read for me if the timeline wasn’t so tight. Serious feelings after the days is a lot and being fully in love after like two weeks is too fast for me. I wish the timeline was more spread out and less rushed, even if it meant a lot of that timeline was mentioned only in little snippets between existing scenes. For example: Oz could spend a full week or even a month coming up with silly deals that Mariel would never agree to while catching feelings for her human quirks that he finds endearing. It’s established that time means nothing to these immortal demons so Astraroth could set any time frame and it would be the same outcome either way. I also wouldn’t have minded another spicy scene or two sprinkled in there but that’s absolutely not a deal breaker.
Content warnings:
Sexual content (on page):
Toxic relationship, emotional abuse, gaslighting (on page):
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
beesin03's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol
In regards to the content warnings (mild spoiler??) :chaptersofamylea's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
‘There was still a soul to claim, but for now, there was spaghetti.’
3.5/4 ⭐️
This was a fun read! It was light hearted, quirky, sweet and funny. Perfect summer read.
TWs: toxic family relationships
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
wilybooklover's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
2.0
This was an intriguing premise that had a lot of potential, but sadly fell a bit flat for me.
Both of the main characters felt quite two-dimensional and lacking in depth. Mariel even reminded me of a teenager at times. The secondary characters were even more shallow and felt like caricatures or cardboard cut-outs. I found myself unable to become immersed in the story because it just felt noticeably fake, especially with respect to the dialogue. The humour was more cringe and juvenile than actually funny and the third-act breakup was incredibly unnecessary given the conflict and drama already happening in the last third of the book. There were also a lot of editing mistakes (like, several per chapter) — things like missing punctuation, words smashed together, and uncapitalised names/places. I expect better editing from a traditionally published book. [This is for the UK digital version.]
Both of the main characters felt quite two-dimensional and lacking in depth. Mariel even reminded me of a teenager at times. The secondary characters were even more shallow and felt like caricatures or cardboard cut-outs. I found myself unable to become immersed in the story because it just felt noticeably fake, especially with respect to the dialogue. The humour was more cringe and juvenile than actually funny and the third-act breakup was incredibly unnecessary given the conflict and drama already happening in the last third of the book. There were also a lot of editing mistakes (like, several per chapter) — things like missing punctuation, words smashed together, and uncapitalised names/places. I expect better editing from a traditionally published book. [This is for the UK digital version.]
There were a few plus points, however. I enjoyed the world-building, which was fun and detailed without being overexplained. The plant magic/affinity was especially nice; I loved how Mariel’s plants would comfort her. I loved that Mariel was plus-size but there was no plot point or issues surrounding it; she just was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, and Violence
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, and Classism
megwilli's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Toxic relationship
mrsmishler's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Animal death
chaoticace's review against another edition
FMC is too naive and doesn’t seems to have the brain capacity or the critical thinking of a 28yo.
Would have been ok with discovering every little mystery thanks to a good build up but it was more of a obvious kinda things and the result weren’t that important. Maybe the whole « electric power came from the soul you ingested » had been developed after 80% but it seems little worthless considering the main mystery -rotting forest- is from the unresolved bargain and most likely didn’t need more power from Oz
Would have been ok with discovering every little mystery thanks to a good build up but it was more of a obvious kinda things and the result weren’t that important.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Sexual content
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Animal death and Blood
le3713's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
faefolkreads's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I absolutely adored this; it’s easy, lighthearted and hilarious.
When nature witch Mariel accidentally summons a demon instead of flour, she’s stuck with him until she bargains away her soul, or manages to find a way to get rid of him. But Ozroth the Ruthless doesn’t seem to be acting as a demon usually would and she can’t help but get closer to the grumpy yet confusingly kind being that needs her soul before he can leave.
This book has fake dating, forced-proximity and grumpy-sunshine tropes, and was such a wonderful read 💕
When nature witch Mariel accidentally summons a demon instead of flour, she’s stuck with him until she bargains away her soul, or manages to find a way to get rid of him. But Ozroth the Ruthless doesn’t seem to be acting as a demon usually would and she can’t help but get closer to the grumpy yet confusingly kind being that needs her soul before he can leave.
This book has fake dating, forced-proximity and grumpy-sunshine tropes, and was such a wonderful read 💕
Content Warnings
Minor: Gaslighting and Toxic relationship
wishbea's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Animal death and Toxic friendship
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Sexism, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, and Cursing