The Demon King and I by Candace Havens

I first discovered Candace Havens when I read the Bronwyn the Witch books. It appears she might be done with Bronwyn though, as there is no mention of new Bronwyn books at the author's website.

I decided to check out her new series, the first book being The Demon King and I.

This series revolves around four sisters who are the guardians of earth. They guard us from demons, dragons, some sort of sea creatures, and fairies. Each guardian being responsible for a different type of monster. The various beings/monsters live on their own planets, and (with the exception of the various king's who can behave themselves) they aren't supposed to come to earth. When they do, the guardians kill them.

Gillian Caruthers is responsible for killing the demons who come to earth. And she is quite good at it.

This is a pretty light hearted and fun story. Definitely chik-lit and not urban fantasy. It could have gone into paranorman romance, but chik-lit really defines it so much better. Just as it could technically be classified as Urban Fantasy (demons, dragons, fairies, etc. living in a world where humans don't realize they exist in quite the manner that they actually do), but this one deals too much with fashion and designers and shoes to be Urban Fantasy.

I will say that the girls are not shallow about the fashion stuff. They know it's not important, but since they are (sort of) celebrities, and they need to be able to hob nob with the rich and famous. Since world jumpers often end up in those social circles, fashion is just part of the job.

Here is the blurb from the author's site:

The Caruthers sisters are heiresses with privilege, wealth, beauty, and brains. But these party girls have something extra. As the Guardian Keys, possessors of an ancient family secret, they hold the fate of the world in their hands. Gillian, the eldest, is a sensation in the art world— this world, that is. In her other world she’s the Assassin, a knockout who snuffs out dimension-jumpers who foul up her personal space. She never expected to join forces with one. But when a plague of murderous demons plunges the earth in darkness, she has no choice but to get a little help from a being who knows his stuff.

It's a lighthearted fun story, even if it does deal with demons. I'll give The Demon King and I a 7 out of 10, but I can't exactly give the series a rating after reading just one book.

Book Rating: 7 out of 10


We've now met all four sisters. The next book will apparently be narrated by another sister. I have to wonder if the series is planned at the four sisters, or whether the brother (not a guardian) will have a book as well. And there is a mom and an "aunt" also, who it seems could have their own book, too.




1. The Demon King and I
2. Dragons Prefer Blondes (July 7, 2009)