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)

Like a Charm (Bronwyn Universe) by Candace Havens

We've seen three books with Bronwyn the Witch as the main character. Bronwyn has a good friend Kira, who happens to be the librarian in Sweet Texas.

This is Kira's book, where we hear how she came to live in Sweet, and we get to see her come to terms with her own abilities as they begin to manifest. We saw Bronwyn helping her a little in the Bronwyn books, but now we see it from Kira's point of view. Unfortunately, Kira's point of view doesn't really fit with Bronwyn's point of view. I mean, the timing of when she met Caleb and when she started seeing ghosts doesn't seem to fit in with other stories. There were a few other things as well, where the timing didn't seem to be the same. It pulled me out of the story, which is never a good thing.

Here is the blurb from the author's website:

Kira Smythe never thought she'd end up back in her hometown of Sweet, Texas. But now that her high-powered job, along with her five-year plan, have gone right out the window, she's back where she started, staying with her hippie, tofu-obsessed parents-except that somehow she's inherited the local library. At least there's a gorgeous guy in town who seems quite smitten with her. So what if he's got a few secrets up his sleeve? After all, Kira's got her own secrets. Like the dead people who won't stop talking to her. Or the magical books on the shelves. Or the fact that someone who's very much alive seems determined to push her over to the other side.

This book puts us firmly back into the realm of Paranormal Chik Lit. Light, not much substance, girls-just-want-to-have-fun, reading.

Still an enjoyable read, but I didn't love it. I liked it, but I don't think I'm interested in any more Kira books. I would buy another Bronwyn book in a heartbeat, though.

Book Rating: 7 of 10



1) Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn)
2) Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn)
3) Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn)
4) Like a Charm (Kira)

Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn the Witch, Book 3) by Candace Havens

The third Bronwyn book is good, but not quite on par with the first two. Of course, the first two books were a 10 of 10, so not being as good doesn't mean it wasn't good. It was still good.

Charmed and Deadly is not quiet as lighthearted as the previous two books in this series. To say what the heavier stuff is would be a spoiler, but trust me, this book takes us places I hadn't expected it to. That's not necessarily bad, it just wasn't expected.

I find myself not being able to talk much about this book without giving away spoilers. I think the author felt the same way, as this is the official blurb for the book:

Bronwyn is back...but so is her evil ex-boyfriend. From the author of Charmed & Ready and Charmed & Dangerous.

Bronwyn is used to making enemies - when you dedicate your life to ridding the world of evil magic dudes and dudettes, it can happen. So when she first realizes that an attempted hit on the Prime Minister was really for her, it's just "same spell, different day." But then something about this hex reminds Bronwyn an awful lot of an ex - Jason Gladstone, who was her college sweetheart until he tied her up and tried to drain her of her powers. Talk about a date from hell.

We've heard that there is a warlock ex that made her decide to never date warlocks again, but we never got the whole story. Now we have it. It's no wonder she wanted to kick Sam to the curb once she realized he was a warlock back in the first book.

The book actually has more plots than just this one though, and Bronwyn ends up doing a good bit of traveling around the world. And, the trust thing she worked on with Sam in the previous book gets stretched even farther in this book.

I can't see that the author has said whether there will be more Bronwyn books or not. She's put out one book in the Bronwyn universe since this book, but it features Bronwyn's friend Kira as the main character and Bronwyn as a secondary character. I hope to see more Bronwyn books from her in the future, but with more than two years since the last one, and two other books published, I'm left wondering if this might be all we get of Bronwyn.


Book Rating: 8 of 10



1) Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn)
2) Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn)
3) Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn)
4) Like a Charm (Kira)

Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn the Witch, Book 2) by Candace Havens

This is the second Bronwyn book, and I'll again point out that 1) this is Chik Lit with substance and 2) it's written in diary form and that form works great to get this particular story across.

This book starts up not too long after the other one ended, and you really need to read the first book before you read this one. You can read my review of the other books in this series by clicking on the "Bronwyn the Witch" tag at the top of this blog entry. (And you really should read the review of the first book in the series to get an idea of who Bronwyn is.)

And Bronwyn is definitely back, and funny and serious as ever. It might sound like a contradiction, but it works well in this book.

The characters we got to know in the first book are also back. Plus, in this book we meet Zane, a rock star who doesn't take himself too seriously. He's got bad guys trying to kill him so Bronwyn is being payed to follow him around and keep him alive. Not a horrid job to have, with the lifestyle that Zane leads.

This of course leaves Sam at home while his girlfriend is off running around with a rockstar. And having paparazzi taking pictures of Zane and Bronwyn together and speculating on Zane's new lady doesn't make Sam feel any better. It's fair to say that Bronwyn and Same have to work on trust issues in this book.

The book again has a nice mixture of laughs and serious stuff and kick-as stuff and romantic stuff and every day stuff and this again makes it a very enjoyable read.

Book Rating: 10 of 10





1) Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn)
2) Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn)
3) Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn)
4) Like a Charm (Kira)

Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn the Witch, Book 1) by Candace Havens

I should start this by saying that his book is paranormal chick lit. It's a fun and easy read with likable characters. It makes you smile, it makes you laugh. It's easy to get into, and there are no parts that make you want to put it down and do something else for a while.

Sometimes you want dark and serious. Sometimes you want lighthearted and easy. Both have their place on my bookshelf. That's not to say that there is no plot, or that the main character's life isn't in danger, or that she doesn't kick some serious ass when necessary. Because there is depth, there is good plot, and the weaving of the supernatural elements works well in the story.

So, it's not just a fluffy read, there is substance amongst the lighter stuff. But it's still chik lit.

And I have no idea of what genre to put this one into. It's not really urban fantasy, though it's got some elements of it. It's not exactly a paranormal romance, though again there are some elements. It could even loosely fit into mystery and crime drama. It looks like the libraries out there are calling it some variation of Occult Fiction or Paranormal Fiction. Maybe I should create a genre here and call it Paranormal Chik Lit. Works for me.

Here is the blurb from the author's website:

When Bronwyn turned twenty she took the oath to protect, and for the last five years she's kept that promise, working as a kind of one-witch secret service to the British Prime Minister. Her arsenal includes a combination of potions, spells, explosions, mind-reading tricks, and general butt-kicking skills. But Bronwyn has a soft side, too-especially when it comes to Dr. Sam, the favorite physician of her new hometown, Sweet, Texas. He's smart, funny, adorable, everything she could want in a man. Except he's also a warlock-a big no-no in Bronwyn's book of dating. Being a witch is definitely getting in the way of her sex life. If zapping evil jerks is easy, why is finding a boyfriend so hard?

This book is written in diary form. And it works. The book is funny and engaging, with a likable main characters and likable secondary and supporting characters.

Bronwyn isn't a normal witch, she's a High Witch. Which apparently means she's way more powerful than most witches. And apparently there are only a handful or two alive on the planet, so witches of this power are pretty rare. We all know how power can corrupt, but Bronwyn isn't the sort of person to be corrupted by the power she wields. I got the impression that she's the type of person to use her powers for good, no matter what might be offered to her. She is not flighty or airheaded. She is responsible and organized and thoughtful and a very good friend to the people in her life.

If I were to meet Bronwyn in real life then we'd get along with each other just fine. I mean, how can you not like someone who starts her diary entries with how many spells she's cast and how many dead bodies there are since the last entry? And sometimes even how many of those bodies she's responsible for.

There are also two hunks in this book that have a serious interest in Bronwyn.. There is the new doctor in town as well as a shiek she's supposed to be keeping alive. Since the sheik is a client and she has this personal rule against dating clients, and since the good doctor is a warlock and she's got a personal rule against dating those, too... you can see her dilemma here. Having the power she has is a big turn off to most men, so she's gone a while without a boyfriend, and now suddenly there are two very very eligible bachelors interested in her and if she follows her own rules then she really should say no to both.

And the town she lives in is great. I mean, every small town has their odd but lovable characters, right? And Sweet is no different. It's a great little town, and a perfect place for Bronwyn to call home.

I also liked the mixture of job and home life. When she's working there are lots of bad guys and she's pretty much constantly on her toes. But at home she gets to work on her gardening, and on remodeling her house. We get to see her as a regular person as well as a kind of superhero. Of course, even in her superhero role she's pretty laid back about it, but some of the things she can do are nothing short of superhero status for those she saves.

This doesn't really fall into the same category of books I normally like, but I loved this book. Adored it.

Book Rating: 10 of 10





1) Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn)
2) Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn)
3) Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn)
4) Like a Charm (Kira)