Review: Entertaining
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 5, 2014
Reviewed by Rebeccafor TheRomanceReviews.comDEMON IN WAITING by Holley Trent is a paranormal romance in which demons and their offspring are commonplace and predatory.John Tate has only recently discovered he is the son Gulielmus, one such a demon, and wants to escape the commune he has grown up in. He therefore quickly takes up the offer of working for his demon daddy by seducing unsuspecting women and robbing them of their souls.Ariel Thomas is driving long distance, returning to her home state, to start a new job, escaping an ex-boyfriend and a job that never gave anything back. She picks up John, or Hitch as he initially calls himself, as he is hitch-hiking, his good looks and the "electric feeling" she feels in his presence proving too hard to resist.John discovers he has a multitude of siblings, including two half-brothers, when one of them, Charles, is sent to check up on him and he learns more about his demonic heritage. His father marked his hand in order to bring his demonic powers, including immortality, to the surface and he finds that he cannot have sex without feeling the darker urge to drain the energy from Ariel.However, John is essentially a good guy and he fights this urge and finds himself quickly falling for Ariel, despite his father's angry demands that he "move on to the next one". Ariel is confused by his behavior but charmed by his lack of sophistication and earnestness. I found it hard to believe that John is a virgin before he meets Ariel and, though I found his innocence somewhat appealing, I would have preferred him to be a little darker and more enigmatic.Ariel is a more interesting and cynical character. I enjoyed some of the dialogue and her thought processes were very true to life and often entertaining. Her parents appeared to abandon her when she was small and her grandma, whom she calls "Momma", brought her up. The author admits that she can rarely resist adding a spunky grandma to the cast but I did find this aspect much too similar to the previous book I had read by this author. I would have preferred Ariel to have a completely new backstory.The story was quite humorous and I did find some of the comments the characters made amusing. For example, John asks, "What was hell's area code anyway?" when he is thinking of getting in touch with his father and at one point he tries to embolden himself by saying, "Your daddy is an incubus. You've got cool encoded in your DNA."I can't say too much about the ending without spoiling it, but Gulielmus' evil was overcame a little too easily for me. I think I would have liked him to have been a little more crafty and terrifying. However, the plot thrives on a sense of mischief and this is a strong thread that keeps the reader interested in the story to its conclusion.DEMON IN WAITING does not contain any great surprises or real sense of malevolence. I was also disappointed by the lack of originality. However, it is satisfactory as a light, entertaining read.