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| The Accidental Demon Slayer | 
 enlarge | Author: Angie Fox
Publisher: Love Spell
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $1.94
You Save: $5.05 (72%)
New (37) Used (30) from $1.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 29465
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 292
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0505527693
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780505527691
ASIN: 0505527693
Publication Date: July 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
It's never a good day when an ancient demon shows up on your toilet bowl. For Lizzie Brown, that's just the beginning. Soon her hyperactive terrier starts talking, and her long-lost biker witch Grandma is hurling Smuckers jars filled with magic. Just when she thinks she's seen it all, Lizzie learns she's a demon slayer-and all hell is after her. Of course, that's not the only thing after her. Dimitri Kallinikos, a devastatingly handsome shape-shifting griffin needs Lizzie to slay a demon of his own. But how do you talk a girl you've never met into going straight to the underworld? Lie. And if that doesn't work, how dangerous could a little seduction be...?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Disappointed August 16, 2008
16 out of 21 found this review helpful
I have to agree with Helen Hancox below. And frankly, I wish there'd been more readers like her who'd spoken up, because I would have saved myself some cash.
"I actually found it quite hard to get through this book as it felt very disjointed and the lack of flow and of coherent direction most of the time made it rather disappointing."
-- Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book Helen Hancox 2008
If I had realized that when Reviewer: D. Merrimon Crawford mentioned "Told through Lizzie's eyes" meant told via 1st person as opposed to primarily focusing on Lizzie's point-of-view, that would have been my first clue that I would not enjoy this novel. There have been only a true select few authors (P.C. Cast among said few) who've been able to pull off the "first person narrative" and make it work for me, even forget that it *is* being told in the first person (which I usually find very distracting).
I also made the mistake of assuming (I know, I know) that Pirate the dog would be more like a "familiar" than whatever his purpose is in the story (I still don't know... if it was to provide comic relief, I didn't feel it).
But what I found to be most frustrating with this story, and what made it hard for me to get truly absorbed, was the fact that every single character outside of Lizzie and Pirate consistently acted as though Lizzie should know more, know better, be better, even though she had been raised with *no knowledge whatsoever* and *they all knew it*. It drove me crazy that Lizzie never really called them on that point to my satisfaction.
I also thought there'd be more "shape-shifting" and magic revealed with Dimitri the Griffin... I think he was a griffin only twice in the story, and that was it. No depth to what could have been a truly interesting character, based on his griffin half and what griffins represent in mythology. No expansion. He was flat, and their relationship felt forced to me. Rushed.
Actually, come to think of it, the entire story, all 292 pages of it, felt rushed. Perhaps it was the publisher, the editors who hacked and sliced at the depth of this story. Perhaps it never had it to begin with. All I know is that for me, multiple characters were tossed into the reader's direction with no rhyme or reason, little --if any-- development, and the story overall never got off the ground. It was all surface skimming throughout.
A fact: I devour novels. A 292 pager normally reads for me in 5 hours or less. This one took me 3 days. Why? Because I was willing to put it down to do other things before picking it back up. When I finally finished it, instead of setting it down with my "keepers", I threw it across the room to land in my "library donation" pile.
 One sexy griffin, a wild Harley motorcycle riding grandmother and a talking Jack Russell terrier! July 21, 2008
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Preschool teacher Lizzie Brown's life may never be the same when her long lost witch grandmother shows up driving a hot pink Harley and starts casting magic spells from Smucker's jars. Pirate, her Jack Russell terrier, starts talking! Lizzie discovers that she is the exalted Demon Slayer of Dalea and a demon, Xerxes, emerges from her toilet to cause even more havoc! As they head to Memphis to join the grandmother's just as strange coven to learn magic, Dimitri Kallinikos, a shape shifting griffin shows up as her mentor. Teaching her the three rules of demon slaying, he is both protector and teacher. Dimitri, however, needs her to slay a demon of his own and as their feelings for each other grow, Lizzie and Dimtri are forced to make tough choices when family loyalties come into play in a battle begun generations ago.
Told through Lizzie's eyes, THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER, follows the heroine on the journey of her maturation and self-discovery in a well-imagined world ever so kooky yet touched by wonderful dash of tenderness. Within 12 hours, Lizzie has lost her home, her job, her clothes, and her friends to follow her grandmother, accused of murder, to be trained in magic and face demons and her destiny as the new family demon slayer. Unaware of the extent of her powers or her family history, Lizzie struggles to make sense of the crazy world her grandmother opens before her. As she comes to face with The Witches of the Red Skull with its cantankerous witch Ant Eater, werewolves, and above all her own magical powers, Lizzie sees the humorous outrageousness of her situation with a unique sense of innocence and irreverent sass. Although her dog Pirate plays the tough guy, the reader sees the tenderness within Lizzie's heart through him. Dimitri, her protector and mentor, awakens the woman in Lizzie with his body and kiss. Dimitri helps Lizzie focus on her powers and concentrating her magic when her magic turns her familiar world topsy-turvy.
Oh my, THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER is a fun book! Angie Fox's world and adventures had me laughing as the vivid and hilarious scenarios got funnier and funnier. The grandmother and her group of witches were a total scream. Angie Fox mixes paranormal with a fun, bold smart tone but by the end, I felt myself immersed in Lizzie's whole world and the drama playing out in her family. Angie Fox's humor gives way to a suspenseful adventure that keeps the reader on the edge as Lizzie and Dimitri face the ominous dangers ahead. The final leg of the journey is spectacular ---.not a gradual let-down but an ever increasing delightful unveiling, not just once but in several gradual layers. Intricacies with wonderful twists and revelations of the paranormal world kept me riveted to this book. What an ending! With her debut book, Angie Fox has created a wonderful magical world that will have readers eager to re-enter and anxiously awaiting her next release!
 Nothing special August 5, 2008
10 out of 16 found this review helpful
Lizzie Brown is an ordinary, quiet woman who works at a nursery school and whose companion is a small terrier, Pirate. Then on the eve of her thirtieth birthday her world is turned upside down. Her Grandmother appears, tells her that she's a demon slayer, and then she discovers an ancient demon in her toilet - and things go on from there. Along her journey to rescue her grandmother and to defeat a demon she teams up with a Griffin, Dimitri Kallinikos, a bunch of weird witches and even some werewolves. Can Lizzie learn enough to keep herself and those she loves safe? Can she trust those around her?
The author's writing style in this book is pretty relentless with non-stop action, a whole host of absurd characters and occasional amusing asides. Lizzie's Grandma Gertie seemed rather reminiscent of Grandma Mazur in the Stephanie Plum series to me and most of the other characters weren't actually that well delineated, including Lizzie herself. As a reader I felt lost most of the time, never quite knowing what was going on and wondering how Lizzie was adjusting so quickly to such random events.
There's a romance tacked onto the story but the author seems to be aiming more for quirky characters and dodgy spells. I actually found it quite hard to get through this book as it felt very disjointed and the lack of flow and of coherent direction most of the time made it rather disappointing.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book Helen Hancox 2008
Stands out among paranormal authors July 24, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by this new author. I love paranormal fiction & have read many authors recently (JR Ward, L. Hamilton, Raven Bower, Stephenie Meyer & Sherrilyn Kenyon) and I while I'm not an expert, I have my favorites. Books in this genre will either grab me from the get-go with writing sytle, bore me or weird-me-out with their seriousness. Fox delivers a fantastic debut with superb writing style, creativity, deep character devolpment & insight and humor. I wish her all the best and look forward to her second book.
A New Author to Watch July 25, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
Happy birthday, Lizzie Brown! First there's a demon in your toilet bowl, then your AWOL, Harley riding grandma with a jelly jar full of witches brew suddenly shows up on your doorstep, and finally your hyper-active Jack Russell Terrier has started talking to you. But best of all... You're a demon slayer. Maybe you should change your dinner reservations because Hell is out to get you!
Wow! Okay, I have to say it again. Wow! This debut by author Angie Fox knocked me flat on my rear!
I was loathe to put THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER down and found myself discovering new places to hide and read. More than once I came out of the bath with pruny toes or suffered dark circles under my eyes from staying up all night. Reading at stop lights is definitely not recommended by this reviewer. It could cause horn honking and possible hand gestures.
A biker bar full of Granny witches in leather and halter tops was only the beginning as we're introduced to a gorgeous Greek shape-shifting griffin with his own plans for Lizzie. The chemistry could not be denied and the steam these two generated fogged up my glasses.
It was non-stop fun from the first page to the last. The frisky, larger than life characters kept me turning pages and were established quickly and with much aplomb!
I'm still not sure exactly what made Pirate, the spastic yet loyal dog start talking, but it made for some cute moments. He was featured enough for moments of levity and was a constant for Lizzie from her previous life as a pre-school teacher.
In the uber popular genre of paranormal romance, just about everything has been done before, yet THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER keeps it fresh and unique carving out a place for itself. Scoot over Sookie Stackhouse and Queen Betsy Taylor. There's a new player in town and Lizzie Brown is going to need some room!
Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
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