A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley – Review

Published: March 7, 2023

Publisher: Berkley Publishing

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 336 (Paperback)

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
Mariel Spark knows not to trust a demon, especially one that wants her soul, but what’s a witch to do when he won’t leave her side—and she kind of doesn’t want him to?

Mariel Spark is prophesied to be the most powerful witch seen in centuries of the famed Spark family, but to the displeasure of her mother, she prefers baking to brewing potions and gardening to casting hexes. When a spell to summon flour goes very wrong, Mariel finds herself staring down a demon—one she inadvertently summoned for a soul bargain.

Ozroth the Ruthless is a legend among demons. Powerful and merciless, he drives hard bargains to collect mortal souls. But his reputation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry—if he can strike a bargain with Mariel, he will earn back his deadly reputation. Ozroth can’t leave Mariel’s side until they complete a bargain, which she refuses to do (turns out some humans are attached to their souls).

But the witch is funny. And curvy. And disgustingly yet endearingly cheerful. Becoming awkward roommates quickly escalates when Mariel, terrified to confess the inadvertent summoning to her mother, blurts out that she’s dating Ozroth. As Ozroth and Mariel struggle with their opposing goals and maintaining a fake relationship, real attraction blooms between them. But Ozroth has a limited amount of time to strike the deal, and if Mariel gives up her soul, she’ll lose all her emotions—including love—which will only spell disaster for them both.

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It’s no secret that I’ve been having a *ton* of fun reading fantasy romance lately and I’ve even begun requesting ARCs in that particular subgenre. A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon is one of those – how could I have resisted a title that promised so much fun?

Mariel Spark is bad at being a witch, despite the fact that she comes from a long line of powerful witches and wizards. When Mariel is practicing summoning spells, she inadvertently summons a powerful, soul-bargaining demon instead of the bag of flour she was trying for. The demon, Ozroth, can’t leave until the bargain is complete and Mariel doesn’t actually want to sell her soul for anything he could offer. The two are at an impasse, become unwilling roommates, and begin fake dating to explain their sudden living arrangement… hijinks ensue. 

I had a great time reading this and thought the idea of a public magical community, filled with fae, witches, wizards, sirens and even magical flora and fauna was delightful. Mariel had a wonderful, protective and supportive friend group who she actually spoke to about her problems! Yay! The relationship between Mariel and Oz was also super cute with a pleasant amount of spice. I realllly loved the moments where Mariel got to show him the wonders of the human world – ice cream, the beautiful forests, and more!

While there were many things I loved, it was certainly not without a number of things I didn’t care for. First of all, Mariel’s mother is portrayed as an awful caricature of a narcissistic parent. It was SO over the top that it was actually laughable. I really think it could have been toned down a little and would have been more effective as a plot device. The dialogue between the characters is quite bad at times and I’m pretty sure some of these sentences were never read aloud prior to publishing. There’s also the dreaded “I would never lie to you” and the moment where one of the main characters just runs off into the night when a problem arises rather than pausing to discuss it for one single second. These are two tropes (if you can really call them that) that I really hate. They’re not cute, they’re just frustrating because you know everything is going to work out. You just have to go through the inevitable cheap drama first.

Overall though? This was fun though this is probably one of the first “fake dating” books I’ve read, so I don’t have anything to compare it to. There are some great moments when Mariel shows she does have a backbone and stands up to those who keep pushing her around. She begins to accept herself and her talents rather than trying to measure up to the standards of the people around her. Oz actually has an interesting history and I enjoyed the tidbits of information given about the demon realm he hails from and what happens to souls that are sold. Good cozy to spice ratio!