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The Demon In Me

Michelle Rowen

Published 2010             326 pages

Summary (from the book jacket)

Fate has led Eden Riley to become a “psychic consultant” to the police, even though her abilities are unreliable at best. Those paranormal powers are about to get her into a jam she couldn’t have predicted: After her hunky police detective partner guns down a serial killer in front of her, Eden realizes that she’s quite literally no longer alone. A voice inside her head introduces himself as Darrak. He’s a demon. But not in a bad way!

Darrak lost his original body three hundred years ago, thanks to a witch’s curse. This is the first time he’s ever been able to speak directly to a host, plus there’s a bonus: Eden’s psychic energy helps him to take form during the daylight hours. He wants to use this chance to find a way to break his curse – finally. Otherwise, Eden’s going to have to learn to live with this sexy demon… like it or not.

The Review

Michelle Rowen is fast becoming one of my favourite paranormal romance authors. I came across The Demon In Me at my local library a couple of weeks after I’d just read Nightshade, the first book in Rowen’s thrilling new vampire urban fantasy romance series, which had proved that the author could write much darker romance than her bestselling Immortality Bites romantic comedy series ever called for. Considering it my lucky day (it’s always a lucky day when I can actually find a book I’m actively looking for at my local library!) I quickly checked it out and a few hours later found me merrily immersed in the story. Twenty-four hours later found the book finished – literally devoured in a reading frenzy!

The Demon In Me is the first part of the Living In Eden paranormal romance series which features Eden, a sceptical psychic and half-owner of a failing detective agency, who becomes possessed by a demon during a police shooting. The demon, Darrak, has had to possess one person after another for the last 300 years, ever since a witch cursed him to lose his physical body. Most of his hosts have been unable to hear him or even detect his presence (probably a good thing since the occasional hosts who could sense his presence thought they were insane) so its been a rather long, boring and lonely time for Darrak with nobody to talk to and no way to interact with the world.

Eden’s psychic abilities mean that she can not only clearly hear Darrak; she has enough power to allow Darrak to manifest a physical form during the daylight hours. Naturally Darrak’s form is that of a studly human male... but however pleasing to the eye he may be Eden is not thrilled to be his latest unwilling host. Unfortunately her initial response to his presence leads her to take actions that unwittingly put both of them in danger further into the story – but her realistic reactions to the demonic possession go a long way to making her character seem credible.

There is abundant fuel for romantic tension throughout the story. In addition to Eden’s natural inclination not to trust a word Darrak says (he is a demon after all) there is also her entirely natural attraction to the handsome man she is now bound to. Darrak’s personality develops to reveal him to be more nice guy than demon, but only a fool believes that demons can be “nice” – right? Throw in a hunky police detective, who wants to date Eden but doesn’t know that she is demonically possessed after dark, and there is plenty of opportunity for mayhem and fun. 

Whilst the demonic possession part of the plotline takes up the majority of the story there is plenty of sub-plot action to entertain fantasy fans. As a result of Darrak’s possession Eden starts to give off a weird energy that draws the city’s paranormal residents to her, and her detective agency. Eden isn’t a detective, she just does the admin work, but soon the agency is full of paranormal cases – much to the bemusement of her human, and completely unparanormal, business partner. Eden gets a swift induction into the world of the supernatural, which comprises of angels, demons, fairies and shape shifters (but sadly no vampires.) The paranormal detective agency part of the story compliments the romance part without swamping it, and adds some interesting sub-plots.

The Demon In Me gets the Living In Eden series off to a fantastic start – I loved this book and can’t wait to find out what happens to Darrak and Eden in the next series instalment, Something Wicked. Fast-paced and with snappy dialogue that amuses and entertains, The Demon In Me effortlessly delivers fun fantasy romance thrills that shouldn’t fail to satisfy any paranormal romance fan. Even without vampires!

Note: The book is rated down half a star for its lack of vampires (it’s a general site rule)

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