Liviania’s review of Deja Demon (Confessions of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom, Book 4) by Julie Kenner
Paranormal romance released by Berkley 1 Jul 08

The third book in this series, Demons are Forever, felt a little stale to me.  Julie Kenner just reassured me that the series is not losing momentum.  Deja Demon moves full speed ahead.  As the end approached I doubted there were enough pages to wrap up the main plot, but Kenner did it.  There are still plenty of questions left to be explored in book five, Demon Ex Machina, but there’s fortunately no cliffhanger.

If you haven’t read the previous books in this series, there are some spoilers in this review.  I do my best to avoid them but I’d feel silly discussing the book without revealing a few of the earlier surprises.  Once more a demon is after Kate.  This time the demons don’t want her to wield the Sword of Caelum, with which it has been prophesied she’ll be able to kill a certain demon and his cohorts.  I spent a portion of the book wondering why the demons were going after Kate when they’d be a lot safer if they stayed away.  Luckily, the characters wondered the same thing themselves and the story eventually revealed a satisfactory reason.

Level five Demon Hunter Kate has a lot on her plate.  Her fifteen-year-old daughter wants to go patrolling for demons and her father seems inclined to indulge her.  The same father who Kate brought back to life, which she believes might have tainted both their souls.  The father her husband doesn’t know about, but he does suspect something.  Stuart has finally clued in that there’s something wrong with his marriage.  On top of everything else, Kate is in charge of the neighborhood Easter party and has a bucket full of zombie parts in the back of her van.

The pace is frantic and the subject matter dark.  Allie’s starting to understand the consequences of her parents’ occupation. Bad things happen to good people multiple times. For all that, I finished the book relaxed.  Kenner’s wit is dead-on and she intersperses encroaching evil with mundane domesticity to keep matters on an even keel.  Plus, the book seemed to be reacting to my inner criticism.  As I said in the second paragraph, I was wondering about the demons’ brains when the characters did the same.  Later I wondered when Cutter, a favorite character of mine, would show just before Kate reminded Allie he was away at a martial arts competition.

In addition to the plot being very satisfying, so was the relationship drama.  Eric/David knows Kate loves Stuart but is not willing to give her up.  But though she still loves him Kate won’t be unfaithful to her husband and suspects something is wrong.  Allie wants to spend more time with her father but doesn’t want to hurt her stepfather.  Stuart’s spending less time campaigning and more time connecting with his family.    He’s a great guy and it’s satisfying to see him finally working out that the problems in his marriage may not be his fault.

Demons Are Forever felt like a stumble, but Deja Demon is a complete recovery.  It’s funny and scary, romantic and sad, and ends on a very strong note.  We’ve learned more about Kate’s past and her future looks like it’s going to be very interesting.  I’m ready to see where Julie Kenner is going to take this series next.

Grade: A-

Summary:

Between attending gala fundraisers for her husband’s political campaign, training her teenage daughter to wield a crossbow and a stiletto, pottytraining a toddler, and her increasingly complicated personal life, Kate Connor hardly has time to prepare for the impending chaos of a neighborhood Easter party that has her enslaved to dying hundreds of hard-boiled eggs.

Keeping the local kiddos in line will take all of Kate’s skills as a mother and demon hunter, just when she’ll need them the most. The High Demon Goramesh has returned to San Diablo-this time with a full-blown army of the undead and a powerful demonic ally. Once again, it’s up to Kate to save the world. Good thing she can multi-task…

Other books in the series: