***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

When Life Gives You Demons by Jennifer Honeybourn
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: July 17, 2018
Rating: 4 stars
Source: ARC received via exchange

Summary (from Goodreads):

Sixteen-year-old Shelby Black has spent the past year training to be an exorcist. Her great-uncle Roy—a Catholic priest and Shelby’s guardian—believes she has a gift for expelling demons, and he’s put her through exorcist boot camp hell, but he still doesn’t trust her to do an exorcism on her own.

High school is hard enough without having to explain that you fight demons for a living, so Shelby keeps her extracurricular activity quiet, especially from Spencer, her cute math tutor. Secrets run in Shelby’s family, though: her mother has been missing ever since an exorcism went horribly wrong, and Uncle Roy is tight-lipped about it. But Shelby’s hell-bent on finding her mom, no matter what—even if what it ends up costing her her soul AND a date with Spencer.

What I Liked:

I adored Jennifer Honeybourn's debut novel, Wesley James Ruined My Life, and I've been pretty excited about her next standalone, When Life Gives You Demons. First - can we take a moment to appreciate the cover? I think it is fantastic. Simple, yet eye-catching and it makes you giggle a little. I breezed through this book and I really enjoyed it as I was reading it. If you are looking for a quick, hilarious read, this is one for you!

This book is centered around exorcisms, which is a rare topic in YA lit. Shelby's uncle is a priest, and a very skilled exorcist. He has been training Shelby to be an exorcist, but Shelby isn't all that great. Shelby hides this "hobby" of hers from everyone, including her best friend Vanessa, and her cute math tutor Spencer. What would her friends think if they found how she exorcised demons? Shelby might not have to wonder for long, because something dangerous is happening in the demon world, and it could affect her family, her friends, and her budding relationship with Spencer.

I love the light tone of this book. It deals with exorcisms, which can get pretty heavy and/or pretty horrific, pretty quickly. Exorcisms are usually the topic of horror films, and I don't do horror - no thank you. There wasn't anything terrifying or scary about this book - for the most part, the tone was light and funny, though the climax got a little more intense.

This book is set in modern times but with a definite paranormal touch to it, what with all the demons and exorcisms. Of course, it depends on what you believe in, these things could be supernatural to you. The concept of Catholicism and religion is important in this book, but not overwhelming, if that makes sense. Religion isn't forced upon the reader.

Shelby is such a funny heroine to follow. She really wants to do an exorcisms by herself, but her uncle doesn't trust her. She really wants to express her interest in Spencer Callaghan, but doesn't want to get rejected. One thing that Shelby is dealing with is the disappearance of her mother - nobody knows where she is (though Uncle Roy has been telling people that she is visiting relatives in Italy). Shelby is a fun person, persistent and a little vulnerable too.

Spencer is a secondary character but a very important one. He isn't just a love interest - he plays a big role in the rising action of the book. He's a good guy, and a cute love interest too. He's one of those sweet, nice boys, not a dominant alpha male (nothing wrong with either type of guy). I adored Spencer.

I liked Shelby and Spencer's quiet friendship (though it budded into something more, which was adorable.) I also liked Shelby's friendship with Vanessa, which was very positive and healthy. Shelby's parents weren't in the picture, but she had a strong relationship with her uncle. Positive relationships were a very good part of this story.

The romance was sweet! Shelby was crushing on her math tutor (Spencer), and he was crushing on her, and it's so adorable. Both of them are hiding things from each other, but both of them really care about the other. So cute!

The ending gets really intense, though still light in terms of the mood. This book was really fun and light to read, a quick read that had me smiling and laughing and occasionally swooning. The ending is sweet and a HEA for everyone. Very satisfying!

What I Did Not Like:

More swoons! I wanted more swoons for sure. This is a Swoon Reads novel, after all. More swoons is never a bad thing!

Would I Recommend It:

Contemporary romance fans will like this one! You don't need to be a PNR fan to enjoy it. And it's not super religious so if you're not into books with religion, don't be put off. The religious aspects are there, and it was cool to see that (so many YA books avoid the topic of religion), but it wasn't a Big Thing in this book (like a statement type of thing, or a theme). Exorcisms were definitely there, but not in a horror kind of way. I liked the book!

Rating:

4 stars. I have to commend Jennifer Honeybourn for her unique story and creativity! I'm not sure I would have picked up this book had I not read and loved the author's previous (unrelated) book. When Life Gives You Demons was funny, swoony, creative. I'm excited to read what Honeybourn comes up with next!

Well that was fun! It had sort of a cool Buffy vibe except involving exorcism. The romance was cute and the book was well written.

This is a fun, cute read that's a good buy for YA collections where light paranormal stories are popular. There's no denying the appeal of that cover!!

This was ok, leaning towards good. The main character storms off A LOT, and she is pretty whiny. Those are the annoying things.
The good parts were the demon exorcising, and the fact that her uncle (acting guardian) didn't conveniently disappear.
The meh parts were the budding relationship and the unfinished storylines. The ending was a little quick as well. It wasn't a bad ending, just a wee bit rushed.
Overall it was a solid 3* read.

Remember The Exorcist? Terrifying movie? Pea soup? Spinning heads? Oscar nominations up the wazoo and so on? Yeah, of course you do. It's a great movie. Iconic even. It basically forced the word exorcism into the common lexicon and now, so many years later we have When Life Gives You Demons the latest in a long line of supernatural stories who's premise is the best part of the story.

The thing about this book is that it is superficial in every sense of the word. Honeybourn's second novel reads like she did a quick Wikipedia scan and built a story around that. And that's disappointing because the history of exorcism, mysticism, and the Catholic church is absolutely fascinating and could have been so much more interesting then what this book turned out to be. It never really went there with the whole "exorcisms/demons are real" thing. We're told about them and we're told about the demon hunters, but again it's all very surface level. Like, Shelby comments on how a demon hunter has a tattoo of 666 on his arm and the hunter tells her its to lure the demons into a false sense of security and there this thing about Ouija boards being super bad cause they apparently they allow for possessions and it all just rings super hollow. Like Honeybourn just picked cliche evil things like the number 666 and Ouija boards without exploring them in the slightest. We're not told why these things are evil in the world, just that they are. Honeybourn relies on us, the reader, knowing that 666 and Ouija boards are evil instead of building a world where these things are serious.

The whole world in When Life Gives You Demons is sorta strange, because I couldn't really gauge how much this stuff actually affects people. Like apparently demon possession is quite common, but some priests don't believe in it or think their necessary. And anyone can do an exorcism with the right equipment and words, except priest do it in Latin cause it sounds cooler, I guess? I couldn't figure out if this whole exorcism thing was a secret society or just something that happens people don't talk about. One of the major subplots in this book is Shelby wanting to tell Spencer, her love interest, she's an exorcists and driving herself, and me, crazy with this internal monologue of how she wanted to tell him but was worried he'd be freaked out, which is valid. But, like, you're telling someone you''re an exorcist. And maybe this is just me, but saying you're an exorcist expelling literal demons is like the coolest thing I've ever heard. So, I couldn't really get behind Shelby's train of thought.

Speaking of Spencer, my god was this kid boring. Shelby isn't that much better, but Spencer is just a wet blanket of personality. Like, he has no visible personality whatsoever outside of being afraid of heights, which I actually thought was a great scene, but everything was was so bland. I couldn't understand what this guy's deal was. He had no personality. Ziltch. None. And yeah, I guess he's attractive, but my god I couldn't understand Shelby's obsession with him. What would they even talk about, because their interactions prior to exorcist-reveal was limited to awkward geometry questions and dazed silence.

I didn't need this to be The Exorcist of literature, but I wanted something. This was published under a romance imprint, so I was expecting romance I didn't get. It had demons in it, so I was expecting horror I didn't get. It had a campy cover, so I was expecting humor I didn't get. This book is just a void, a surface level void that didn't just leave me wanting more. It left me wanting anything.

Cute, if predictable, romance with a likable heroine and a fun supernatural twist that teen romance readers will easily swoon over.

Read this in one sitting.
Just a fun rollicking paranormal adventure. Nothing unexpected, but still enjoyable. Like if Buffy and the Winchesters ever did a combo episode.