Member Reviews
DNF. These characters might work better in early high school. Great premise, uninspired execution. Nothing resonated with me as a reader.
Thank you netgalley for the advance readers copy.
Not Your Average Hot Guy is a magical rom-com. Gwenda Bond writes a book that is sure to be a hit with fans of the show 'Lucifer'.
I was so excited to start reading Not Your Average Hot Guy because it sounded so dangerous with its paranormal elements. It centers around a young woman named Callie and the Prince of Darkness, Luke. One night when Callie is working at her family's escape room, she and her friend Mag are taken aback when a cult summons a demon. That demon being Luke Morningstar, the Prince of Darkness.
Luke and Callie join forces to try and stop the cult from initiating the apocalypse. I think readers will really enjoy the fun and flirty banter between Luke and Callie. Luke is so charming and such a bad boy that you can't help but feel intrigued. Callie is strong-willed person who is doing surprisingly well with learning about all the things that go bump in the night.
I give Not Your Average Hot Guy 4 stars. It is a fun and quick read that left me wanting to know more about Callie and Luke's future. It does end in a bit of a cliffhanger and it worked because I want to know how it will all end.
Thank you to St. Martin's and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The premise here is a great one: human meet demon. Shenanigans ensue! I've consumed my fair share of paranormal romance so I know that it can get freaky. But this was...fairly normal? Like a budget Netflix rom-com meant to measure audience tastes. It was fast and very surface level. Not as cringey as some other romances I've read with similar writing styles, but still a bit one-dimensional. It did feel like it could have worked as a YA novel -- only one scene that could be considered spicy that could easily come out (or add more of!! go all the way!). The protagonist is a bit juvenile and everyone around her treats her like a child and she is a full adult! That was my main peeve -- take her seriously, people! Otherwise she will never take herself seriously! I thought the dialogue was rather funny and off-the-cuff at good moments. But I skated over this narrative in a few hours and wish it packed a little more punch. The stakes were high, all right, but didn't feel...high enough? Or I just didn't care enough. Maybe both.
3 stars.
I loved the twists and turns of this book. It reads like you’re watching a movie, which recently has become my absolute favorite thing book wise. Such good action & super cute romance. Very unique too! Not a rom com that’s full of cliches and overdone tropes
I had high hopes for this book, but it just fell flat for me. I liked Callie, but Luke annoyed me like no other. I think the concept of the book is interesting, but the execution just didn’t do it for me.
DNF - I really liked the idea of this book, but the storyline and characters weren’t interesting enough to keep me reading. I finished about 50% of the book. I received a copy of Not Your Average Hot Guy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Callie has the weekend all planned, she and her best friend Mag will manage her mother’s escape room business and hang out together all weekend. The weekend starts out fine and then a cult shows up and steals one of the grimoires from the escape room. Callie tries to stop them, but the cult decides to take her and Mag too. Right when it seems like it can’t get any worse the cult summons a demon and the situation just gets hotter. 🔥
Not Your Average Hot Guy was a fun paranormal comedy romance. I felt there was a lack of attraction between the two main characters but still made for a cute book.
**I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. **
I was looking for something adjacent to Charley Davidson but what I got was a kid trying to dress up in grown up clothes.
This book would have worked better as a YA novel.
There was some humor but it didn’t always work.
This was a ridiculous read. But, ridiculous in a lighthearted manner. I think I was expecting more from this, but it was a fast and entertaining read; even if I won’t ever think about it again. What I would love to know though, is what the needing meant.
Not Your Average Hot Guy by Gwenda Bond was almost a DNF for me, but it ended up okay. I did not mind the overall narrative, but it just felt flat for me personally.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for proving me with an early review copy of this book!
CW: JK Rowling, Harry Potter
Synopsis (spoiler free)
Cally runs an escape room business with her mom while she tries to figure out what the future holds for her post-graduation. One night, while her mother is away at a convention, a strange group of individuals come in and summon a demon in the middle of one of their escape rooms. This sets off a chain of events which could trigger the apocalypse if Cally and the demon. Luke, don’t work together to stop it.
My thoughts
Okay. So I had really high hopes for this book. I was expecting an enemies to lovers, morally grey love interest, steamy romp on the wild side trekking through hell type of novel and let me tell you, this is not it. I’m not even really sure what genre I would classify it as, because it reads like a poorly written YA, and I’ve read YA with steamier scenes, but then it’s classified as a romance, but when I tell you the chemistry between the characters is in the negatives I’m not joking around. I struggled so hard to get through this book, I really did. Callie and Luke are possibly the least interesting people ever.
Anyways onto the story. It was not for me. I think it was trying to be a kind of angels and demons type puzzle solving deal to tie into the escape room thing and how “quirky” Callie is because she’s a master of puzzles and remembers random things 🙄 but the Risk always felt so minimal and I never really found myself caring at all whether they achieved their goals at all. The plot felt sloppy and the secondary characters motivations were so unclear sometimes it was confusing.
The steam in this book is nonexistent. I wouldn’t even comment on it other than the book was marketed as being “hot” and that just was not the case. There is one almost steamy scene and it’s…. just not. Also, random note but the JK Rowling references were just so unnecessary. First of all, the way it was written as if it’s like “oh yeah, let’s talk about this author, not name her, bring her up multiple times, but point out like oh yeah it’s fine just don’t follow her on Twitter”. And it was repetitively too. If it was once it would be like oh whatever but there are multiple times. Ugh. I’m sorry I just REALLY did not like this book.
This was a fun read, maybe geared more towards the young adult crowd. I enjoyed the snark/humor and the characters. I'm hoping there will be a sequel due to the ending. It reminded me a bit of [book:City of Bones|256683] and the other Shadowhunter books, as well as [book:Kingdom of the Wicked|52735921]. I'm not huge on fantasy novels but apparently I like the ones involving hot demons and whatnot.
Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This story was unique in concept. The paranormal touch added a fun element to the characters’ backstories as well. It took a little while to actually get into the rhythm of the story due to writing style. I felt like the writing interrupted itself and held up the flow of my reading. Overall, I was pleased with the story line.
This was definitely one unique rom-com!
Can it be any more forbidden with the son of the devil falling in love with a mortal? Nope, I think not, which makes this so much fun, also just seeing Lucifer in action is pure entertainment in itself. I really enjoyed this story and the character of Luke and Callie, I love seeing a strong and confident female protagonist in my romance books! That's also a main reason Luke was so intrigued!
One criticism I must give is that it felt more like a fantasy book more than a rom com, the world building and the fantastic elements came first while the romance of the story came second, but that's just because I'm a sucker for a good rom com!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the earc in return for an honest review.
*Thank you to St.Martin's Press, Gwenda Bonds and Netgalley for giving me an E-ARC of Netgalley in exchange for an honest review *
This was such a fun,Spicy read. I thought the the plot was clever. I definitely got "Lucifer" vibes from this, so I would recommend "Not Your Average Hot Guy" to fans of the show.
Well, a paranormal romance between quirky girl who loves occult teamed up with Luci Morningstar’s son Luke to stop the apocalypse and have an insta romance to be potential daughter in hell is interesting plot line to dive into without thinking any further!
Okay! I said I’m all in! Because it is advertised with its resemblances of Charley Davidson series which is a big mistake! First of all sarcastic, smart devil reaper Charley’s hilarious sense of humor hasn’t found in this book! Of course there are some laugh out loud moments and entertaining times but the snarky tone we’re looking for is definitely missing.
And Luke is a charming, sweet devil’s boy is not as charismatic as Reyes Alexander Farrow who can make you hyperventilate with his panty melting testosterone levels!
Anyways: instead of comparing completely two different stories ( only common point is both heroes are son of Tom Ellis) let’s focus on this one:
Insta love story and reluctant devil’s son who rejects to take humans’ soul story line didn’t work so well for me! The family drama of Luke with Luci and Lilith was a little nonsensical. The hell creatures were portrayed like caricature version of themselves.
But if I focus the positive sides: Mag: non-binary best friend was lovely supporting character. I loved the characters’ smart dialogues and assertiveness.
The pacing was also intriguing. There are lots of action packed chapters keep directing to you to well depicted apocalyptic rising all around the world.
Luke suffers from lack of charisma but he was too sweet for his role as a creature from hell!
Callie and Luke’s banters and teaming up we’re entertaining. I didn’t buy their insta love story but the fact doesn’t change: they looked cute together.
The plot was interesting as I told before: nerdy, occult book lover Callie who recently graduated from college, working at her mother’s escape room business called Great Escape.
She takes the responsibility to open up the place when her mother leaves to attend a conference. She couldn’t choose worse day to leave her daughter alone because a group of cult members steals the grimoire and kidnaps Callie alongside her bestie Mag, for performing a special ritual to summon the devil and start to apocalypse. But they summon Luke the intern, instead of devil himself.
Luke has no intention to take souls of humans and he is not a regular intern, as I mentioned a few times before he is Tom Ellis’ lovely son.
Luke finds himself to work with Callie to save the world as all hell breaks loose: fires and brimstones keep falling down from the sky and armies of hell attacking!
Overall: I didn’t love this book but it was still easy to read without exhausting your mind and there were some entertaining moments which made me smile. So I’m giving solid urban fantasy, new adult, supernatural fun stars!
Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ St. Martin’s Griffin for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.
All Callie wanted was a quiet weekend with her best friend. She promised her mom she could handle running her family’s escape room business while her mom is out of town. Instead a Satanic cult shows up, claiming that the prop spell book in one of the rooms is the real deal, and they need it to summon the right hand of the devil. Naturally they take Callie and her friend, Mag, along with them. But when the summoning reveals a handsome demon in a leather jacket named Luke who offers to help Callie stop the cult from destroying the world, her night goes from weird to completely strange
Luke is so sweet and swoon-worthy. I really like him. Callie is funny and I love her friendship with Mag. As much as I like the romance, I think that the friendship is the stand out part of the book. It's a cute, fun book. I enjoy reading it and looking forward to reading more...
Thanks to the publisher for providing an arc.
Callie helps her mom run an escape room company. When a prop turns out to be an actual grimoire that an evil cult uses to summon a demon, Callie gets caught up in a battle to defeat the cultists and save the Earth from total destruction.
Luke, Satan's only son, is a bit of a disappointment. Super model looks but no wings means he needs to get it together and figure out how to collect souls. He decides to answer the cultists' summoning and meets Callie. Insta-attraction.
What follows is a fun, contemporary, urban fantasy New Adult romcom. A little Good Omens mixed with a bit of Darynda Jones.
Reading Notes:
- It’s trying to set a tone, something quippy and quick, but it’s coming off a little too slap-dash instead.
- There’s a certain “weight” lacking.
- The otherworldly insta-lust is not working for me. I don’t feel it at all.
- Luke is too soft. He’s like a bumbling puppy. Theres no edge or heat to him. As the son of Lucifer there should be SOMETHING to him.
- Callie is interesting and her backstory is a great idea for a modern-day origin story of a Robert Langdon- Indiana Jones-like treasure hunter/heroine … but her easy acceptance and gung-ho attitude about everything is too fast.
- I now know why this is somehow listed as Adult, New Adult, and YA on goodreads. It’s feels like ALL of them at various times. I kept getting confused as to how old these people are.
- The journey through hell had a lot of great visuals, but all the entities we meet are too tame.
- I am not on board with how that all ended and wrapped up. At that point it was just so, “yeah, okay, whatever, HEA!”
- Okay, I like silly and absurdist comedic books, but this lacks the irreverence and clever flippancy that usually makes it work. The romance was flat and forced and the characters are just flying along without any substance to them.
- Some people are going to enjoy it, that’s the beauty of books, but for me it didn’t work.
DNF. Though the writing is okay, but the idea of the devil's son being a nice guy is neither charming nor entertaining. The comparisons to Darynda Jones work fall far short. Joking about people losing their souls and living in eternal damnation is never going to be funny.