A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon

Give me the whimsy!

A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon by Hannah Reynolds is a YA fantasy romance about a student magically finding themselves accidentally betrothed to a demon. As a scholarship student at the magical Lyceum, Naomi would rather focus on deciphering ancient scrolls than dating. Especially since the only boys asking her out are less interested in a night in Naomi’s company than an introduction to her influential aunt. So Naomi devises an excuse to turn down her persistent suitors: She claims to be betrothed to a demon. Her story works perfectly. Until she arrives home one night and finds the demon Daziel lounging in her rooms, insisting he’s her betrothed. Naomi knows he’s lying—after all, the betrothal was never real—but the gorgeous and infuriating demon is surprisingly resistant to her banishing spells. And with his penchant for baking and home décor, it’s not so bad having him around. Besides, she has bigger worries—like the ancient scroll she’s trying to translate, and the way the city’s magic has become suddenly unstable. But the more Naomi learns about the scroll, and the more she gets to know Daziel, the more it seems like she might be at the center of something bigger than she could have imagined.

What I loved most about this book, is the characters! Naomi and Daziel were so funny and relatable. I like how well paced their relationship was, and how it didn't seem instant-lovey, even though the circumstances set it up to be. I also really liked the academic setting as a whole, as I grown quite fond of academic settings (which can entirely be blamed on my love of Katabasis and Babel). Not to mention I'm just a huge nerd in general.

One thing I didn't quite like about this book, is the general pacing and timeline of the plot. I feel like some thing were non-sequential or the time skips were a bit too much or happened too soon in the narrative. And the overall pacing was a bit flustery in the sense that some scenes needed a little more time to simmer, while others felt like they took too long.

Regardless, A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon by Hannah Reynolds is a fantastic novel for anyone looking for a more fantastical romance that still grounds itself in the familiar.

A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon is a cozy YA Romantasy that I thoroughly enjoyed. It starts with a fun premise: Naomi bat Yardena is a new student at the Lyceum, and boys are asking her out to get a chance to meet her aunt Tirtzah, who serves on the Sanhedrin. To prevent their unwanted advances and their inability to take a simple no, she says the reason she can’t date them is that she is engaged to a demon. Imagine the scene when she returns to her student housing and discovers she has accidentally summoned a demon, who is now her betrothed.

Daziel’s cover image and naming him a demon were not my favorite in understanding his character. Demon turns out to be a misnomer with connotations for evil and devilishness that don’t describe Daziel. He is a Shayd from Jewish folklore that acts more like a Djinn-type personality than the Christian notion of a demon. Once that was cleared up, I liked his character better and didn’t question the author’s choice in his portrayal anymore.

The relationship between Naomi and Daziel has an engaging transformation from her first trying to banish him by means such as spitting on him, all the way to their love based on trust. The problem they face does a fantastic job of bringing them together.

I used an audiobook for part of the story, and the narrator does a nice job bringing the story to life. Since it is a fantasy, there are quite a few names that listening to the story helped to pronounce. Mostly, this book is enjoyable with either print or audio, although there is a section where she is working to decipher the language of an ancient text, and seeing it printed made it easier to follow than just listening.

Overall, I liked the time the author took to give these characters a reason to have a solid relationship. Many humorous parts balance well with the overall heart of their relationship.