Synopsis
from back of book: “Today
you are thirty-two years old,” the old woman went on, and just how
the hell did she know it was my birthday? “Your time has come.”
She smiled, but it wasn't a Grandma-type wanna-cookie? smile. Nope,
this was more like the grin on the fake shark they built for the
movie Jaws. “There is no time to waste,” she said. “The demons
are here. And only you can kill them.”
There's
great surf in La Sombra, California – along with a huge mental
institution, where Cassidy Burke figures this old lady has escaped
from. Especially after she claims that Cassie is next in a long line
of demon-dusters – Burke women paired with a centuries-old cleaning
solution to shine windows and spot demons. Sure, her Clean Sweep maid
service is taking off, with a sexy new client promising to have her
rolling in dough, not to mention keep her hormones happy. But wiping
out supernatural bad guys? Sounds like a job for a size-two
cheerleader.
Yet
suddenly Cassie has got fighting instincts and fierce new strength,
and she's going to need both. For one thing, her teenage daughter,
Thea, thinks her dad is dead, but in truth he just never knew about
her, and now he's moved back to town. For another, after many
dateless years, Cassie finally has men lining up at her door.
Unfortunately most of them aren't human...
Stats
for my copy: Trade paperback, Signet Eclipse, published by New
American Library, 2007.
How
acquired: Bought.
My
thoughts: After getting all
caught up in the paranormal craze a few years ago, I eventually got a
little burned out on vampires and demons and etc., and the last
couple of years I've been more interested in contemporary romance
novels. But I loved
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL
by this same author, so when I saw her name on this book I snatched
it up. And I'm glad I did.
There
are quite a few characters, and since Cassidy narrates in first
person point of view we see the other characters the way she does.
Cassidy is a single mom, raising her teenage daughter in the same
house where she herself grew up, and running a house cleaning service
whose business is starting to pick up. On her 32nd birthday (a random
number to say the least), Jasmine, an elderly woman who claims to be
a friend of her grandmother, shows up and proceeds to tell Cassidy
that there are demons everywhere and she is here to train Cassidy,
the newest demon duster, so Cassidy can assume her birth right
duties. Cassidy of course thinks the old lady is mental,until she
talks to her grandmother on the phone and grandma confirms the story.
As
for some of those other characters:
Devlin
Cole is the owner of the hottest spot in a town, a nightclub that's
also reputed to be a sex club. He needs a cleaning service for the
upstairs rooms at his club, and Cassidy wants the job. It would be
her first foray into commercial cleaning and could be just the boost
her company needs. Devlin himself is probably the hottest bachelor in
town, and from their first meeting the sparks start flying. Cassidy's
been in a sexual drought, and Devlin has her panting.
Logan
is Cassidy's high school boyfriend, who went off to college, leaving
Cassidy to spend her senior year of high school pregnant. Although he
never knew that. The day Cassidy planned to tell Logan about Thea, he
introduced her to his fiance,and Cassidy went home broken hearted,
without ever divulging her secret to him. Now he's a police officer,
he's moved back to town,he's divorced, and he wants Cassidy back. And
try as she might, Cassidy can't help but still be attracted to him
also.
Thea
is Cassidy's daughter, who's whip smart (she writes up the bid for
the cleaning job, having a much better head for numbers than her
mother) and who has always been told that her father died a hero,
rescuing some kids from a fire. Or maybe it was a flood. Cassidy can
never remember what lie she used.
When
Thea meets Logan, she's furious with her mother for lying to her all
those years. Logan is pretty angry himself, but he seemed to get over
it pretty quick and was pretty forgiving. He got over it faster than
Thea did, and I loved the interactions between Cassidy and Thea, with
her grumblings and eye rolls and “I'm not talking to you!” and
other typical teenage girl behavior.
One
of my favorite scenes is at a block party, where Devlin and Logan
face off against each other and verbally stake their claims on her,
trading barbs regarding which of them belongs there with Cassidy. I
liked both guys, but I did lean towards Devlin more than Logan.
Cassidy
is shocked to learn about demons, but when she finally starts talking
to others she discovers that practically everyone she knows already
knew that demons lived within their community. From the outset she
assumes all demons are evil, and she's shocked again to learn that
some of them just want to live their lives in peace and have no
interest in waging war on humans. Jasmine withholds information from
her, and both Cassidy and I were put out about that. Doesn't Jasmine
realize that by not telling Cassidy upfront that there are good
demons and bad demons, Cassidy could have unwittingly killed some
good ones? And it seemed pretty far fetched that everyone else in
town is already aware of demons (and ghosts) living among them and
just accepts it as a matter fact. Except Logan, who thinks Cassidy is
making it all up, even after witnessing a dusting.
But
despite those issues, I enjoyed Cassidy's humorous narration as she
navigated this new world that had been opened up for her, and I'm
eager to find the next book in the series.
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