THE TROUBLE WITH DEMONS by Lisa Shearin

I'm tellin' ya, I really hate shopping too, but not for the same reason Raine Benares does. She's a sorceress, but not a very good one. She's a much better Seeker. In fact, she was a little too good at it. Way back in MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND she found a soul-stealing rock, the Saghred, and it thought she was just yummy. She managed to not get et, but it latched onto her like a booger on her finger she can't shake off. Now it wants to use her to et more yummy souls, some baddies want to get her so they can use the Saghred's power, some others want to kill her because they're afraid of what the Saghred will use her to do, and a handful want to help her get that sucker off. All of this makes buying a new set of leathers a major pain in the neck for Raine. The girl just can't jaunt down to Wal-mart, you know.

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As she puts it, "Most girls go shopping with their girlfriends; I go with an armed escort."

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So she's out shopping and the next thing she knows a butt-naked blue demon pops out of nowhere and starts making a mess of things. Next thing you know there's running and screaming. It's a good thing her measurements were already taken at the leatherers. Turns out someone's opening up Hellgates and trying to start a war. Guess why? Well, the demon high muckety mucks want Raine and that dang rock, of course.

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Among those wanting to help Raine are Vegard, her bodyguard, the big lug and Phaelen, her cousin, and Piaras, a couple of young hotties from the local magic school. She also has her own personal hotties, Mychael and Tam. Mychael's a fine, upstanding elf citizen, the kind you want to settle down and make little elflings with and Tam's a bad boy goblin, the sexy kind who's trying his darnedest to reform for Raine. I like little baby elflings, so count me on Team Mychael.

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In the process of walloping demons right and left, Tam 'accidentally' forms a magical bond with Raine, which is kind of like a soul-binding marriage without the physical nookie. I'm not buying it's a 'whoopsie' thing though. Naturally, Mychael is not pleased. And the threesome's efforts to deal with the little problem cranks up the tension, if you know what I mean.

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Helping to sort out the mess is dear old Dad and big time bad guy, Sarad Nukpana, both of whom where sucked into the Saghred and pass the time playing chess because they hate each other and it's the best way to keep an eye on each other.

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This story's one big action romp from start to finish with lots of little twists and turns. If you want another take on it, pop over to Tia's blog-http://fantasydebut.blogspot.com/2009/04/debut-graduate-trouble-with-demons.html I'm a trilogy kind of girl and I was ready for more closure for Raine than this story ended with, but that's just me. This book's getting reviewed all over the blogosphere and I think I'm the only one who feels that way.
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Even if you don't normally read the Fantasy genre, I'm betting you'll like THE TROUBLE WITH DEMONS just for Lisa's storytelling 'voice.' And also the sexy hot goblins. What I envy most about her, as a writer, is her prose. I'm far too impatient to get my stories out, but her words just spin away, a floating pleasure to read. Click on Lisa's name at the bottom of this post to read all the other books and news of hers we've mentioned here. She's an ER favorite! http://www.lisashearin.com/