Julie Kenner – California Demon
45. California Demon: The Secret Life of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner (2006)
Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom, Book 2
Read My Review Of:
– Book 1: Carpe Demon
Length: 342 pages
Genre: Fantasy; Chick-Lit
Started: 18 April 2009
Finished: 19 April 2009, at about 2 in the morning.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 30 December 2007
Verdict? Probable keeper.
Kate’s got to hunt down
demons before they destroy
her town… and family.
Summary: Kate Connor’s officially out of retirement and again an active member of the secret demon-hunting branch of the Catholic church, all while trying to balance the demands of a teenaged daughter, a toddler son, a husband campaigning for local office… and a secret demon plot that seems to focus around the local high school! There are ancient books of unknown powers, a new teacher who reminds Kate just a little *too* much of her dead first husband, demons taking over the residents of the local nursing home, and the inevitable fact that her daughter’s beginning to grow up.
Review: In Season 23 of Buffy the Vampire Slay…, wait, I mean, in Book 2 of the Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series… Seriously, if Buffy grew up to be a suburban housewife (it still irks me a little bit that they use the term “soccer mom” when neither of Kate’s kids plays soccer), and the supernatural baddies started calling her “Hunter” instead of “Slayer”, you’d essentially have these books. On the one hand, it’s exceedingly silly paranormal chick-lit… but on the other hand, sometimes exceedingly silly paranormal chick-lit is just what you need. I think I enjoyed this installment a bit more than Carpe Demon, mostly because the writing stopped trying to be quite so clever with the parenthetical asides, which didn’t work for me. However there are still a lot of “Demons threatening my family so now I’m going to kill you twice as hard, because NO ONE HURTS MY CHILDREN!!!!” histrionics, which I found kind of tiresome after a while (“yes, yes, your children are more important than your life, we get it, can we move on?”), although that may be because I don’t have kids of my own to protect from the forces of darkness. The plot ticks along at a good speed, there are plenty of funny bits, and it’s basically all good fun. Not exactly intellectually taxing fare, here, but good fluffy fun for when you’re at the beach, on a plane, or stuck somewhere without your Buffy DVDs to hand. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Technically the second in the series, but there’s enough background given that they could be read out of order. It’s not a rush-out-and-read recommendation, but it’s a fun series, and if you’re in the mood for chick-lit, you could definitely do worse.
This Review on LibraryThing | This Book on LibraryThing | This Book on Amazon
Other Reviews: Dear Author, Nice Mommy Evil Editor, 2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews, What Cheesy Reads
Have you reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link and I’ll add it in.
First Line: My name is Kate Connor, and I’m a Demon Hunter.
Fyrefly's Book Blog 
I enjoyed the first book and started the next one but had to put it aside because of other reviews. I will go back to it though because it’s just fun! I wasn’t reading them for the sake of reviews, just for me. Sometimes I need some butt-kicking, smart alecky, funny reading. I was glad to hear that you liked them too. There’s also more to come in that series. :)
I read the first one and really liked it but I never did get around to picking this one up. Well more correctly, I checked it out of the library and was never in the mood to read it so I took it back unread.
Wrighty – I’ve got the third one on the shelf, waiting for me to be in the mood for it. And I guess there’s a fourth one now?
Ladytink – I think you definitely do need to be in the right mood for these.
I’ve listened to all of these as audiobooks from my library, and they’re great for making my commuting time fly by.
Jeanne – These would make great audiobooks – fun and exciting enough to keep you interested, but not so involved that you get lost if your attention wanders for a minute or two.