The Brotherhood wants her gone. The demons want her dead. Not bad for her first day as a Chosen One.
When Nava Katz half-drunkenly interrupts her twin brother's induction ceremony into a secret supernatural society, she doesn’t expect to accidentally torch his life-long dream and steal his destiny.
Horrified she’s now expected to take his place, Nava is faced with the one thing she swore off forever: a purpose.
The all-male squad isn’t cool with a woman in their ranks and assigns her to Rohan Mitra: former rock god and their most ruthless hunter. He may be the perfect bad boy fling with no strings attached, but what happens when he won’t let her run—not even from herself?
That might prove as dangerous as defeating the vengeful demon out for her brother’s blood.
Odds of her new teammates expecting her to fail? Best not to think about that.
Odds of her succeeding out of spite? Dive into this complete series and find out.
“Don’t buy it if your offended by bad language, immoral behavior, lose ethics, sassy attitude, hot guys ... cuz it does it all - and its GREAT!!!” – Amazon Reviewer
A global wanderer, former screenwriter, and total cynic with a broken edit button, Deborah Wilde writes funny urban fantasy and paranormal women’s fiction.
Her stories feature sassy women who kick butt, strong female friendships, and swoony, sexy romance. She’s all about the happily ever after, with a huge dose of hilarity along the way.
The Unlikeable Demon Hunter dropped onto my radar, caught my attention and tickled my readingbuds (think tastebuds, but it does sound a little kinky). I’m late to the party, as the book has been around for nearly a year. I looked at some reviews and the negative ones made my eyes light up. Who can resist a *Too much sex* or *a lone female in a male-dominated demon hunter group*? Well, to be honest, the first one just makes me curious as to how much is too much and the second just flat out grabbed my attention and kept hold.
Now, the reviews I read didn’t exactly make me feel like I was going to be stepping into an epic read. Surprisingly though, with my expectations low, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, she’s obsessed with partying, sex and booze, but, she’s also 20-years-old. My expectations of finding a mature, smart and moralistic 20-year-old are pretty low. After meeting this 20-year-old, I’m not surprised she hadn’t found herself.
OK, I admit, she didn’t exactly show herself in the best light when I first met her, but as the story went on, she grew on me. When all the pieces had been laid out, it was clear to see that she had been trying to find her focus/path/destiny.
If only that damn ring landed on her brother’s finger instead of her own.
Nava is probably the worst candidate to put up as a demon hunter. She’s flighty, silly, reckless and determined to put her brother in her place. He was supposed to wear the damn ring, not her. He had been training for this position for years, she had other plans. He knew what a demon looked like, she didn't even know there were so many types. He had the bits and pieces between his legs to make him a brother, she was definitely not a brother.
I found the storyline really interesting. Such a fascinating concept that demon hunters have been around for centuries and were chosen from birth to be a part of the Brotherhood of David. It was a very old-fashioned concept that only men could be demon hunters and only male Rabi’s could be in charge. It was obvious that Nava was never supposed to have magic or the abilities she possessed.
Sometimes, plans change. It takes a little while for the brothers to warm up to the idea of a female in their midst. They will push her to her limits to see if she has what it takes and make her prove herself. Nava has to stand on her own two feet and use her abilities or she will die. At first, it was a little hard to watch Nava struggle, but deep down, I knew it was for her own good to be tested.
Look, I admit, there’s a lot of sexy times (more thoughts than times) in this story but it wasn’t the worst I’ve read. Yes, Nava does think about sex a lot, but I kind of expect that from a 20-year-old young and pretty girl. Her thoughts and dialogue were pretty immature, but, again, she’s 20, I expected it.
If I had one complaint about Nava, it was that she wouldn’t consider a relationship with Rohan. I think that’s my 43-year-old head thinking that because I can see Rohan’s potential. It’s easy to forget that most young girls aren’t looking for the love of their lives when they’re just out of school. I'm still hoping that he will get past the safety barriers around her heart.
If you’re looking for a lighthearted, funny and sexy read where magic and demon hunting plays a major part in the storyline, The Unlikeable Demon Hunter might be perfect for you. I will definitely be going on in the series…soon…ish.
I was bemusedly enjoying this, kind of, for a while. Nava is a crude bundle of selfish pleasure seeker after losing her avocation in dance. So when she becomes one of the magical chosen demon-hunting Rasha, it was interesting to see sparks of that former drive awakening and giving her something more than herself to think about. I liked her determination to train hard and to do well. And I liked her care for her twin, whose destiny it looks like she intercepted (though that's fuzzy as lots of things may have gone on with him being raised as the initiate and her completing the actual ceremony to become special).
So the brash, headstrong, boundary-pusher was intriguing. And Wilde does a good job making that believable and investing me in her story. I particularly liked one bit where she smacks one of her trainers (verbally) and insists that she is just untrained, not stupid. The story to that point bore that out. And then . . .
So then she does something completely stupid and I lost all desire to continue. Brash is one thing. But assumption piled on supposition piled on earnest naiveté broke me. Where did this naiveté come from?!? Why is she suddenly stupid? She knows literally nothing about her intended mission, and knows she knows nothing about it and still takes this enormous risk that not only jeopardizes her life, her relationship with her brother, and the trust of the people she's trying to impress, but also reinforces every misogynist slight tossed her way.
And then I realized that this is only the biggest example of the author manipulating a character to go a desired direction and that we'd had examples of this all along. Like .
Anyway, the tone of this is distinctive and it's interesting to see such a self-involved, crude internal monologue so convincingly pulled together without being alienating (I was alienated by author plot/character manipulation, not the voice or tone). Nava could have been fun to hang out with if I had learned to trust the author. As it stands, I see lots of needless drama and subverted motivations in the future and that kills my interest in going further.
I got to 25% of this book before I gave up. I just couldn't continue there was literally nothing that I liked. I'm not going to go on a massive rant about it, but here is what convinced me to put it down and move on:
The heroine. She really is unlikable. Actually, that isn't quite true it wasn't that she was unlikable, it was that she was ridiculous. Over the top. Drama queen. Self absorbed. The moment I knew I wouldn't be able to get on with this book is when the 20 year old girl (who apparently has no impulse control) says she has a cold dead heart (or words to that affect) I mean, really? Drama much. Is her nice house not nice enough? Did her loving parents not get her the pink pony she asked for? Jeez, I just couldn't.
Anyway, after her running in to who I assume will be her love interest, I had to put it down. There are only so many cliches you can throw at a book before is explodes.
What a ridiculous and fun ride! Thank you so much, Hollis, because of you I discovered this little gem.
That our heroine isn‘t an easy character and you have to get used to her, was very clear from the beginning - hence the name of the series, duh. If you expect a goody two shoes doll without flaws with that kind of title, I can‘t help you with that. No one can.
I was struggling with her in the beginning, too. The questions was, could the author make me like her nevertheless throughout the book? She fucking did. Nava is her own kind of drama, she isn‘t taking anything too seriously at least on surface. She is sassy and has a big mouth, she instantly spews the shit that comes to her mind right out. And it makes her so frigging entertaining.
Our H Rohan - I don‘t really know about him yet. I found him okay I guess and especially towards the end he grew on me, but final judgement ist still open. But their sexy times were ridiculously hot in my opinion. I often skim over those, because they tend to bore me - but these really did it for me.
It is clear that they both have issues, especially Nava,regarding relationship and that is why especially the second book could be really interesting. In the first the funny banter was really enjoyable to me.
The world building is quite interesting and with the Jew parts rather unique, although demon hunter stories have been told over and over. The character building of the author didn‘t satisfy me enough, besides Nava no one got a really well drawn personality, not even her so very important twin. I was especially annoyed about that with her teacher, this would have been real interesting. I love her bff Leo, but even she was too bland to really satisfy me, it was a shame.
This book certainly isn‘t for everybody. A heroine you have to get used to, with a big mouth and an open sexuality with relationship issues. A fast paced, interesting story and really hot smexy times. Winner for me!
The Unlikeable Demon Hunter is a pleasant, engaging, and action-packed debut in the Nava Katz series by Deborah Wilde.
I wasn't to sure about Nava nor this book, but the more I read the more I was pulled in and couldn’t put the book down.
Nava is one of those characters who is annoying and unlikeable, but you can't help but end up liking her. The more I got to know this unlikeable character the more I felt for her and what her family has done to her. It’s heartbreaking and emotional. She’s perceived as the failure and the screwup, when her twin brother is the shining star who was Chosen and trained to be a demon hunter. When things go wonky and she is Chosen; her family doesn't ask her how she feels about it. It’s sad to see how little faith they have in her, even her twin turns on her. And, the Brotherhood, who is an all male Brotherhood, doesn't like this change. How many Chosen have they missed when they left out all the girls born to the Knights? It's a very emotional journey into Nava's head and a very action-packed adventure as she tries to come to terms with everything.
We have something of a romance starting. Something is going on between Nava and Rohan. They have a strong sexual draw and do have a few sexy times, but their relationship is new. I’m not on board yet, but look forward to seeing where things go.
The story is emotional, action packed, and fast-paced. The ending leaves you wanting more, wanting to find out what happens between Rohan and Nava, if the Brotherhood will accept her, and what happens on the next mission. It’s an intoxicating and invigorating read.
I enjoyed The Unlikeable Demon Hunter and look forward to the next installment.
Rated: 4 Stars
*Disclaimer:I received a complimentary copy provided by Deborah Wilde via Goddess Fish Promotions with the sole purpose of an honest review. All thoughts, comments and ratings are my own.
Considering there are a bajillion urban fantasy books in KindleUnlimited, it's actually pretty hard to find one that's well written, original AND well edited. The UDH was all those, and much, much more.
This series is for you if:
You want original UF, not the same-ol same-ol You like kick-ass lead characters You won't suffer doe-eyed heroines You like a bit of grit in your urban fantasy (make that a ton of grit). You like some man-candy and a high heat level You're not embarrassed by swearing, sex, and the kind of behavior that would get you arrested in some countries
The Unlikeable Demon Hunter Nava Katz Series, Book 1 By: Deborah Wilde Narrated by: Hollie Jackson This book has a set of twins that are brother and sister and the brother has been studying his whole life to be in this secret Jewish demon hunting club. The sister is pretty much a joke, has no job, parties too much and sleeps around. During the ceremony, she is picked and not her brother. This causes problems in the family and in the demon hunting club. The way she kills one demon is by a very sexual scene. I found the book OK with some witty moments but most of it was crude, boring, whining, and really nothing new in the fantasy world. I can't say I liked any of the characters. Maybe the brother. The narrator was pretty good!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Nava has a twin brother who has been raised and trained by the Brotherhood, a group of men dedicated to destroying demons. During the chosen ceremony, there is a freak twist of fate. Nava (a female) is granted this ancient power instead of her brother. Untrained, a woman in a man only world, Nava must learn what took her brother his entire life to train for.
This is a sink your teeth into urban fantasy that will definitely be on my must read list. I am looking forward to delving deeper into the "demon hunters" world. Fun, fast paced and full of action, I enjoyed every second of Wilde's storytelling. Nava's humor at her life and circumstances stole the show.
Great cast, fantastic originality and a plot worthy of a re-read, don’t miss The Unlikeable Demon Hunter.
I received this ARC copy of The Unlikeble Demon Hunter from Te Da Media. This is my honest and voluntary review. The Unlikeble Demon Hunter is set for publication April 18, 2017.
My Rating: 4 stars Written by: Deborah Wilde Series: Nava Katz Sequence in Series: Book 1 Paperback: 422 pages Publisher: Te Da Media Publication Date: April 3, 2017 ISBN-10: 0992070988 ISBN-13: 978-0992070984 Genre: Comedy | Urban Fantasy
Fantastic read! Witty, sexy, effortlessly cool. The best book to rid you of any slump, reading or otherwise. Nava might be my new favorite superchick that I'd want to hang out and gossip with.
Nava mentions Buffy a LOT and as awesome as it is on its own (huge fan here), it also shows a lot of parallels to the show. With a few significant differences. For one - the chosen ones are predominantly male, as in all the history since the times of Kind David (yeah, the one who felled Goliath) there was never a female chosen one - Rasha. And the powers that be are not exactly known for acceptance of change. Especially in the form of sarcastic, mouthy, uncontrollable twenty year old.
Joining the Boys Сlub might prove a difficult task but then again the incentive is pretty great too - the life of Nava's twin-brother is on the line.
The book is awesome and hilarious and I'm very happy right now.
I really wanted to like this one but I couldn't. Another reviewer described it best: this was like written by a horny teenage boy. EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING, was likened to sex. She's hot for every man in this book. Every description is likened to sex in some way. She even named her clit and talked to it.
You guys know I read romance books. A lot of them. More then I rate here. I'm not a wilting flower when it comes to sex and even I was like FFS ENOUGH ALREADY. Not every description has to be linked to sex!
I think all the sexual description made the other issues even worse. She's a demon hunter for all of three days or so and she helps take down a major demon. She goes from no fighting experience to being an experienced warrior in less then a week. She goes from zero power to being very strong in less than a week. She's ubber special because she's literally the only woman demon slayer out there. Etc. etc.
It took me awhile to warm up to this one. A demon hunting jewish brotherhood was almost too much for me. At first I found the heroine a bit of a turn off. She's a brash, loud-mouthed, horn dog. Normally I like all of those things but in this case I struggled to come to terms with how emotionally damaged she seemed. But she grew on me and by the end I was pretty committed. I think it was the slow burn romance that really made me like the book. The demon part was just meh. I'm hoping in book 2 I'll find myself more into the whole story.
I absolutely loved this - if you like hip, contemporary snark and witty unsavoury humour then this is for you. Here's one of my favourite quotes: 'Mornings after sucked. Walks of shame were a necessary evil, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed shimmying back into the same trollop togs twice. I picked glitter out of my hair, then straightened my sequined top. I was officially decommissioning it. Multiple washings never quite managed to remove the lingering aura of bad decisions I made while wearing party clothes. My philosophy? Cross my fingers and hope for the most bang for the bucks spent later on new outfits.' I think that should give you a feeling for the novel. Here's the next cover:
Deborah Wilde is the epitome of wit and I laughed out loud in several parts - I mean, who gives a stuff that there's a lunatic sitting next to them on the train? The female protagonist is a strong woman with a special way about her that is either irreverent or superb depending on your views. She becomes a part of something she never expected in her wildest dreams and devastated that it effects her twin brother's raison d'être. She is thrown unceremoniously (pun intended) to work with 'Tree Trunk', sexy but gay, ex-rock god and demons with a personal grudge.
I'll finish off with this: 'I slammed my hand onto the demon’s thigh. Hang on. His thigh should have been too big for my hand to curve around. Damnation, not again! I ripped my hand off his dick and planted it on his hip.'
I laughed at some points, and enjoyed the overall plot of our h being the first women to join a Brotherhood of demon hunters- and all of the misogyny and contempt that went along with her not only being a female, but not trained for the position for decades as the other initiates. Plus-
I also like the raw emotion of the romance between our leads that happened (sparingly)- and at times it felt like reading a real and complex relationship where each individual has their own past, strengths, worries, and weaknesses.
But other than that---a lot of the characters were just...caricatures? Not saying that they have to be written boring, but some of them were a tad over the top or just written as...there.
Aaaand then there was the constant sex talk and jokes. Sometimes they were funny, and other times it felt like they were forcibly crammed into each sentence making me want to roll my eyes...its like I get it okay?
The sexual innuendos, jokes, pantomimes ect were a bit extra when it was every other sentence. Plus the h calls their vagina--Cuntessa de Spluge.
Ew. Excuse me while I barf.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
This is the second time I gave this book a shot and I still can't put up with it enough to finish it. I know for a fact that I got an hour or two into the audio book before this year but that apparently was before I updated my Goodreads page with my DNF's and the reason behind it, so oh well.
The main character was too much. I love sassy characters whose second language is sarcasm, but she was just too deep in it. It was just too in my face and it took the shine out of everything. There was never any downtime either. It was witty comeback, after sassing someone after sarcastic inner monologue. It was always go, go go and that gets tiring after 1 hour(s)+.
The secret group that gets introduced was one big blur. Only two characters had enough of a personality to differentiate themselves from the group. With the audio book it was worse because their voices sounded the same (the accent I understand but the tone of voice being the same for all of them is just asking for me to get confused).
Overall this book just wasn't for me and that's okay! I've seen a lot of people rave about how they loved the main character and that's fantastic! I actually initially picked up this book because an author I follow adored it. That goes to show you how taste in books vary!
This one really missed the mark for me. I couldn't stand listening long enough for the story to really get going. The flippant, obnoxious demeanour of the heroine really put me off.
I didn't even manage to finish this book, and I tried. I really, really tried.
The MC was so annoying, I just couldn't stand her. The only good thing about her is that she likes her brother and wants to help him, but that's really not enough to keep me going.
And this book has another thing that annoys me: all the best demon hunters in all Canada (I mean the absolute best, best fighters, best intelligence officers, best everything) are around 25 years old. There's no one else, apparently, who has the skills. I mean, I get it, it's an NA book, but still. This makes no sense and it's annoying.
The idea is not bad, the concept could have potential (only reason I gave this book 1.5 stars), but gah, was I annoyed while reading this book.
So, no, don't read it, unless you want to see an annoying (old) tween, throwing tantrums all around, and with a team that's just as annoying as her.
I'll be honest. I requested this solely because of the tagline "Buffy Meets Bridesmaids". As one does. But when I came on GR recently to scope out the full plot, I was shocked to see a very low star-rating (it's since gone up) and it made me wonder what on earth I was getting myself into with this book and if maybe this would be less of an entertaining carwreck and more of a brutal one.
"You can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery, not with tattoos." "What gives you the impression I think there will be anything left of me to bury?" Wow. These dudes were grim.
But surprise! THE UNLIKEABLE DEMON HUNTER was, well, neither. And instead it was a total surprise. A delight. Fun, fresh, funny, and fucking hot. So don't put too much stock in ratings, kids. Keep an open mind and read for yourself. Because not only was this a great read but this is only the beginning -- and from a debut author no less!
"Don't mess with Lady Shock and Awe." "Fuck a duck, you're giving yourself superhero names already?"
"A nice butt won't get you out of answering, Emo Snowflake." "Don't call me that." "It's not your superhero name? Never mind, I'll find you something."
It's true, Nava is not your typical heroine. She's not even the typical anti-hero/anti-chosen one in the sense of that recent "she was supposed to be the chosen one but isn't" trope that's been floating around. Nava was literally never supposed to be chosen. She wasn't even in the running. The failure to her twin brother's perfection, twenty year old Nava is in a bit of a downward-y spiral, or maybe just funk, after her tap dancing (I know right!) dreams were smashed to pieces. She decides to spend time, instead, having fun. Which for her means drinking, partying, screwing around, and not being responsible.
"How do you think I feel? You know what my big plan for today was? A nap!"
Naturally a whole lot of responsibility falls into her lap.
"You can't expect the fate of the world to be in my daughter's hands. Might as well invite Satan to move on in and throw him a housewarming party."
Wilde's writing was quippy without feeling like you'd fallen into a Joss Whedon tribute (not that I would be adverse to such a thing) and with enough fun references that everything felt really based in reality.. despite the Jewish Brotherhood of demon hunters and, y'know, the demons. I loved that this was set in Vancouver, Canada, and that we had this great and uniquely diverse mythology and background (did I mention the jews!). There was also a ton of mancandy, broody boys, grossly unique demons and their spawn, and fun dynamic quirks that haven't been fully revealed -- this is a series, after all -- and I'm so excited to learn more.
"I'll give this my all. Prove my worth so that the demons are scared shitless of me and the Brotherhood can't bear to do without me. But I won't give up who I am in the process."
I really liked Nava. Yes, she's supposed to be unlikeable but she honestly isn't. She's just a twenty-something going through the motions and making no bones about what she wants and what she likes. But she's smart and insightful and she cares. Her relationship with her twin, Avi, was also great because it wasn't perfect. Having lost his expected destiny he tries to be supportive but finds it difficult. There is the obvious jealousy and resentment and yet their sibling love was very present. And don't even get me started on Rohan (more diversity, hello hunky hindu-jew rockstar!) because he is delicious.
"This is bad. I think I might be addicted to him." "Eh, breathing is an addiction. But once you've stopped for an hour, it's reasonably easy to quit forever. So how hard could this be to kick?"
The friendships, the hijinks, the mythology, the sex, the stumbles and the successes, make for a delightful adventure that I think a lot of fans of paranormal romance will really enjoy. But it's also accessible enough that if you're not a fan of PNR, or aren't familiar with the genre, you'll still be pulled in by the family dynamics and the comedic moments. Or even just the sexytimes.
Some demon happened to get its kicks feeding from the neck and suddenly everyone was rushing in with garlic and stakes looking to take down Count Dracula. Those who weren't romanticizing them as life partners, that is.
Can't wait for book two!
4 "no whipped cream? / I prefer my shots not remind me of STIs" stars
** I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
I tried with this one, I really did. However Nava was a hot mess and not in a good way. She was too self-involved and drove me nuts, I couldn't keep reading. This one just wasn't for me.
This was so funny I laughed the entire way through it. Nava was beyond shameless while still coming off as self-aware; her antics had me in stitches and I hope to one day possess that amount of self-confidence/so little fucks.
"You," he mimed giving a hand job, "a demon to death. I think I need therapy." He shuddered.
"I wasn't kidding about your power reflecting who you are. The magic reflects an aspect of the user's personality. You shock. Kane poisons." I sat up straight. This was fascinating. Wrong about me but amazing insight to have about everyone else.
"I've always wondered about alien life," I said politely. "Because you're stupid?"
Out of curiosity, I checked the meaning of his name. I was always curious if a person's name meaning correlated to them. Like Nava meant "beautiful" so bulls-eye, Mom and Dad.
She is a conceited asshole but also one of the funniest heroines I've ever read. I'm knocking it down some stars bc while we got the lay of the land, I felt like nothing really happened in this book. Also the last quarter of the plot I didn't like. The memory erasure thing didn't work for me.
ARC generously provided by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I asked for an ARC of this book from NetGalley of the book's description. "Bridesmaids meets Buffy with a dash of the seven deadly sins." What a great first line because... come on, who doesn't like Buffy? And who didn't enjoy Bridesmaids?
And while the premise of the book is promising [main character (Nava) is inadvertently the chosen one, not her twin brother], I felt that the development of the plot and the main characters fell flat. I felt like the humor the author tried to inject in the scenes was forced. Sigh. For such an awesome blurb, I find myself disappointed with the book.
Nava, imo, comes off as crass and unlikeable instead of badass. There's so much focus on Nava's horniness and immature behavior (i.e. drunken escapades) that I just got turned off. A strong, sexy heroine does NOT need to be having sex (or thoughts of sex) all the freaking time. Nor does she need this much alcohol in her system. *rolls eyes*
Let's just say that Nava is nowhere near the badassness of Kate Daniels, my ultimate Paranormal/UF hereoine crush (and the standard to which I measure up all other female MC's in this genre).
Deleting this book from my Kindle. So sorry, Ms Wilde.
Nava is one hot mess when we meet her. Her twin brother is the family's golden child, leaving Nava to feel rejected. Of course, this leads her to a party lifestyle, basically self-destructing. When she interrupts her brother's initiation into a secret demon-hunting society, Nava ends up stealing his place. She gets powers to kill demons and must join the Brotherhood which is a huge boys club. She not only battles anti-feminist views, she also ends up with a major demon on her tail. This experience leads Nava to rediscover her self-worth.
You know, I never seem to tire of snarky feminine MCs. Nava is an interesting one - she goes from hot mess to taking charge. I found some of her character elements comical. It is not every day you read about an MC that was once a champion tap dancer. While that was surprising, Rohan's being a former rock star was a little disappointing. Perhaps, there will be a reason for it later in the series but I rolled my eyes when it came to that element of his character. No one can deny though that Nava and Rohan are hot together. Another interesting surprise was the Jewish element of the Brotherhood. I liked that aspect and feel like I'm learning something new even though this is fiction. I will definitely be reading the next one.
I saw some nice reviews of this novel and I had read the first volume of another series which was very nice. And then, a demon hunter? How could I resist it?
Yet, from the beginning, I had a hard time getting into the story. And unfortunately, after reading ¼ of the novel, I preferred to give up. Nava is a little too… everything and I had a lot of trouble with her character.
I really loved this and it is a lesson for me in not dismissing a book because of some of the reviews or rating.
I can understand how Nava would not be everyone's cup of tea, but ket me explain to you why I loved her.
You get several types of heroines in Urban Fantasy. Bad ass, but with a heart of gold behind their aloofness, bad ass with a whole dose of snark, thinks they're a bad ass, but is really a bit of an arrogant prat and then hot mess, and sort of kick ass, but own up to their hot mess status.
Nava is the latter and it is that who h made me love her. She completely recognises her own flaws. She knows what she is and she owns it in an unapologetic way that I couldn't help but admire her for. Yes, she's full of snark and bravado, has intimacy issues and uses sex as a defense mechanism. But she's also loyal and determined and resilient and most of her more negative behaviour stems from the fact that she has very little self worth, stemmed from the fact that her parents have always made her feel worthless and the one thing she excelled at and loved was ripped away from her.
I loved her by the end and the character grown will be fantastic.
I also loved her chemistry with Rohan and its going to be great watching what happens between them.
I highly recommend if you don't mind your characters flawed.
Wilde delivers on the promise of the title. Nava was a hot mess and, for much of the book, WAS rather unlikeable. She’s rude, crude (I mean who names her vagina Cuntessa de Spluge!?), and self-destructive. I was willing to forge on, hanging on to the slim hope that, since she genuinely loved her brother, things would improve.
They did and they didn’t. Nava threw herself into some truly TSTL situations, and when she revealed why she had become so out of control, the cause didn’t seem to merit her degree of downward spiral. Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to feel too sorry for her as she still had her upper middle class family who supported her financially (and at least her brother did so emotionally) while she had dropped out of school, gotten fired from jobs, and quite literally just screwed around.
I bumped the rating up to a very tentative three stars because, by the end, Nava did show some care both for others and herself, demonstrating at least some positive character growth. It was enough that I MAY look into the next book to see if the improvement continues.
This was a witty, smart and hilarious book. I have never read an urban fiction novel prior to The Unlikeable Demon Hunter, and now I must devour the series! Deborah Wilde has created Nava Katz, the perfectly imperfect, charming and supremely entertaining heroine. Rohan, the hero, is swoony and growly. There are also gross demons, some of whom meet an untimely demise at the, uh, hands of Nava.
AND THE HUMOR. I don't normally laugh when I read romances — humor is difficult to write and most authors do it poorly — but about every other page I found myself laughing out loud.
One of my favorite lines:
"Was this my demon-killing ability? Destined to be some supernatural whore luring hell spawn into back alleys for deadly rub and tugs?"
The descriptions are priceless, whether they're of demons, wry observations or sexy times.
Deborah Wilde is a great writer if she can make me howl and stay interested in a story that's set in a demon-filled Vancouver. I highly recommend this book, because someday, Wilde's series will be a Hollywood movie or TV show.