A Demon's Guide to Wooing a Witch (Glimmer Falls #2)

by Sarah Hawley

What happened when ambitious little girls were taught to contort themselves into whatever shape society deemed proper, feelings and individual preferences be damned?

“An immovable object can only be equaled by an unstoppable force,”

How had she ended up in the woods getting a marketing lecture from a six-hundred-year-old embodiment of evil?

but do I give a shit? Absolutely not. And you shouldn’t either.” By the way she was nearly shouting, Astaroth suspected she might, in fact, give a shit.

And yes, the retrieval of Mexican food did count as heroism.

“I’m not afflicted by madness.” Lilith winked. “Madness is afflicted by me.”

You burn, Calladia, and it’s not your failing if other people can’t handle your light.” The glow from the floating torches cast stars across her watery eyes, and her hair gleamed gold. She was luminous without even trying.

“It started small. He said I was too loud, that I swore too much. So I toned it down. Then he thought my fashion sense was childish and wanted me to look more grown-up. For my own good, of course,” she said sarcastically. “He said he wanted other people to respect me the way he did, and he didn’t like hearing them make fun of me behind my back.”

“He didn’t like me working out. He thought it made me look too masculine for his tastes.” A sentiment her mother had echoed, so a younger Calladia had let them convince her that was a bad thing. “So I stopped working out, stopped speaking up, stopped swearing. Then he wanted me to lose weight. I made myself small and quiet and biddable, and it was never enough.” The critiques had grown crueler, until she’d dreaded the sound of his footsteps outside the apartment in the evening.

“Some bastards want power but don’t know how to get it without tearing other people down. If they can’t earn respect on their own merits, they’ll create a victim with no choice in the matter.”

“Being strong doesn’t mean winning every battle. Sometimes it means surviving to fight again.”

Ridiculous demon.