Demon Chick by Marilyn Kaye

Summary:

Jessica may not have the warmest relationship with her mother, aspiring presidential candidate Margaret Hunsucker, but it still comes as a shock when she discovers that her mother has sold her to the devil. Will she have to spend eternity in hell with one of Satan’s minions, a demon named Brad? Brad takes pains to explain that they live in one of hell’s better neighborhoods, and he seems like a nice enough guy—but still! And things only get worse when Jessica learns the full extent of her mother’s evil plans. Can she and Brad come up with a plan to save the world?

These and other pressing questions are all answered in Marilyn Kaye’s delightfully satirical Demon Chick.

Review:

Before receiving Demon Chick in the mail, I had never heard of it or it's author before, which was bit of a surprise to me because Marilyn has written a ton of books. Anyway, after reading the back, I was pleasantly surprised at the fresh and new idea of having a girl whose mother had sold her to the devil for political power. Sadly enough, the execution of that said idea was not done very well, though Demon Chick did have it's moments at times.

Jessica was the classical "invisible girl" who felt that while she wasn't butt ugly or unfriendly, she still wasn't quite noticeable to others. Leaving her to fall into the shadows at her current and previous boarding schools. I did like her somewhat, though I felt that she was kind of flat and I was constantly surprised at how easily she gave away to others ideas and plans without really knowing much about either thing. Though, she was funny at times which made the plot better. The other characters were the same way. At one point in the novel she tells a normal guy she just meet that she was sold to the devil by her mom for power and the guy's response was not "You're crazy", but an "Okay, and your point is?" type of answer. Also, I was disappointed by the lack of Brad in Demon Chick, he was actually one of the more favorable characters in this, but wasn't present for most of the second half.

As mentioned briefly above, the plot really didn't live up to my exceptions. Since, while I was expecting a charmingly funny, fast paced read, I got a novel that was only semi decent and caught between the lines of boring and kind of interesting. One of the things, that I would have liked to seen more of besides Brad was Hell and how everything worked because it was only briefly mentioned in a passing type of way.

Other than a few things, Demon Chick was still an okay read that had a few humorous moments. Though, I do highly suggest that you pick this up at the library instead of buying it because it really isn't worth the hardcover price.

Grade: C

Demon Chick will be real eased September 15, 2009.

* Much thanks goes to S at Henry Holt and Compony for sending me this!