A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

this was so delightful and cute! the magic element was very unique, and Jack Jackson is a golden retriever demon

I'm not a fan of fantasy stories and ones with demons, but for some reason, this book's cover intrigued me. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the story. I was able to suspend belief and get lost in the pages. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was surprisingly one of my favourite reads this year. I’m not often one to read fantasy as I love having a modern setting so this book so perfectly captured that almost timeless yet modern feel.

The slow burn in this book was so well delivered. Often with slow burn comes painful miscommunication but with the banter and comedy that both of these main characters imbued I loved every almost moment and every step back.

Jack is I think one of if not my favourite male leads of all time. The way the author was able to describe and develop this character with an utter lack of confidence and human abilities yet none of it felt self-deprecating or brought down the mood he simple was just a demon trying to find his footing in a world full of humans.

I also love that the main character was incredibly smart. It could have been so easy to write off her character as ditzy or dumb especially with the miscommunication and the way she thinks of herself. Yet Stein was able to develop this character who had a dark and unpleasant past which has affected how she lives her life without making her seem two-dimensional or like a trope.

Im excited to read more of Charlotte Steins work as her ability to world build and develop realistic fantasy characters is exactly what I’ve been looking for in a book!

If you read the description of this book, you already know what the “twist” is—Jack is a demon. So the fact that the main character, Nancy, doesn’t fully discover this until exactly halfway through the story is infuriating. The first half of this book was really tedious. It starts off with a tiny bit of fantasy—we learn that Nancy could possibly do magic when she was a child, but her parents forced her to give it up, even sending her away to some kind of psych hospital or something. As an adult, her memory of what happened to her in childhood is pretty fuzzy.

Mostly, though, the first half is two people—Nancy and Jack—acting in the most obtuse, unbelievable manners as they obviously start falling in love with each other. Everything Jack does is just slightly off. His hosue is full of weirdly dated furniture and media; his truck has a stereo that doesn’t seem like a normal stereo; everything he does in trying to be a better person is based off books and movies. Nancy assumes this is because he had the most neglectful childhood ever and never learned any social mannerisms. She even deludes herself into thinking she imagined the big ridges on his back when they were making out. But never once does she actually just ask him what his deal is—no, she’s far too meek for that.

Only when they go to a drive-in movie and Jack goes down on her with his hand does he finally turn into a demon, and oh! Of course! Now it all makes sense! And Nancy realizes that she’s not freaked out by this because she’s a witch, and her magic has just been repressed because of her childhood.

The plot finally starts moving forward after the reveal, and honestly, the fantasy elements of this book are actually pretty interesting. It’s a Beauty and the Beast story of the son of Satan trying to become a real man and fall in love before time runs out. Oddly enough, it’s the romance and sex in this book that drags things down. So many scenes of lustful looks and “Oh my god, I just can’t help myself, I need you now! moments.

I am by no means an avid romance reader. I’ve only dipped my toes into the genre over the past year to expand my reading horizons. But all of the romance books I have read so far had an engaging story complemented by romance. This book felt more like, “Hey, I have a bunch of smutty fantasy sex scenes I want to write—let me try to work a barebones plot around it.”

For me, Dealing with a Desperate Demon left me desperately wanting the book to end already.

Yes another amazing Charlotte Stein book! This is the perfect supernatural romcom, with lots of spice you won’t want to put down. I especially loved the sidekicks like Popcorn the dog! If you love a grumpy men who turns into a complete cinnamon roll around the right person you’ll love this book as much as I did! Charlotte makes the absolute best book boyfriends and this one is no different!

I really wanted to love this one, because I love paranormal romance and I love this cover too. Charlotte Stein’s voice, humor, and emotional depth are still so present here, and there’s a lot about this story that pulled me in. Sadly, it didn’t fully live up to my expectations.

The setup is fantastic: Nancy, a bookstore owner who’s lost faith in love, is enlisted to help Jack, the town’s terrifying but weirdly charming outcast, improve his romantic skills. Jack’s secret? He’s a cherry red demon in a thick human suit, complete with obsidian horns and fangs. He’s got one month to win his fated mate, or Satan (who also happens to be his dad) will drag him back to Hell.

The opening really hooked me. Nancy being scared of Jack felt a little off putting at first, but I loved the turning point where she catches him lurking shyly in the romance section. Her brave gesture of rounding up her favorite romance books and delivering them to his cabin was quirky and cute and gave me high hopes for their story. Plus, the idea of coaching Jack on how to be a good boyfriend had a lot of potential for fun and tenderness.

Jack’s character is incredibly endearing. His "soft, mushy demon who just wants to be loved" vibe absolutely shined. His struggle with toxic masculinity (or toxic demonicity?) felt relatable and sad in a way I wasn’t expecting. I loved how he tried so hard to better himself, even if the execution felt repetitive after a while.

The snappy dialogue, emotional undercurrents, and some genuinely funny, charming moments reminded me of what I love about Charlotte Stein’s writing.

I loved the story spell element, like Nancy unknowingly giving Jack his human form was such a great twist, and could have been a truly magical reveal if it had been explored more fully.

The fact that Nancy doesn’t even find out Jack is a demon until halfway through the book was really frustrating. She questions his weird phrasing ("normal human stuff," etc.), but never pushes hard enough for answers until the big reveal. It made her seem a little too passive for too long.

Jack calling Nancy "kid" throughout the story, even during spicy moments, really pulled me out of the romance. It felt uncomfortable and diminished the chemistry between them.

Nancy’s witch identity was so underdeveloped. I was desperate for her to dive into her spell books, to embrace that side of herself, but it was mostly brushed aside for the romance. She didn’t even read the books she picked up!

We barely got any of Nancy’s backstory. She's a compelling character; she is vulnerable, resilient, and kind, but huge parts of her life remain vague. How did she cope after her parents died? What happened between her mental health struggles and her mid thirties?

Hollow Brook itself felt very one dimensional. Besides a few side characters (shoutout to Popcorn and Steve), the world didn't feel as lived in as it could have.

The ending was extremely rushed. There were so many threads (Nancy’s financial struggles, Jack’s deadline, their bond) that could have been tied together more satisfyingly.

In the end, I loved the concept and adored Jack as a character and Nancy was okay, but I just wanted more. More exploration of Nancy’s magic, more time building their relationship beyond lust, more fleshing out of the world they live in.

I hate to rate this lower, because Charlotte Stein’s writing is still delightful, but Dealing With A Desperate Demon ultimately felt like a beautiful rough draft that needed another round of polish to fully bring out its magic.

Thank you to NetGalley, Charlotte Stein, and St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin for the eARC of this book.

The way this story made me giggle!

Plot: When Nancy discovers town loner/grump Jack browsing the self-help section in her bookstore she decides to befriend him. Can she help him ditch his harsh facade and show off the real him to get his dream girl? Who, you know, couldn’t possibly be her!

The perfect supernatural romcom, with lots of spice. The dialogue was perfection, and the sidekicks were excellent (especially Popcorn the dog).

Read if you like: Pure devotion, Grumpy men who are utterly soft around the right person, sentient cars.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of the book.

Just the cutest, most cozy fantasy romance! The sweetest demon man ever written that’s for sure. 😂 Charlotte Stein is amazing and always has me laughing at the banter and interactions of her characters! I giggled so much. She also always makes her men 10/10 best book boyfriends to ever exist: MEN but sweet, soft, kind while still being strong. I love how she does the climax/issue of this story without having to do a painful third act break up. I love her newer contemporary romances, but love the fantasy/paranormal aspect of this little interconnected “series” as well. So so good. Will leave you laughing and giggling and swooning.

This was different and a bit refreshing take on beauty and the beast, Jack was great and it broke my heart with how he felt about himself and I wanted to give him a giant hug. Nancy was interesting as well but kind of did a personality change at one point, mostly for the better but the instances where she used "dude" felt just wrong for how she started out. I loved the openness (as much as they could with the curse in place of course) with each of them being super honest and not letting the other just let the comment slide, they actually said their feelings to progress the relationship and I loved that. Their moments together were so sweet and a little spicy, we got a 1.5 on the spice scale there, not enough or super descriptive but enough. My main disappointment was the magic aspect, I feel like there wasn't enough build up for stability with Nancy, and her borrowing books from Cassie to learn and practice literally just disappeared after that, no mention of her practicing or anything beyond that scene. Same with Jack's situation with Hell and his father, we understand how he feels about living in Hell but not how his father is involved with his curse and even when she's in Hell in the end its like one small scene of things literally going topsy turvy and then nothing else. I did love Steve and Nancy's dog, those were fun scenes. The romance was the sweetest part for me though and why I enjoyed it for the most part, I wish the epilogue had been a little bit different though, it seemed almost pointless to me.

Charlotte Stein did what she always does with her books,, leaving me in all of my feels by the end of the story. Charlotte does such a beautiful job of helping you fall in love with the main characters while acknowledging the hard parts that also make them human. I absolutely love her work and will continue to read everything she publishes.

I thought this was cute. It started out very slow for me and didn’t start to really pick up until about the 60% mark. It’s was a very good palette cleanser because it’s very quick and low stakes. Loved that they were able to help each other and see that they do in fact deserve good things. It’s a book you can read when you just want something fun and cute.

Thank you St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for letting me read a free copy of this book in exchange for a review

Set in the fictional small town of Hollow Brook, bookstore owner Nancy helps out town loner Jack Jackson with dating lessons. She doesn't realize he is a demon with a rapidly approaching deadline to win his love or be forced back to Hell for good.

This book features main characters having dealt with trauma. Nancy's now-deceased father is the real villain. Jack definitely doesn't make Hell sound like a great environment either, now struggling to learn "normal" reactions to things.

Nancy and Jack's relationship is the focus of the book, with Nancy not finding out he is a demon until halfway through (even though readers will know from the title). The novel is centered on their romantic relationship with the demonic aspect adding colorful flair.

This romance features
🍁 A MMC trying his best to be "human"
🍂 Bookstore owner FMC
🍁 Beauty and the Beast vibes
🍂 Fake dating
🍁 Small town
🍂 Popcorn and Steve
🍁 Spicy romance with a dash of paranormal
🍂 Camoes from earlier couple in series

Open door / spicy!

3.75 / 5 stars

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for this eARC!

Nancy, una librera sensible, dulce y soñadora; y Jack Jackson, un hombre solitario, huraño y de apariencia temible, que esconde un corazón más frágil de lo que él mismo acepta.

La historia comienza con un encuentro inesperado entre ambos, donde Nancy descubre que Jack no es solo el gruñón del pueblo, sino alguien mucho más complejo y vulnerable. A medida que avanza la trama, su relación evoluciona desde la desconfianza mutua hacia una conexión sincera y profunda. Nancy, con su calidez y compasión, logra ver más allá de la rudeza de Jack, mientras él lucha con su inseguridad y miedo al rechazo.

El desarrollo de los personajes es el eje central del libro. Nancy no es la típica protagonista pasiva: es valiente, tiene un gran sentido del humor y enfrenta el dolor de su pasado con ternura. Jack, por otro lado, es un personaje lleno de contradicciones: grande, intimidante y torpe socialmente, pero también cariñoso, inseguro y necesitado de afecto. Juntos, construyen una historia de amor marcada por la vulnerabilidad, los malentendidos y la sanación emocional.

Es una historia sobre dos personas que creen no ser lo suficientemente buenas para ser amadas, y que, al encontrarse, descubren que el amor real se basa en aceptar las imperfecciones del otro… y también las propias.


Lastima que Jack no tenga povs, siento que le hubiera dado más profundidad.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest.

I liked Nancy but I didn’t feel like I got to know enough about her, despite being in her head the whole time. She isn’t even given a last name or an age, which makes Jack calling her “kid” for the first half really creepy

I was really excited to read this book. The story and theme (Beauty and the Beast retelling) had all the potential to be so good. However, I could not get into it. Some parts were very cute, but the banter was awkward. I felt that the miscommunication was annoying, very annoying. I am not one to DNF a book, but it came close. The spice though was really good! A little went a long way.

Second in the Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures series.

Nancy is a bookstore owner who has lost faith in love. Jack needs Nancy’s help in becoming swoon worthy to the lucky lady he’s spellbound to. Jack has a secret: he’s a big ol’ cherry red demon with obsidian horns and fangs stuffed in a tall, thick human body. He has a month to win his lady; otherwise, Satan drags him back to Hell for good. The book starts with Nancy being afraid of Jack, which was off-putting, but she starts to see something more in him when she catches him in the romance section. After he flees her store, she rounds up her favorite romances, puts on a brave face, and delivers them to his Evil Dead-esque cabin. After Nancy realizes he doesn’t know anything about women, she offers to coach him.

I liked Nancy but I didn’t feel like I got to know enough about her, despite being in her head the whole time. She isn’t even given a last name or an age, which makes Jack calling her “kid” for the first half really creepy and the reason I deducted a star. I wanted more time given to her exploring who she is and what she’s capable of; instead she spends most of her time falling in love with and helping a man she thinks she’s going to lose to another woman.

Jack was given much more characterization. He doesn’t understand human dating and his reactions to things are hilarious. But also sad sometimes. He was written more like a former abused kid than evil. He just wants to be worthy enough to be loved by one person, which is relatable to most.

I didn’t realize going in that this was the second book in a series, so maybe that’s why this one didn’t feel fleshed out. They go on dates in town, but I never got a sense of Hollow Brook as a real, lived-in place. There’s a cameo of the couple from the first book, which will make fans of the series happy. Other side characters, Popcorn and Steve, are entertaining. Overall, this was short on world building and the ending was rushed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, except it was with a demon and not a beast. This is in the fictional, paranormal romance and fantasy genre. I really enjoyed the two main characters in this story. I feel like they both brought something different to the story. I was literally giggling throughout the book, because this does come with a lot of humor in it! It is a medium paced read that left me feeling lighthearted.

The themes and tropes of this story include overcoming personal flaws, a monster and human relationship, redemption and dating a bad boy! This book kept me entertained, most of the time. It started off a little slow for me, but thankfully the second half of the book picked up! Taking one of my favorite childhood movies and making it a twist was a win! Overall, I rate this book a 3.5 stars out of 5!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Charlotte Stein and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin publishing for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book is expected to be published on October 7, 2025!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion!

This book was the second I almost DNF'ed this year, to me it was almost unreadable and that was super disappointing considering the premise for this novel seemed so interesting. I try to never score below a 3 when I'm rating books (especially authors with smaller followings or that are just starting out), but I honestly rounded up from 1.5 to 2. I couldn't being myself to round up any further than that when the characters and pacing were so convoluted. I wish the author and her audience nothing but the best, but I will not be requesting nor reading anything else without major improvements to the writing style.

Nancy is a bookstore owner who has always been punished for seeing the world in a different way. Jack is a demon disguised as a human who resorts to asking Nancy for help. Specifically, he needs her advice on how to woo a human woman, and if said woman doesn't fall in love with him, terrible consequences await him and those he cares for.

I thought this book was absolutely adorable! Jack is a total golden retriever of a demon: charming, earnest, and endearingly clueless. Nancy’s backstory is revealed in lovely, subtle layers throughout the book, allowing us to uncover her past as she comes to terms with it herself.

The supernatural elements really take center stage in the second half, which is where the story kicks into high gear. I flew through the final chapters in one sitting! There were so many unique, memorable moments, especially the scene where she writes on his skin, which I found incredibly touching. I also really appreciated the character development. While Nancy’s growth is the emotional core of the story, Jack’s evolution is just as heartwarming.

Overall, this was such a cute read, equal parts cozy and compelling, and it genuinely kept me on the edge of my seat!

Huge thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.