Demon With Benefits is a wild read, and in all the good ways.

This is the 3rd book in the Hell Bent series. I have not read the other two, but I feel like I understand the characters pretty well.

Meph is the playboy demon bad boy who doesn't take anything serious and shows no emotion. But he's misunderstood and way more complex than everyone thinks. He just needs the right person to help him let his true self show.

Iris is a blood born witch who takes her dislike of demons very seriously, so she thinks. She has an undeniable attraction to Meph, and together, they over come so much. They end up doing the one thing they never wanted. Fall in love.

This book is really good. it's the perfect start to the Halloween season and checks all the boxes for a fantasy romance. This book is in first person and covers more characters than just Iris and Meph. I like knowing what everyone around them was going through.

I received this as an audio book and really enjoyed the narrator.

Thank you, RB Media, for the ARC.

Filled with banter, this “begrudging acquaintance” to lovers follows Meph and Lily. We finally learn about Meph’s history & his demon form, while also watching them both heal and grow into themselves.

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for this ALC!!!

I fricking LOVE KIRSTEN LEIGH (I just looked at her name and probably spelled it wrong, I’m sorry!). She has just made this series so lively!

I loved this book. I love this series. I love these damn demons. I love the way they love their partners. I love the fall resistance. Basically, I LOVE!!!!

This year I have been loving the reprint of Aurora Ascher‘s Hell Bent series. A couple weeks ago, the third in the series, Demon with Benefits, got its rerelease. I was so excited for this one ever since the first book, and guys, this was my favorite one yet!

Meph is the fun-loving, happy demon brother, but Iris can’t stand him. Even after she says some particularly hurtful things to him, neither can deny the physical chemistry simmering between them. So, enemies or not, they embark on a no-strings-attached sexual relationship. Of course they won’t catch feelings. And of course, despite previous events, no one’s currently in danger anymore. But when crisis does come knocking, Iris may be the only one who can save Meph from himself.

What I Liked:
- Sizzling chemistry between enemies. Okay, enemies may be too harsh a word, but Iris seriously hates Meph. For his part, Meph is just a happy jokester who likes to flirt. But despite Iris’s obvious dislike, neither she nor Meph can ignore their mutual attraction. So they pursue a friends (enemies?) with benefits relationship, and it is hot! This is one of the steamier books I’ve read!
- Panic attacks over love. Look, demons don’t really do emotions. That’s how it was with Ash, and that’s how it was with Mist. Meph goes into this sexual relationship knowing about human emotions, but he still doesn’t expect to feel them for Iris himself. Or for the intensity of that new feeling!
- Meph’s two sides… literally! In his human form, Meph is such a fun, silly guy, but he has a hidden dark side that comes out in his art. What is this trauma he’s been covering up? Later, we get to meet his demon form, terrifying and destructive and oh so hungry. But can Meph ever come to terms with his two opposing sides?
- Demon with Benefits has a longer timeline, which works in its favor! The first two books felt too rushed for me. Here though, Meph and Iris have already known each other for months when the book starts. Then the plot spans several weeks. It makes the feelings seem much more believable and real. The relationships all feel more legitimate because of the extra time for them to develop.
- Some setup for Raum and Sunshine’s story! Breaking with general romance convention, the Hell Bent books don’t just focus on the two main characters’ POVs; we also get chapters focusing on other characters. In Demon with Benefits, some of those extra chapters set up the couple in the next book. Demon brother Raum and new character Sunshine haven’t quite met yet, but already there’s some basis for their relationship to begin.

Audiobook:
As with the rest of the series, Kirsten Leigh narrates Demon with Benefits. And like before, she does a phenomenal job. She captures Iris’s prickly personality, as well as her Irish accent that comes out when she gets stressed. And this narrator is amazing at doing the guys’ voices. Meph sounds like such a bro! Haha. I loved this audiobook and plan to continue the rest of this series with Kirsten Leigh’s narration.

Final Thoughts
So far, each book in the Hell Bent series has been better than the last. Demon with Benefits is my favorite one yet! I love how fun this whole book was, with characters who have big personality, but I also love the darker sides as well. Meph and Iris are the best couple.

I’m so excited to continue this series. Raum and Sunshine get their love story in Guardian Demon, republishing on September 30th. Then Murmur and Suyin’s book, Beauty and the Demon, comes out next March. And later in 2026, Belial will get his long-awaited, brand new happily ever after. I’ll be reading all of these as soon as they’re out!

This series is so freaking fun!! If you want hot demons, witches, banter for days and hot hot spice go grab these books asap!!

The audiobook narration was also phenomenal!! Kirsten Leigh really did a fabulous job bringing the banter to life. It was such a well produced audiobook and I can't wait to listen to more book narrated by her!

Funny, cute, and kept me interested! I thought the characters were interesting as well and their personalities really came through.
I didn’t realize this was book 3 of a series so I had to do some mental stretches to catch up plot-wise, but it was truthfully very good! I like this pairing a lot and even though things got a bit slow in the middle it picked back up quickly. Some of the humor was quite realistic and at other moments made me cringe a bit but not really in a bad or long term way. The internal dialogue from Meph’s demon form was one of my favorite parts!

I think this has been my favorite of the series so far! Meph and all his broodiness completely stole my heart. This one is spicy!!! We're talking tattoos, piercings, and a tongue situation 👀🔥Oh, and yes... there are monster form scenes
and🥵🥵🥵 The chemistry between Meph and Iris was on
fire, and the emotional scenes hit just as hard as the heat.
Also.the narrator absolutely nailed it, bringing the characters to life perfectly.

I absolutely love this series and these new editions are gorgeous! Meph and Iris are two of my fave characters in this series and I had so much fun with this story! The audiobook and narrators are fantastic! This was just recently released at the beginning of August and if you like paranormal enemies to lovers, then you'll like this! Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my audio ARC!!

Demon with Benefits is the 3rd book in the Hellbent series. This book is about Meph and Iris and is told from both of their points of view. I have enjoyed this series, and was excited to continue on in the journey.

This book started off with Iris wanting nothing to do with Meph. When she tells him off he stops messing with her and she realizes she misses it.

When he is put in danger. Iris will do anything to save him. I enjoyed this book and seeing Meph and Iris grow stronger together. Will they get their happy ending? Or will something from one of their pasts tear them apart for good?

I'm excited to continue on in this series.

Hands down a hilarious time. I love this book series so much and the audiobooks are done so well. This whole series is so attention grabbing. This starts off with a bang after the ending of book two and i was totally here for it. These twos chemistry was undeniable and i was yearning for their scenes together. I feel like we defiantly get a taste of a kinky monster/paranormal romance with this story. Our narrators were perfectly se4;ected and i think really brought the story to life which i loved. I also think the narrators make or break a a story. the story felt very action packed and i feel like this one had the romance as more of a side plot than the main plot.

This series is wild and I could not have predicted the next turn. I can't wait for the next book because whew that was exciting

Rating 5⭐
Spice 😈🧙😈🧙

ALC REVIEW

This may be my favorite so far out of the series (for now, I we still have 2 more books left). I love that we have an emotionally mature MMC this round. Can we also talk about how he has a MASSIVE filthy mouth because oh my gosh, his mouth is absolutely dirty. I love it soo so sooo much! The writing definitely improved from book 2 (I the least fave in the series.)

I didn't notice any major plot convinience compared to book 1 and 2.

The spice though. THE SPICE. just UGH *hits nut button multiple time* soooo good. And the tongue scene. THE TONGUE SCENE. THAT IS A SCENE THAT WILL NEVER GET OUT OF MY HEAD. I had to severely touch grass afterwards

I received the ALC through Netgalley by RBMedia. This review is my honest and true thoughts

I know this is the third book in the series, but this is the one I started with, and I know I will have to go back and read the others now because I'm living for this author and how she wrote this book. I loved how both MCs were emotionally guarded and dealing with trauma but yet they decide to pursue a with benefits relationship. The chemistry between them is intense, and I loved watching their dynamic slowly shift as they started to actually care for each other. The banter is fun read, the steam is hot, and there’s a lot of heart beneath the surface. If you’re into spicy monster romances, this will hit the spot- I know it did for me!!!

This audiobook was narrated by Kirsten Leigh. She brought the characters to life so well and captured their emotions perfectly. This enhanced my reading experience and loved listening to her bring this book to life.

Thank you NetGalley for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARCaudio of this book. I have lovwd the first book in the series and this one did not disappoint. The worldbuilding was sweet (and familiar to me) and I had no issue diving imto it. The narration was so good, the narrator is not within my favourites, I can listen to her narration for hours. The ending was a bit rushed for my taste but overall it was cozy, comfy and a good mood elevator for me. Thanks

Meph and Iris have to be two of my favorites in this series! Their growth felt the most substantial and they are both hilarious.

Kirsten Leigh did a fantastic job with the audio. Her Irish lilt for iris and her male voice for Meph is SO good.

I really tried to get into Demon with Benefits, but I found myself losing interest around the 39% mark. I ended up speeding the audiobook up from 1.25x to 2.0x just to push through — and even then, I tapped out at 43%.

To be fair, I think a lot of that is on me. I assumed this would work as a standalone and didn’t read the first two books beforehand. But Demon with Benefits heavily references earlier storylines, and even though Aurora does a decent job filling in the blanks, I still felt a bit lost and disconnected from the plot.

Now, the chemistry between the two MCs? That was fire 🔥🔥🔥 and probably the biggest reason I pushed through as much as I did. The tension and energy between them was so fun to listen to. That said, some of the dialogue was kind of cringey — especially how often they said “damn.” Like…we get it 😂

I haven't totally given up on this book. I do want to go back, listen to the first two in the series, and revisit this one with proper context. I have a feeling it’ll hit better the second time around.

Big thanks to Aurora Ascher and RBmedia for the ALC — I’ll be back for another go once I’ve caught up!

So this is the third book in the Hell Bent series. During this series we follow a few demons who broke free from Hell and decide to continue their time in the mortal world. In this third book we follow Mephistopheles, who is called Meph by his friends. At first Meph seems to be the typical douchebag fuckboy, but with a little heart and a passion for art. His human form is completely covered in tattoos, which can come over quite intimidating. But not at all to Iris, a witch whose twin sister got involved in demonic relations. Of the demonic brothers, Meph is considered the joker, using his funny face as a mask for what lies beneath. And Iris is the blue haired witch with quite a temper and a traumatic past. And has also had her fair share of toxic relationships.
From the moment they met, there has been sexual tension between the demon and the witch, and at some point, the need to scratch that itch overcomes everything and the two agree on a friends with benefits situationship. However, the two of them might just exactly be what the other needs…

Just like the rest of the series, this was really funny. Reading this book was like watching another episode of tv trash romantic comedy, which was exactly what I needed. In all honesty, the writing isn’t that good. But sometimes it’s just really nice to turn off you brain and just enjoy the show. I think I could compare this book series with the tv show Lucifer, only with demons and an pleasant amount of spice. While reading this book, I definitely chuckled a few times. There’s a bit more action going on in this book compared to the first two books. Normally I like that, but this time I had a bit more trouble with getting through that. That might also be because my romcom mood was a bit oversaturated.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It’s perfect if you just want to turn your brain off, read some spice and have a good laugh.

Now I also listened to the audiobook version of this book. I think the female narrator has a very pleasant voice. It was also nice to hear how the full demonic names are pronounced. One thing that bothered my a bit was when there was a POV switch. The whole book is in third person with several POV’s. Sometimes the POV switch wasn’t too clear for me. At those times I prefer a female voice for female characters and a male voice for male characters, so I can follow it easier. Another thing I noticed is the inadequate use of an Irish accent. The FMC, Iris, is of Irish decent and sometimes I heard a bit of an Irish accent, but most of the times it was American. I would have preferred to hear more consistency with the accents throughout the audiobook.

I would like to thank to NetGalley, RBmedia, Recorded Books, and Kensington Publishing for the ALC!

Demon with Benefits is the third novel in the Hell Bent series which follows a different couple every book. While it can be a stand alone, I think not reading the previous two kinda left me in the dark with some of the cast and their relationships.

While I enjoyed a portion of this story, I ended up dnfing this book.

The world building seemed a little flat at times that didn’t seem engaging. I’m not a fan of random POVs that are thrown into the story that aren’t from the main cast/couple. It feels unnecessary and could’ve been a bonus chapter. This didn’t happen often, but when it came up it just threw me off.

I had to remind myself this wasn’t a contemporary romance because the paranormal aspect wasn’t well developed. The romance was fun and so was the main couple but i wasn’t invested in the characters individually nor in the world they’re in.

The audiobook was great, I think the narrator did a great job!

OMG, Meph and Iris were just.....I am wordless. This was just a terr8bly cute book. I smiled, I was rooting for these 2 so much.

Meph is super sweet and his demon was just as hot as his human person and Iris is a total chili pepper.

The audiobook was fab. I liked it a lot.

#DemonwithBenefits #NetGalley

3.5 stars rounded up!

I knew Meph’s book would be my favorite! He was tailor made for girls like me (hyper-independent girlies who don’t need no man, until that one man comes along and melts your heart of stone and turns you so submissive you’d literally do anything he asked).

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the opportunity to listen to the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Tropes:
❤️ spicy paranormal romance
❤️ witch x demon
❤️ fwb to lovers
❤️ he falls first, she falls harder
❤️ hyper independent FMC, dominant MMC
❤️ “good girl”
❤️ demon shifter, shifted spicy scene