Michelle Rowen
Reign or Shine
Demon Princess, Book #1 

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Dawn

Summary:

Nikki Donovan seems like a normal 16 year old. She and her mom recently moved to Erin Heights in Toronto.

After being a loser in school after each time they have moved, Nikki saves a classmate Melinda from choking and becomes her best friend.

Melinda is popular and beautiful. Finally Nikki feels accepted. She has a crush on Chris Sanders who asks her to the Winter Formal.

At school, Melinda notices a guy staring at Nikki. As Nikki becomes more uncomfortable, Melinda calls the boy out. Later, Chris gets on his case as well.

While walking home Nikki realizes the same guy is following her. His name is Michael and he begins to tell her a rather outlandish story about her father. Michael refers to Nikki as “Princess”, further confusing her.

Nikki’s father is King Desmond of the Shadowlands, the dimension separating our world from the Underworld. Nikki is a darkling, half human and half demon, and heir to her father’s throne. Although he wants to take her to Desmond, Nikki thinks Michael is bat shit crazy and she runs home.

Later, Nikki reads the letter from her father. He needs to see her right away. Michael is waiting for Nikki the next day. She notices a strange pendant that he wears; when she touches it, it zaps her. Later that day Nikki hears Michael speaking to her, in her head. What the hell (pun intended) is going on?

 Review:

I had expected a story about a diva brat unable to deal with her new reality but that is not the case. Nikki is a likeable character in multiple ways. She’s intelligent, she has a rebellious streak and she stands her ground no matter the cost. Nikki is offered a way to kill her demon side – but she doesn’t take the easy way out. Instead she listens to her intuition. She’s a remarkably mature girl despite being handed a weird and difficult situation. In one example, Nikki has to protect herself from almost being date raped. I was impressed with how that was handled.

The characters are well developed. We see short glimpses of a few of the characters that will play a larger role in subsequent books. I love Nikki’s deliciously evil Aunt Elizabeth who wants the throne. Elizabeth killed her father and she will do anything to attain the goal. Her attempted coups d’état with Kieran is pretty funny because she’s thwarted at the very last minute. I have a feeling we will be seeing Elizabeth and Kieran again.

I’m also intrigued by the mysterious Rhys, King of the faery realm. Melinda (Nikki’s best friend) is a demon slayer, I cannot wait to see how that plays out.

Nikki and Michael develop feelings for one another even though it’s forbidden. I respect their healthy dislike of following rules. Nikki doesn’t care about Michael’s “rank” (aka he’s a slave.)  Speaking of Michael, there’s something off about him but I have no idea what it might be.

Nikki finds it difficult to pretend after all she’s been through. She goes back to school, but what is Rhys doing as a new student???

Overall the book is really good. It’s a page turner, the action keeps you hooked. I immediately went looking for the sequel.

Demon Princess has some very adult situations but they’re handled well. My only complaint is that Nikki cannot tell her mother anything. I hope that changes because I hate seeing young people who cannot count on a parent as their ally.

3.5 out of 5 stars.