  Megan Chase — (2008) Four books are planned. Demon Inside will be published in January 2009. Publisher: Megan promises listeners to her new radio call-in show that she'll "slay their personal demons," and they believe her. So do the personal demons... although she doesn't know it, Megan is the only human without a demon on her shoulder! Megan and her allies — a demon lover who both protects and seduces her with devilish intensity, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons — have to deal not only with the personal demons, but a soul-sucker, ghosts of Megan's past, and a reporter who threatens to destroy Megan's career!
 Personal Demons
One thing my mom likes to remind me of repeatedly is positive reinforcement. Always start with the good, she likes to say, because if you start with the bad, that's all people will hear (or read, as the case may be). Admittedly, it's not something I'm very good at. I tend to think in chronological order, so if I didn't like things at the beginning of the book, that's where I'll start.
And the thing is, Stacia Kane's Personal Demons is a very good example of why you shouldn't let a shaky beginning ruin the whole ride. I admit, I giggled when I read the name The Accuser. I giggled even more when I read the name Greyson Dante. I boggled at why the heck Kane bothered writing it in the third person when we weren't going to get to see anyone else's point of view and I wondered why someone had replaced the editor with a butcher. Seriously, in the beginning there are places where it feels like things got cut out, things that would have made other things make more sense. Usually I'm all for strict editing, but geez! I think someone got a little too chop-happy here.
In spite of all that I kept reading, and a good thing, too. Because holy crap, Stacia Kane can write a scary scene. When she wants to, she can grab you by the throat with tension and fear. I just wish she'd done a bit more of it. I'd be interested to see what she could do with straight horror.
The characters kind of grew on me after a while. I like that Megan isn't a butt-kicking hard-ass with an attitude problem. Not only that, but the thought of wearing make up and a pretty dress excites her, rather than igniting a round of grumbling and griping. Shocking, I know. And though you don't get their POVs ever, the supporting cast is pretty fun, too. In spite of his silly name, Dante still managed to yank my Bad Boy chain like a monkey swinging from a church bell. And though they have ridiculous names (Maleficarum? Spud? Seriously?) and what just might be some of the worst written cockney accents in the history of literature, Megan's three demon bodyguards are hilarious. They do hair! And make up! And when one of the others called Spud a "daft old sow" I almost fell out of my chair. It's just so delightfully incongruous. I couldn't help but love them for it.
Though it doesn't exactly have the most original and distinctive plot ever, Personal Demons holds its own. I could have wished to see a little more of Megan actually performing her job of radio talk show host. On the other hand, I like the interesting line that Personal Demons walks between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I'd definitely say it leans more to the latter, while adopting a few more paranormal romance-like traits in a way that I could really appreciate. I mean, hello, it's not told from first person POV. I honestly developed a little bit of a girl crush on Ms. Kane for that, because I was beginning to think it was illegal or something to write an urban fantasy in anything but first person.
I waffled a bit with the score for Personal Demons. I wasn't quite sure I'd call it a four star book, but it wasn't really a three star book, and even three and a half didn't quite cover it. In spite of its flaws, Stacia Kane has really created something quite delightful here. So in the end I decided to just round up. —B.J.
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