No Rest for the Wicked by Naomi Valkyrie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Delilah is a demon, a demon who deals in lust and vengeance, but she is also burnt out and needs a break, so as she leaves the site of her last kill and while smoking a cigarette, she decides that she is going to leave the bar in the capable hands of a fellow demon and best friend and drive to the first quiet place she spots, a break is just what she needs, she’ll rent somewhere and not murder anyone, not be in a city and just be able to relax. After three days of driving, she enters Juniper Lake, it is a small town and looks to be the perfect place, as she goes to get some gas, she finds that there is a cabin that she might be able to rent, so after filling up, she goes to the General Store and asks to speak to the realtor, who agrees to rent it to her, so Delilah picks up some groceries and then heads to the cabin, all while thinking that she probably hasn’t laid as low as she expected, given that the town is so small, she will already be the latest gossip.

On arrival at the cabin, it is cosy and just the right size for her, so Delilah unpacks the groceries and goes to light a cigarette and realising that she will have to smoke outside, which isn’t much of a hardship when she sees the view of the lake and dockside out back. She decides to curl up with a book and as she is about to fall asleep she feels the tug of a summoning spell, she manages to ignore it, but is annoyed that even on vacation, she can’t rest. The next morning, Delilah realises that she forgot to get milk and as she can only eat so much dry cereal for breakfast, she decides to go into town, but on the way there senses the magic of the circle and decides to go and investigate it, not noticing a specific demon’s energy, she prepares to remove the circle when the town’s Sheriff surprises her, he asks her what she is doing there and as she gives her reasons, realises that it isn’t what humans would normally do and that the Sheriff isn’t buying any of it, so she leaves the circle and heads back to the car, thinking about the eye candy she has just met and hoping that she doesn’t run into him or another summoning spell again.

Malakhi watches Delilah leave and wonders what she is hiding, followed by photographing and destroying the circle and wondering who cast it and why, so he heads back to the station and continues to go through the motions of his day to day work, but cannot get Delilah or the circle out of his head. He decides to do some research into the town’s background to see if he can spot something suspicious, but most of the records aren’t electronic yet. It is three nights later and three more summoning spells later that Delilah gives in and goes to give the summoner a piece of her mind, but when she gets there it turns out that there are three girls at the site and she is less than impressed that they bind her to them so that she has to do their bidding. She is trying to figure out whose bloodline around there has enough power to bind her and also thinking that she has made a mistake coming to this sleepy town in the first place, when the witches dismiss her, she is still mad, so she has a smoke and when she has calmed down, she decides to do some research on the town and see if she can figure out their plan.

Malakhi goes to work, but is tired after spending most of his free time looking through the old files from the courthouse, but after he has made an appearance at the station so as not to arouse suspicions he heads back there and runs into Delilah, he wonders what she is doing there and is forced to engage in more awkward conversation with her. Eventually he leaves and Delilah starts reading the towns donated journals under the guise of writing a book about them, when after several hours, she returns the finished books to the shelves she finds one last one, but this one is different, she feels the residual magic and decides to glamour it take it to the diner to read while she has something to eat, what she doesn’t expect is the Sheriff to join her and ask why she took it, she responds as her usual sarcastic self and proceeds to pay the bill and leave. As she is summoned again, she is told the reason that she has been summoned and bound, the witches want her to kill someone, but she doesn’t want to commit murder on vacation, but it looks like she hasn’t got a choice, but when her best friend turns up a couple of days later and she is still bound and not being released any time soon, she realises that she has to do something about it, but will she be able to stay hidden in plain sight, or will the Sheriff realise what she is and what she has been doing? This is a magic filled adventure with a drizzle of romance and plenty of action, but you have to read to the end to find out how the adventure ends.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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