Carpe Demon

Book 83 of my 2016 Reading Challenge
read from October 20 - 23

Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner
Book 1 in the Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series

Summary (via the book jacket)
Lots of women put their careers aside once the kids come along. Kate Connor, for instance, hasn't hunted a demon in ages...
That must be why she missed the one wandering through the pet-food aisle of the San Diablo Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, he managed to catch her attention an hour later - when he crashed into the Connor house, intent on killing her. Now Kate has to clean up the mess in the kitchen, dispose of a dead demon, and pull together a dinner party that will get her husband elected county attorney - all without arousing her family's suspicion. Worse yet, it seems the dead demon didn't come alone...
It's time for Kate Connor to go back to work.

My Opinion
This book got off to a really bad start for me.  Kate is extremely awkward in social situations and seems to make things harder than they have to be in a forced attempt by the author to add humor.  I would've given up by the second chapter if I didn't have the need to finish every single book I start.

BUT...once she got away from the house and a few more characters came along that she could talk to, diluting the endless inner monologues that had been the only way to share the plot points up until that point, it actually settled down and wasn't so bad.

The red herring involving one of her loved ones definitely threw me off track.  I didn't think the explanation given was enough to completely let him off the hook and I'm not a fan of secrets.  Her life is complicated enough without having to hide her job from such an important person -- I hope she tells him what's going on in future books.

I'm willing to give the series one more book.  If it focuses on the mystery like the second half, great.  If not, fool me twice and I won't read any further. 

A Few Quotes from the Book
"I'd staked vampires, defeated demons, and incapacitated incubi. How hard could a last-minute dinner party be?"