A smart and funny YA novel from Jennifer Honeybourn, When Life Gives You Demons Some people have school spirit. Shelby Black has real ones. Shelby Black has spent the past six months training to be an exorcist. Her great-uncle Roy–a Catholic priest–has put her through exorcist boot camp hell, hoping to develop her talent, but ohmygod, he still doesn’t trust her to do an exorcism on her own. … ohmygod, he still doesn’t trust her to do an exorcism on her own.
High school is hard enough without having to explain that you fight demons for a living, so Shelby keeps her extracurricular activity to herself. The last thing she wants is for her crush, Spencer, to find out what she does in her off time.
But Shelby knows how to keep a secret–even a big one. Like the fact that her mom left under mysterious circumstances and it’s all her fault. Shelby is hellbent on finding her mom, no matter what it costs her–even if what it ends up costing her is her soul AND a relationship with Spencer.
Praise for Wesley James Ruined My Life:
“Everything readers expect and want from a lighthearted summer teen romance….Pitch-perfect.” —School Library Journal
“Light, cute, and a quick read.” –The Eater of Books
“Immensely readable, utterly charming and absolutely un-put-downable.” —Jennifer McKenzie
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This book is really exactly what it sounds like. A humorous story about exorcisms. LOL. No, really. In a good way! It reminded me quite a bit of one of my all time favorite TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I really think this would be kind of a fun series if that was ever a possibility. I would enjoy getting to follow Shelby as she works on her exorcism skills. And then there is her crush Spencer, and what his family does, they would be interesting to get to know more about as well. I feel like there is even a lot more history of Shelby’s mother and Uncle Roy that would be fun to throw in to another story.
Besides the fact that I could see it as a series, I will tell you it was a very quick and easy read. I was just turning pages to get to see what was going to happen. Where was Shelby’s mom? What was Spencer up to, because there was obviously something going on with him and his family? Then, when we got about 80% in, the story really took off, and it just dove right into the heart of the action and trying to save the town and those they loved. There were definitely your normal exorcism details: heads turning around, crawling on the ceiling, and super-human strength. But then there were some funny bits to go along with them, including a possessed dog, and a teenage boy who really was just being a teenage boy even if his mom thought he was possessed.
A quick, fun, read, check it out!
I enjoyed When Life Gives You Demons (WLGYD). It’s a fun, easy-to-read story. The premise is interesting and Ms. Honeybourn throws in a few plot twists for good measure.
However, WLGYD suffers from Harry Potter syndrome (too much build up, not enough final battle). At about 75% of the way through the book (according to my Kindle app), there was still no sign of the final conflict happening soon. In fact, I assumed that this must be the first book in a series simply because there didn’t seem to be a final conflict coming.
But nope. We get the final conflict the entire book leads up to. Except it only lasts three pages — on my phone, no less — so maybe one and a half pages printed. It was a s much of a let-down as Harry’s final battle with Voldemort.
I’m also a bit confused about Shane. He’s introduced as though he’ll play a significant part in the story, but then doesn’t get even a mention until a cameo near the end of the book. It’s almost like his part got cut in final edits.
That said, those are really my only issues with WLGYD, so that’s not bad. And I have to award it a few extra “cool points” because Ms. Honeybourn specifically mentions that Uncle Roy uses fountain pens, and that’s awesome. If she’d mentioned which fountain pen he was using, it would be even better. 😉
Overall, it’s an interesting read, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes non-horror demon stories.