Review by Booklist Review
This terrific, fun paranormal romance continues the story Bond started in Not Your Average Hot Guy (2021). Callie, a college graduate still working at her mom's escape-room business, and Luke, the son of Lucifer and Lilith, are finally planning a real sleepover date. But first they want to get Lucifer to agree to let them try to see if condemned souls can be rehabilitated. They want to experiment with Agnes, who at age 11, back in the Middle Ages, was remanded to Hell for stealing a Bible. Lucifer agrees, but substitutes con man and escape artist Sean Tattersall as the subject. He also transfers all of Luke's supernatural abilities to Callie, and things turn beyond interesting. Even though Callie and Luke were able to stop the end of the world once, there's no guarantee they can do it twice. There is so much to love here--kindness, humor, sf--nerdiness, cool new made-up words like titwaffle and poppycoddle, and nods to libraries with lines like, "The whole journey takes less time than I've spent putting a book on hold on my library's app." Bond also offers a delightful insight into what makes guardians and demons tick with the observation, "[t]he Real Housewives of everywhere is to demons what sports is to guardians."
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Karissa Vacker and Graham Halstead return to narrate the sequel to Not Your Average Hot Guy. After saving the world from the apocalypse, Callie, a human, and Luke, son of Lucifer and Lilith, are looking forward to their upcoming date. Before that can happen, they petition Lucifer to change the rules about damned souls, leading the duo on a worldwide, topside chase to prove it's possible. The object of their pursuit, Sean, has no desire to save his soul; he wants to find the Holy Grail instead. The couple team up with some unlikely partners to not only save Sean, but to find the Grail and maybe make the world a better place. Narrating in alternating points of view, Vacker and Halstead both capture the protagonists' personalities, most notably Halstead's performance of Luke, who seems much younger than his immortal age. However, when compared with Vacker, Halstead thickly layers the Kentuckian Callie's Appalachian accent, bordering on caricature territory. VERDICT Purchase for collections where the first title is popular.--Amanda L. S. Murphy
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In the sequel to Not Your Average Hot Guy (2021), it's once again up to bookish Callie and devilish Luke to avert disaster of biblical proportions--this time by locating the legendary Holy Grail. It's been a few weeks since Callie saved the world from the apocalypse with the help of her boyfriend, Luke--son and heir of Lucifer himself--but she's far from used to her new normal. Balancing the mundanity of her daily responsibilities at the family escape room business with her jaunts to the underworld is proving difficult, especially now that Callie believes she's finally found her life's purpose: giving lost souls a second chance at redemption. Luke is sure Callie's scheme to alter the rules of Hell won't go over well with his father, but Lucifer agrees--with a catch. If Callie and Luke can save a soul of his choosing within three days, he'll allow the experiment to go on. But no one ever said making a deal with the devil was easy. Sean Tattersall, Lucifer's chosen wayward soul, is a charming swindler with one mission: to find the Holy Grail and bring about Heaven on Earth. As the trio--along with a cast of old friends and enemies--travels Europe in search of the Grail, the truth of Lucifer's intentions comes to light, setting off a series of events that will change Callie's and Luke's lives for eternity. Bond's humorous take on the trials of Heaven and Hell takes on a more complex tone in this sequel, with the addition of Arthurian legend and more in-depth characterization. A subplot of romantic angst between Luke and Callie is unnecessary, and the novel's conclusion--no doubt the setup for a third book--feels too neatly wrapped. Fans of supernatural romps will enjoy Bond's latest otherworldly adventure. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
