Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Demon on the Down-low

SERIES:  Supernatural Selection

AUTHOR:  EJ Russell

NARRATOR:  Greg Boudreaux

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  8 hours and 43 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  April 1, 2022

BLURB:

After decades of unrequited love, this kangaroo will jump at the chance for a date. Any date.

Lovelorn kangaroo shifter Hamish Mulherne, drummer for the mega-hit rock band Hunter’s Moon, waited years for the band’s jaguar shifter bassist to notice him. Instead, she’s just gotten married and is in a thriving poly relationship. How is Hamish supposed to compete with that? But with everyone else in the band mated and revoltingly happy, he needs somebody. Since he can’t expect true love to strike twice, he signs up with Supernatural Selection. Because what the hell?

When Zeke Oz was placed at Supernatural Selection through the Sheol work-release program, he thought he was the luckiest demon alive. But when he seems responsible for several massive matchmaking errors, he’s put on notice: Find the perfect match for Hamish, or get booted back to Sheol for good. The only catch? He has to do it without the agency’s matchmaking spells, and Hamish simply will not engage.

But Zeke starts to believe that the reason all of Hamish’s dates fizzle is because nobody in the database is good enough for him. And Hamish realizes that his perfect match might be the cute demon who’s trying so hard to make him happy.

REVIEW:

Note: This is the third book in this series and as such contains major spoilers for books 1 and 2.  While technically it could be read as a standalone, I think consuming the books in order really makes this one a great read.

Hamish Mulherne is a shifter who has been pining for another member of his band. He’s the drummer for the band Hunter’s Moon in town for some concerts and he’s really unhappy about being single with a wedding coming up that he’s to attend.  He definitely needs a plus one.  He decides to go to Supernatural Selection to find a match.  He’s not that picky and he really just wants to move on with his life and get over Tiff, the bassist.

When Hamish arrives at Supernatural Selection, he meet Zeke Oz, a demon who works there as part of the Sheol work-release program.  Zeke is shocked because after some snafus with a couple of previous high-profile matching that went wonky, there weren’t supposed to be any more requests allowed until whatever has caused the errors can be addressed.  But Hamish doesn’t care.  He was able to make an appointment and he needs a match.  So Zeke is tasked with making this client happy – or else it’s back to Sheol.

Zeke does his best to find a match for Hamish.  He tries to set up some dates, but they don’t go very well.  Hamish and the individuals that Zeke sets up him up with are not very compatible.  Hamish also insists on Zeke being there and that doesn’t go over well with Zeke’s watchdog, the AI Athaniel.  Athaniel isn’t happy that Zeke is out of the Supernatural Selection office  Both Malcolm, Zeke’s “master” and Athaniel take advantage of Zeke in so many ways – not allowing him to go outside, not paying him fairly and leaving him even enough to buy food, and the list goes on.  But the worst thing is that Zeke hasn’t even heard music before.  For Hamish this is unbelievable!  He insists that Zeke come to a Hunter’s Moon concert.  One of the setups in fact is at a concert where Zeke is overwhelmed by the music.  The setup date?  Not so much.  She’s more interested in the band’s violinist.  She’s rude and dismissive and frankly Hamish can’t wait to be rid of her.  He’s way more interested in Zeke truth be told.

When Zeke returns to Supernatural Selection, he’s given an ultimatum – to collect Hamish’s soul.  Of course Zeke has no intention of doing any such thing.  He tries to protect Hamish and he agrees to go with him to the pre-wedding festivities.  But he is thwarted when Malcolm shows up and they drag him back to Sheol.  Hamish is not going to take this lying down.  Luckily he has some friends of friends in high places and while it won’t be easy, there may be a way for him to get Zeke back for good 🙂

Well this was just sweet. The highly put upon Zeke finally gets his HEA.  He’s been through  A LOT what with his work release from Sheol job duties for the witches at Supernatural Selection, oversight from his very annoying AI Athaniel and the constant threats from his master, Malcolm.  He tries so very hard to find the perfect date for Hamish, but nothing seems to be quite right.  He’s afraid that if he can’t find the perfect match for Hamish and make him happy, his time in the upper world will be over.  It doesn’t help that his AI and Malcolm aren’t exactly supportive. In fact, they seem bent on making sure he fails.  Hamish is a hoot – a kangaroo shifter that just wants to find somebody.  He keeps telling Zeke that he’s not picky and truly he doesn’t seem to be.  He’s also not exactly bothered that his attempts at finding a match aren’t terribly successful, but eventually he realizes that it’s because he’s enjoying his time with Zeke.  He gets to share a LOT of Zeke’s firsts (if you know what I mean 😉 ).  Zeke is so happy to be outside, to eat food, to hear music, to have his first kiss, and so on.  Unfortunately that joy is rather short lived because of the meddling from his keepers.  He wants to keep having fun with Hamish, but not at the cost of Hamish’s soul and that seems to be the going rate.  In the end, Zeke has to confess to Hamish that he will go back to Sheol forever rather than ask Hamish to give anything up for him.  Hamish is such a good guy though and he is willing to do anything to save Zeke – including giving up his soul.  I loved how his friends were willing to help him with a plan to get Zeke back that exposes the treachery at play.  This whole scenario sets up Zeke for his role in the next series in this world, Quest Investigations (which I also heartily recommend).  Each of these very interesting and unique characters contribute to this little romance being successful.  I loved getting to see the couples from the previous two books together and happy and helpful to Zeke 😀  I loved how much Hamish had Zeke’s back.  This whole world is a fun place and I hope there were be more book.

Greg Boudreaux does a great job in this series. There are a LOT of voices and accents and different kinds of beings.  All are voiced consistently throughout the series and I really enjoyed the various accents and the droll sense of humor he employs with this very vivid world.  The frantic nature of Zeke’s stress and getting things right and the dismay of Hamish’s loss of Zeke and the subsequent plot to recover him are very compelling.  I found myself wanting to speed things up to see how they would turn out.  I loved the humor and sarcasm and joy of these characters and the performance really added to that for me.  Super series from a new favorite author and a perennial favorite narrator – just the perfect combination.  This story was really my favorite because I’ve been wanting Zeke to get his own happily ever after since book one where it’s obvious he was set up!  Highly recommended.

RATING:

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