California Demon is Julie Kenner's second book in the series about Kate Connor, a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom. I loved this book on many levels. As a mom, I could identify with the struggles of trying to be there for your husband and children while balancing your own interests. Kate does it all. She carts the kids to their activities, volunteers, shops, plays the politician's wife, and still finds time to kick some demon rear (my kids may be reading this.) In fact, you could say she deals with all of the problems of both a stay at home mom AND a working mom with none of the glory. Her housekeeping skills aren't the greatest, she feels guilty over having her toddler in daycare, she struggles with her teenage daughter, and yet she gets no credit for saving the world from the forces of evil because no one is supposed to know about it.

The first book, Carpe Demon, was very good in setting up the story. It explains why Kate comes out of her demon hunting retirement and how she fits it into her schedule. California Demon offers more interaction between characters. Relationships between her and her family, especially her daughter, come into play more. You find out a little more about her past and her late husband, who died during a botched mugging. You see how she deals with her current husband working late nights on a political campaign. All very normal sounding until you throw in a demon plot to take over the world. Thank goodness for a best friend that knows your secret.

This book, as well as the first, does a wonderful job of juxtaposing the trappings of modern life against a secret world of demons and demon hunters. There is shopping to be done, church on Sunday (Kate is Catholic), and carpools to be arranged. If you aren't a fan of the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, you may get lost in some of the references, but I think it will still make it's point that demon-hunting is just another of the day's activities. This book is action packed and very quick paced. If you always wondered what would happen if Buffy retired and tried to settle into a normal life, this book is for you. ( )

I read the first book in this series (Carpe Demon) in October 2007 as a library loan, and had the next book on my Amazon wish list. I was finally given it a few months ago, and finished reading it today. I feel rather silly waiting this long to get around to it.

California Demon is just as much fun as its predecessor. Kate Connor, mother of a teenager and a toddler, has a secret. She used to be a demon hunter for a division of the Vatican. She thought she had retired - especially since her beloved husband/fellow Hunter was killed by a mugger five years before - and then a sudden influx of demons convinced her it was time to take up martial arts training and tote around holy water again. It's a good thing she did, too. The demons are back, and this time they want a book that will open a path to Hell itself. As Kate tries to figure out how to stop the forces of Hell, she has to schmooze with the elite for her current-husband's political campaign, keep her toddler son clothed, and figure out why the new teacher at her daughter's school has mannerisms characteristic of her dead husband. Oh, and stay alive.

It's fluffy fun. No serious reading here. Kate is easy to relate to as a stay-at-home-mother, and can still kick some serious demon keister. I need to continue with this series - and at a faster pace. ( )

Summary: Kate Connor's officially out of retirement and again an active member of the secret demon-hunting branch of the Catholic church, all while trying to balance the demands of a teenaged daughter, a toddler son, a husband campaigning for local office... and a secret demon plot that seems to focus around the local high school! There are ancient books of unknown powers, a new teacher who reminds Kate just a little *too* much of her dead first husband, demons taking over the residents of the local nursing home, and the inevitable fact that her daughter's beginning to grow up.

Review: In Season 23 of Buffy the Vampire Slay..., wait, I mean, in Book 2 of the Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series... Seriously, if Buffy grew up to be a suburban housewife (it still irks me a little bit that they use the term "soccer mom" when neither of Kate's kids plays soccer), and the supernatural baddies started calling her "Hunter" instead of "Slayer", you'd essentially have these books. On the one hand, it's exceedingly silly paranormal chick-lit... but on the other hand, sometimes exceedingly silly paranormal chick-lit is just what you need. I think I enjoyed this installment a bit more than Carpe Demon, mostly because the writing stopped trying to be quite so clever with the parenthetical asides, which didn't work for me. However there are still a lot of "Demons threatening my family so now I'm going to kill you twice as hard, because NO ONE HURTS MY CHILDREN!!!!" histrionics, which I found kind of tiresome after a while ("yes, yes, your children are more important than your life, we get it, can we move on?"), although that may be because I don't have kids of my own to protect from the forces of darkness. The plot ticks along at a good speed, there are plenty of funny bits, and it's basically all good fun. Not exactly intellectually taxing fare, here, but good fluffy fun for when you're at the beach, on a plane, or stuck somewhere without your Buffy DVDs to hand.

Recommendation: Technically the second in the series, but there's enough background given that they could be read out of order. It's not a rush-out-and-read recommendation, but it's a fun series, and if you're in the mood for chick-lit, you could definitely do worse. ( )

Light-hearted saga of your typical demon hunting soccer mom. ( )

http://www.fnordinc.com/2007/12-21/ca... ( )