The Demon's Bargain

A Deal with a Demon

De: Katee Robert

Narrado por: Elizabeth Russell, Jonathan Waters

Lenora made a mistake. She trusted the wrong man, and in a moment of weakness, he stole a family heirloom from her. Her only chance to get it back will be during Samhain, when the Shadow Market opens and magical folk gather for three days to celebrate, and unfortunately she can’t do it alone. She needs a demon.

Ramanu’s entire existence is making bargains. They’re a bargainer demon, after all. They’ve had their eye on Lenora for some time now, so they’re pleased when she summons them to help with her little thief problem...especially because it means spending time in close proximity with her.

Lenora thought she could get away with a bargain that didn’t require seven years of service, but when Ramanu informs her those are the terms, she decides to go it alone...even though the demon wants to tag along to the market. But as the clock ticks down and all Lenora’s attempts to reclaim her amulet fail, making a deal with Ramanu might be the only option she has....

And they might take her heart right along with her soul.

Author's note: For all tropes, tags, and CWs, please check the author's website.

©2022 Katee Robert (P)2023 Katee Robert

short story love it

this is a great quick read if you want something short! really enjoyed the audio.

working for love

I loved this story as it's a little different but love and lust shown over and over. Great story.

Spicy, Cute and I Enjoyed Listening.

Let us Begin ✏️

Overall Plot Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ -
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ -
Execution of Spice: ⭐⭐⭐ ⭐ -

Tropes/Triggers: demon deals, forced proximity, beheading (as a love language), murder, blood dash related Magic, explicit sex scenes: including, but not limited to, pegging, erotic play, talk of consensual non-con, watching others.

Format I read: Audiobook 🎧
Audio version: Dual Narration
Narrators and performance:
Elizabeth Russell: ⭐⭐⭐ - -
Jonathan Waters: ⭐⭐ - - -
I cannot stress this enough: I cannot stand the way Jonathan voiced the female character. It's a dual narration, so Jonathan read all the chapters that were from our demon's point of view, and he made everything our FMC said, sound like a breathy wine. Like she was constantly on the verge of losing herself to euphoria. It. Drove. Me. Insane. Needless to say, I hated his chapters. He did a decent job voicing his demon, but that was about it.
Now elizabeth, she did a better job with her parts, although I feel like she made the demon sound a little more sultry than he should have. But I could live with that. I've heard worse from female voice actors trying to do male voices.

1st person POV
The POV splits between Lenora's and Ramanu's POVs

Pros of the Story 👍
- it's a cute little spicy story. I mean, there's a little freak in all of us. And demon smut is way tamer than what some of us sick freaks like. 🥴😜
- I like the way the author brings different types of demons into play here. Like our main demon is a bargainer demon. But she mentions other types. I like the way she created the interdimensional travel between the demon realm and the human realm. Even though this story was legitimately meant to be a smart story, the author put a decent amount of work into the world building. Which made it enjoyable.

Cons of the Story 👎
- I'm going to put the fact that it's so short in this section because for me personally, I would have liked a little longer of a story. A little more fleshed out. Like, (spoiler alert) the scene where Ramanu kills her ex by beheading him during a tournament fight, was very anticlimactic. So much more could have been put into that scene. To that whole situation. A little more drama for our heroin and her demon to overcome would have been awesome.
- I'm also going to put in the cons that I feel like are two MCs fell for each other a little too quickly. I'm a sucker for a slow burn, and this is not that.

In summary 📝

6/10 would recommend. I feel like this is a nice little tame smut books that would be a good opening gateway drug to a little more "out-there" spice.

Good. But not enough.

Great story and action. Excellent spice. However, Ramanu and Lenora deserved a longer book in this series.
Male narrator was so-so with Ramanu, but terrible with Lenora.

Good but short

Summary bit
This book in the series is about the demon who is in all the books so far. Sarcastic guy with the horns for eyes. That keeps an “eye” on all the females that made deals. He is drawn to desperation of a female witch that has lost a family heirloom. Bad things will happen if she doesn’t get it back. So she summons a demon that is known by a family member. She has trusted the wrong man and now she has paid for it. Immediately when she summons the demon. She automatically feels more attraction than fear. He offers a deal for 7 years but she’s not taking it unless no other options. He can’t help but follow her while she tries an impossible task when time is running out. She may not take the deal but a trail run is ok for her.

Review bit
Storyline was good and hod a lot of possibilities passed up. Big negative on this story is the shortness of the book. Did not make book bad but could have been the best.
Really great main characters. The female was a strong witch with a family line of mystery that has some info released, but not gotten into details. She was fun and sexy compared to the other females in this series. Kind of jumps right in the crazy and embraces it but controls it. Has a few bits where she makes a dumb decision and irritating to listen to.
The main male was also a fun guy throughout the series. Causing trouble where he can. But he finally gets stumped by a pretty witch who can knock him on his ass.
Steamy bits were nicely added in as always in her books. Great flow throughout.

They had so much potential in this story but glossed over it. The author could have gone into there back stories a bit and explained there upraising or what happened right before they met. The demon mentions he was stocking her for a week before she calls him. How did that go, then It’s also mentioned she has a few dads. Where’s the mother and what happening there. Also the relationship build was fast. This could have been drawn out a bit or a little more back and forth with the ex. Then he checks out if he’s job for a few plus weeks. How did that conversation go with the boss. Or did it have a conversation and I missed it.

The ending was good also. Author adds information in about there future. More than any other book in the series. You get to see 7 years past and how there life goes. Which I wish she did with other books. I would have loved to hear about the dragon babies and the other demon types. Odd bit at the ending where she mentions a character but I’m not sure if that’s a past reference or something meant to be answered in the next book.

Again this book was good. But her books are already short enough as is. It’s frustrating to have such a great storyline base and not run away with it. Also when listening to the story. It did not feel rushed, mostly. She smoothly put everything together. Some bits were noticed as a little fast but author did a great job. Just the possibility of a longer book would have been better. Plus I still have questions about the characters that were not gone into details on.

Narrators review bit
The narrative of the characters was good and ok. Female out did the male reader. He does not read the female characters as well. Not bad enough for me not to listen to book but noticeable enough for me to mention.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes, another part in the series that is a good listen. Only negatives was the shortness of the book. Which is good for the reader to want more of an authors work. She has a great series. More books in the series would be great. I could see this as a long series. There are so many demon/monster types.

Enjoyable

TLDR, book was enjoyable. Book needs to be longer to not feel rushed. Male voice actor did FL voice badly.

I love this series. This one is great to get 4horn perspective, but I don't really think the book was long enough to do it justice. The set up was great, but in order for the plot to end where it did, the actual falling in love was rushed, even by romance novel standards. I appreciated the FL in personality. The fact she was actually capable of powerful things was not in evidence on page, however.
Performance was great on FL, but the way 4horn voice did FL voice was off-putting.

Yes, more please

loved it
explains where he kept disappearing to as well. excited for another round one more person

I love this series

I honestly love all the Deal with a Demon books. I love how all characters come together to work through their trauma and become better individuals together.

Not for me

I was interested in the story, but didn’t like the narrators and unfortunately couldn’t return the book. Bummer for me

This was just okay

The Demon's Bargain by Katee Robert is the 5th book in the "Deal with a Demon" series. This book is about Ramanu, the demon that helps Azazal (and Azazal is the demon who makes 7 year contracts with human woman.) I loved having a non-binary main character , other than that this was just okay.

Ramanu is summoned by a witched name Lenora (Lenora is the granddaughter of a witch who tried to have a romantic and sexual relationship with Ramanu in the past but it didn't work out.) and she asks for their help locating her ex, a man who stole a family heirloom from her, a necklace. They work on getting the necklace back but not before having some sexual fun with each other. The plot was just alright, it wasn't anything too exciting.

The spice in this was okay, nothing spectacular so I'm giving it two chilies 🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies. What I didn't like was the small amount of blood play (that wasn't tagged as such), it made my skin crawl and I couldn't get into the spicy scenes.

Overall, this was just okay. The story was fine but I didn't love the spicy scenes so I'm giving this
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Stars