They All Died Smiling

Reluctant Demon Hunter

By: Ronda Jean Del Boccio

Narrated by: Gwen Cross

Kassidy Spence thought she was just making a typical Friday night commute home. Turns out she was about to dance with the devil. Her unwanted ability to sense demons once tore her world apart and she refuses to let it happen again.

But a hot new self-help book changes everything. Some who read it leave on a mysterious journey only to turn up dead; even stranger, they died smiling. Kass fears the author has sinister intentions, and even worse, a demonic alliance.

Her relentless search for answers leads her down dark demonic paths. Using her gift could save countless lives, but will she risk being brought to ruin?

©2018 Ronda Jean Del Boccio (P)2018 Ronda Jean Del Boccio

They all died

I enjoyed this one!I was leery with the christian and prayer talk,but it surprised me.It ended abruptly,which was unfair.I know it is to get us to want to read book 2,but still. Gwen Cross was a good narrator. I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

More of a prologue than anything else

I received a free copy of this via Audiobook Boom in exchange for an honest review :)

First off, the narrator of the audiobook, Gwen Cross, does a lovely job! The southern accent does a lot for the character, and I enjoyed her narration. I do wish she would've differentiated some of the other characters more, but that can be tricky, and overall, her narration was charming.

There are a lot of potentially interesting ideas brought up over the course of this novel. Kas is a deeply traumatized character, dealing with both the loss of her husband and her family (the former to death, the latter after being kicked out). Despite all she's suffered at the hands of her abusive religious father, she is unable to fully extricate herself from religion entirely, because unfortunately for Kas, she is able to see demons. That alone is a fascinating juxtaposition. After a string of macabre deaths in which, as the title implies, all of the women died smiling after reading a specific self help book, Kas is sucked into what appears to be a demonic conspiracy.

I say appears to be, because unfortunately, none of that ever truly comes to fruition in the story. These plot threads are introduced (her family, her lost husband and her struggle to move on, the demons she can somehow see, and the death that follows them), but by the end of the novel, they have yet to progress much. While I know it must be the first in an intended series, I would've liked to see more actually happen. Much of the plot is already summed up in the blurb for the book, and the ending can be summed up as "abrupt" at best. Ultimately, this novel feels very much like an introduction to a story, rather than a story in its own right—and that's not the end of the world for anyone who plans on continuing into a series, but personally, I was left unsatisfied.

Not Bad

Loved the narration, thought Gwen Cross was a blast to hear. The story, however, was just not fast enough. Was slow and not especially interesting main character. The overall book was not bad.....but that's all I can say.

“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”

Good start to a series

This book is a good introduction to a series that promises to be very interesting. It does leave a lot of unanswered questions that are hopefully answered in the next book.

An Incomplete Story

I received this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving this review and all opinions contained herein are my own.

Here, Kassidy Spence has moved from a small town to the city to be a journalist. She is a deeply troubled woman. Her father is a preacher and Kassidy has the ability to see demons. When she saw one in her father, he cast her out and turned his back on her. Her husband died in Afghanistan. So, she is completely on her own. She also meets up with a childhood friend, who is a little disappointed that she no longer attends church. So far, it's a great set up. Kassidy hears about a book which helps woman overcome devastating ends of relationships and decides to write a story on it. She is also finding that there may be a link between the book and some women who have turned up dead. All very interesting...

Now, here's the big BUT to all of this... there are no resolutions to any of these setups in this book. No solution to the book and these dead women. No solution to her relationship with her childhood friend. No real resolution [outside of her ability to see them] regarding her powers. And I am assuming that this must be the first book in a series [although it is not labeled as such] as the book ends very abruptly in a cliffhanger. This book is really well written and I really enjoyed the sarcasm and biting wit sprinkled throughout. But I just wish the story actually went somewhere...

The narrator, Gwen Cross, was terrific. Making Kassidy southern really added a special sparkle to her character and enhanced the narration.