BOOK REVIEW: NOT YOUR AVERAGE HOT GUY BY GWENDA BOND

• STAR RATING:  4 stars
• PAGE LENGTH: 320 pages
• DATE PUBLISHED: October 5th 2021
• PUBLISHER:  St. Martin’s Griffin
• CONTENT WARNINGS: Confinement, panic attacks, fire
• IF YOU LIKED THIS, TRY: The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

SYNOPSIS

A paranormal romantic comedy at the (possible) end of the world.

All Callie wanted was a quiet weekend with her best friend. She promised her mom she could handle running her family’s escape room business while her mom is out of town. Instead a Satanic cult shows up, claiming that the prop spell book in one of the rooms is the real deal, and they need it to summon the right hand of the devil. Naturally they take Callie and her friend, Mag, along with them. But when the summoning reveals a handsome demon in a leather jacket named Luke who offers to help Callie stop the cult from destroying the world, her night goes from weird to completely strange.

As the group tries to stay one step ahead of the cult, Callie finds herself drawn to the annoying (and annoyingly handsome) Luke. But what Callie doesn’t know is that Luke is none other than Luke Morningstar, Prince of Hell and son of the Devil himself. Callie never had time for love, and with the apocalypse coming closer, is there room for romance when all hell’s about to break loose?

From New York Times bestselling author Gwenda Bond, Not Your Average Hot Guy is a hilarious romantic comedy about two people falling in love, while the fate of the world rests on their shoulders. 

Not Your Average Hot Guy is a delightfully silly romp of paranormal romance book. For a book about the possible end of the world, starring the son of the literal devil, it does not take itself seriously. If you go in knowing that, then you’re going to have a helluva good time. (Did I make a Hell pun? I did. Sorry.) Callie’s mom runs an escape room business, and Callie helps her set the rooms up, find the props, etc. Its in doing these particular jobs that she finds (and buys) a legitimate grimoire. Without spoiling anything too important, the grimoire ends up being used to summon a demon…only…Luke shows up instead.

Luke is Lucifier Morningstar’s son, and he’s not a very good demon. Or devil. Or uh…bad at all, actually. He’s tempting, handsome, and has a sense of humor. Its really almost as if he doesn’t belong in Hell at all. Callie is a legitimately good person, and because of that, is a giant cinnamon roll of a person. Her, and her friend, Mag, are enormous nerds, which I very much appreciated. (As someone who self-identifies as a nerd, it always makes me happy to see a book about a nerd that has very clearly been written by someone who is also nerdy. You can tell, I promise.) Sidenote — Mag is non-binary. It’s brought up once, and then never made a big deal of the rest of the book. It is excellent representation. I loved it.

Luke and Callie are fantastic together. They pick on each other a little bit, but oh do they prop the other up when they really need support. It is a bit insta-love for my usual tastes, but they are way too cute for me to care too much about it one way or the other. My one real complaint, though, is that there are no real sex scenes! It’s a fade-to-black book, my friends. Still enjoyable, but not quite what I want from a romance book. For that, I’ve docked one star, but the rest of the book is too much fun not to recommend.

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