"Demon Within" by Rebecca Royce (REVIEW)

Demon Within by Rebecca Royce
Dakota Daniels is an exorcist. Or at least she used to be, until a demon destroyed her life, killing her mother and sending her into hiding. She never knows what’s around the next corner or whether she’ll live through the night.

Brady Knox, billionaire tech guru and media darling, is a man used to getting what he wants. Except when it comes to his sister Sydney. She is the secret he never tells a soul. After all, how do you tell the world your sister has been possessed since she was ten years old without seeming like a lunatic?

When Brady seeks out Dakota’s assistance, he expects to get it. When she doesn’t comply, he’s willing to use every resource at his disposal—even if that means seducing her into doing his bidding.

Dakota’s body yearns for Brady but she isn’t easily fooled, and if she decides to help him it will be on her own terms—assuming they can both make it through the night with their souls intact.


EXCERPT
Her mother would have said hot weather in February meant the devil had come out to play with the humans for a spell. But the newscasters said climate change was causing the balmy winter nights in Queens.

Maybe they were both right.

The long-dead voice of her mama wafted through her tired mind. Come on, Dakota girl, let’s send the demons back to where they belong and tell them not to bother us here. You and me, we’ll send them back.

“Excuse me.”

Dakota jumped an inch in the air and whirled around, the keys to the nursery school falling from her hand onto the sidewalk, clanking as they hit the ground. Her heart lodged in her stomach as she automatically reached to cover her throat. She didn’t like surprises and she liked being snuck up on even less.

Behind her stood a stranger, illuminated by the overhead light that came on at 6 p.m. every evening. She could see him quite well despite the dimming sunlight and the impending darkness. Tall and broad-shouldered, he filled out his gray suit as though it had been tailor-made for him, which she suspected it had been since it looked just like the ones she saw in advertisements with names like Versace and Armani on them. Hours spent reading fashion magazines coupled with her summer job in a department store had taught her to tell the difference between real and fake couture.


Not wanting to be surprised by a demon she knew she would be ill-prepared to deal with, she turned on her second sight and took a quick glance at his aura. It hurt to open her third eye—not surprising, since it had been eight years since she’d willingly engaged in the activity.

Biography

As a teenager, Rebecca Royce would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework. She hopes, these days, that her parents think it was well worth it.

Rebecca is the mother of three adorable boys and is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They’ve just moved to Texas where Rebecca is discovering a new love for barbecue!

She's in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal and tries to use all of these elements in her writing. She's been told she's a little bloodthirsty so she hopes that when you read her work you'll enjoy the action packed ride that always ends in romance. Rebecca loves to write series because she loves to see characters develop over time and it always makes her happy to see her favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.

In Rebecca Royce's world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.

Website:   http://www.rebeccaroyce.com/books.html

www.rebeccaroyce.com 

http://rebeccaroyce.blogspot.com 

https://twitter.com/rebeccaroyce 

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Buy Links: 

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/demon-within-rebecca-royce/1115474803?ean=9781419943546

Ellora’s Cave Publishing:

http://www.ellorascave.com/demon-within.html

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CZBHA50

Current and Upcoming Works

The Outsiders

Love Beyond Time

Love Beyond Sanity

Love Beyond Loyalty

Love Beyond Sight

Love Beyond Expectations…coming soon

Westervelt Wolves

Her Wolf

Summer’s Wolf

Wolf Reborn

Wolf’s Valentine

Wolf’s Magic

Alpha Wolf

Angel’s Wolf

Darkest Wolf

Lone Wolf…coming soon

The Warrior

Initiation

Driven

Subversive

The Conditioned

Eye Contact

Embraced

Sexy Superheroes

Screwing the Superhero

Banging the Superhero

Other Works

Behind The Scenes

First Dimension

Yes, Captain

Return to the Sea

One Night With A Wolf

Another Chance

Light Me Up

I’ll Be Mated For Christmas

The Edge stories: Unwanted Mate, Bar Mate, Mate by the Music, Out of Place Mate

Love In One Night

Hexed and Vexed…coming soon

February Lover…coming soon

Finding Her A-Muse-Ment…coming soon

Forever

My Review
4 Stars
I liked that this novella had an element of horror to it. The premise is that Dakota Daniels is an exorcist who's gone into hiding. Content working at a nursery school, she's propositioned by Brady Knox, a man with more money than God who needs Dakota's help to free his sister from the claws of a demon. Of course, Dakota isn't ready to willingly dive back into her old profession after what happened to her mother. Her resistance leads to a steamy romp and the two of them tackle the monster together.

I enjoyed the author's style, and my only real complaint was that the story was so short. I feel like the adventures of Dakota and Brady could extend into a full novel, or maybe even a short series. Her imagery is vivid, and Miss Royce sticks to pretty standard creepy-crawlies when it comes to the horror element of the demons. The love scene was engaging, and passionate. I'd read more by this author.