Cute new YA series I picked up based on the blurb by Richelle Mead. It features Nikki, a teenage girl at a new school, who finds out a few days after her 16th birthday that her estranged father is a demon (actually, KING of the demons of Shadowland) and that she is a Princess and a Darkling, or half-human, half-demon. Oh, and she might become Queen of the Shadowland if things go badly - which would mean she'd be trapped there forever in the castle. There's also a super cute emissary from the Shadowland sent to protect her and escort her back and forth between the realms.

I found Nikki's character to be believable for the age intended and strong. She rescues herself once she comes into her own power, so no damsel-in-distress thing going on here.

This is somehow more lighthearted than a series like Vampire Academy or Twilight - more humor, and has the teensiest bit more of a chick-lit tone to it than a straight paranormal series.

Looking forward to the next one. :) ( )

Demon Princess: Reign or Shine by Michelle Rowen is a fantastic, interesting and humorous read. After Nikki Donovan turns 16, she gets asked to prom by a super cute popular boy. However, she also finds herself being stalked by another super cute guy named Micheal. And by the way, Micheal is convinced that Nikki is a demon princess. Nikki learns that her father is the Demon King of the Shadowlands, the place between the Underworld and our world. Micheal is tasked with bringing Nikki to meet her father and learn about what she really is. A Darkling, half-human, half-demon. Of course Nikki believes Micheal is crazy, and it takes her breaking her stepfathers arm with her new super-strength to convince her to go with Micheal to meet her dad. After meeting her dad, who happens to be dying, Nikki must make the choice of drinking a potion and becoming completely human and forgetting everything about the Shadowlands, or becoming the Demon Queen and being stuck inside her castle for the rest of her life. While Nikki is making this decision, she falls in love, dumps her prom date, discovers her fathers being murdered, meets the king of fairies, and pets a unicorn. Michelle Rowen creates interesting characters, however they are not fully developed yet, leaving the reader eagerly anticipating the next instalment to find out what happens next, and learn more about the characters. Nikki is a very likeable character who, despite being a demon princess, deals with normal teen issues: moving to a new school, making new friends, finds out her boyfriend isn't who she thought he was, goes to prom, falls for a guy she really shouldn't. Nikki establishes herself as a very independent character, she doesn't like being told she "has to" do something. Rather she follows her own instincts and comes out all the better for it. She shows the reader that it is okay to be yourself and stand-up for yourself, no matter the situation. ( )

This is a fantasy young adult book. Nikki is -for the most part- a normal teen girl, but on her 16th birthday she gets a major headache. She doesn't think much about it at first, but soon discovers she is "changing" and the headache is the least of her problems. A mysterious, attractive guy keeps following her around. He could end up being her savior. I enjoyed this book. I read the first couple chapters online on Michelle Rowen's site and wanted to read the rest. I liked the book but not so much that I had to buy the next in the series. It is a refreshing (you know where the plot's going) easy, fun read. ( )

The concept is interesting if not original. A princess, wow, every girl (okay, in the interests of…well, everyone) almost every girl dreams about being a princess though I’m pretty sure none (okay, fine, almost none) of them dream about having “Demon” attached to the princess tag. Nikki didn’t either. In fact, as far as she was concerned, her father was a player who played her mother and left her with nothing except a baby and some pretty awesome memories she is unable to forget in spite of her frequent awry attempts at marital bliss. (I will take this point to note that Nikki’s mom has a horrible taste in men – first a demon and now a wife beater? Come on, woman!) Anyway, as I was saying before I went off on one of my tangents, the concept – the idea – of the book is interesting. The characters are not wholly developed but since this is the first in a series, I have hopes that their potential will by fully realized in the later installments. The plot is not original and the resolution is way too neat. I needed the romance to be drawn out – not pages mind but just enough to make it seem realistic – and it wasn’t and that made me question the sincerity of the feelings (Nikki definitely inherited her mother’s tastes in men). What peeved me off was that Rowen went down the typical plot path when discrediting the guy that the heroine had only pages before been lusting after. For once I wish the author would take a creative approach to excusing the heroine’s fickleness. Feelings change – it would be nice if, at least once in a while, the heroine would own up to that.

Anyway, the book is entertaining but it lacks a certain depth – a complexity – that would move it from being a carefully manufactured Disney product to a book that is worth reading because it offers something new and original in the genre. 3.5 stars. ( )

Nikki is used to being the outcast new girl after her mother's fast moving marriages (she's on number 4 now) have her traveling everywhere. Now in Canada a chance saving of the top Miss Popularity's life has given Nikki a glimpse into the life of a popular person. Things are looking up for her when she turns 16 and the cutest boy in school asks her to the winter dance. But good things don't always last and a strange message delivered from her absentee father by a mysterious boy is set to drag her kicking and screaming from her finally almost normal life into a destiny she's really rather not have.

This was certainly a cute little supernatural tale. Although quite a fast read (I think it only took me a couple hours all together) it packed in quite a bit of entertainment in. Really the basic plot is the tried and true one that may seem a bit overused but I still really enjoy it. I liked the characters of both Nikki and Michael (although he could have been fleshed out a bit more) and I also really enjoyed that Nikki's parents had a large presence in the story. There were no surprises, the bad guy was pretty much telegraphed from the start, the romance was a given and the ending predictable but it was still all quite fun.

A great little mind vacation and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out. ( )