Beauty and the Demon

I have been making my way through Aurora Ascher’s Hell Bent series, and at this point I am completely attached to these demons and the women who somehow manage to love them. Going into Beauty and the Demon, I already knew Murmur was going to be a challenge. This is a demon who genuinely dislikes humans, has enough emotional baggage to fill several circles of Hell, and is definitely not sitting around waiting for true love to fix him. Then he meets Suyin, and apparently all it takes to completely derail one emotionally unavailable demon is the right witch.

Suyin grabbed me almost immediately. She is a powerful blood-born witch, a coven leader, independent, sarcastic, stubborn, and absolutely unwilling to quietly accept whatever is happening to her. Early in the book, she realizes someone has been watching her from outside her apartment, and instead of hiding behind the curtains, this woman turns on the light and gives her stalker both middle fingers. At that point, I knew she was going to be my favorite in this book.

Murmur and Suyin definitely do not begin with romance. Their relationship starts under some seriously questionable circumstances, and neither one is particularly impressed with the other. Suyin refuses to be intimidated by him, even when she probably should be, and Murmur has no idea what to do with a woman who argues with him, challenges him, and refuses to behave the way he expects. Honestly, I think that is exactly why she is such a good match for him. Murmur needs someone who isn’t going to simply agree with him or back down because he’s powerful and terrifying. Suyin keeps him on his toes, challenges him when he needs it, and makes him work for every inch he gets with her. I think that’s good for him.

Watching that hostility slowly turn into curiosity, trust, attraction, and eventually something much deeper was one of my favorite parts of the book. What really worked for me was that Suyin doesn’t magically heal Murmur simply because he falls for her. There is a lot buried underneath his hatred and anger, and the story gradually reveals just how much of himself he has shut away. Suyin becomes important to that journey, but she isn’t some magical cure for him. Murmur still has to confront his own past and do the work himself, which made his growth much more believable.

Suyin has her own emotional baggage too, so the relationship never feels like her entire purpose is fixing a damaged demon. She is strong and capable, but that doesn’t mean she has everything figured out. I loved that her strength never required her to become emotionally untouchable. She can be scared, hurt, confused, or vulnerable and still be the same stubborn woman who will stand her ground against a demon considerably larger and more terrifying than she is.

Murmur being completely baffled by his growing attachment to her was freakin’ entertaining too. This man goes from essentially viewing Suyin as a necessary part of his plans to caring whether she is comfortable, safe, fed, happy, or upset with him, all while acting like these completely unfamiliar emotions are some kind of personal attack. What really got me, though, was how protective he becomes of her. He may swear he hates feeling that way, but I’m not buying it. I think somewhere underneath all that anger and denial, Murmur freakin’ loves having someone he wants to protect. He just hasn’t figured that out yet. For someone who considers himself above human feelings, he certainly develops a whole lot of them where Suyin is concerned.

The story outside the romance was another reason this worked so well for me. Suyin’s premonitions, her magic, Murmur’s plans, Hell, the ongoing conflict between Heaven and Hell, and the larger storyline from the previous books all continue moving alongside their relationship. I never felt like the fantasy plot disappeared just because Murmur and Suyin started getting closer. Their relationship becomes tangled up in everything else happening, which kept me invested in both sides of the story.

I also loved seeing the other demons and their partners again. One of my favorite things about this series has become the ridiculous little found family these former demons have created for themselves. They may threaten each other, insult each other, and generally behave like affection is some embarrassing disease nobody wants to admit catching, but when something goes wrong, they show up. Every freakin’ time. Seeing those relationships continue developing made me even more attached to the entire group.

The humor helped balance some of the darker parts too. This book deals with some genuinely heavy material, especially once more of Murmur’s past starts coming to light, but it never becomes relentlessly dark. Suyin’s personality, Murmur’s complete confusion over certain human behaviors, and the interactions between the demons kept things entertaining without taking away from the more serious parts of the story.

The romance itself is more of a slow transformation than instant love, which was exactly what these two needed. There is definitely attraction, but they also have time to actually get to know each other. By the time Murmur’s feelings become impossible for even him to deny, I believed them because I had watched all those little changes happening along the way.

And yes, once these two finally get there, they definitely make up for lost time.  I’m giving Beauty and the Demon 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 4/5 peppers. The sex is explicit and there is plenty of chemistry, but it never replaces the story or their emotional connection. The intimacy feels like another part of their relationship developing rather than the entire reason for it, which is exactly how I like my spice.

What really pushed this one to ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 stars for me was Murmur’s character growth. I love a morally gray—or, frankly, an obsidian-black—character, but I don’t want falling in love to suddenly erase everything that made him complicated in the first place. Thankfully, Murmur is still very much Murmur. Suyin doesn’t turn him into some sweet, domesticated demon who suddenly loves everyone and wants to sit around talking about his feelings. He’s soft for Suyin, and pretty much Suyin alone. She becomes his exception, not his personality transplant. Watching him slowly realize that caring about her doesn’t make him weak—and that maybe he actually likes having someone to protect—was one of my favorite parts of his growth.

And Suyin is exactly the kind of woman I wanted standing beside him. She doesn’t allow herself to become smaller just because Murmur is powerful. She challenges him, calls him on his crap, makes her own choices, and refuses to let him control her. More importantly, Murmur eventually respects her for it. He doesn’t need someone who will quietly follow along behind him. He needs someone capable of standing right beside him and occasionally telling him when he’s being an ass. Suyin appears more than qualified for the position.

Overall, Beauty and the Demon earns ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 stars from me. It gave me a strong, naturally defiant witch, one seriously damaged and morally obsidian-black demon, enemies-to-lovers tension, magic, danger, found family, plenty of spice, and enough actual story happening around the romance to keep my BookDragon thoroughly entertained. Most importantly, I believed Murmur and Suyin together. She challenges him instead of being intimidated by him, he keeps every bit of the darkness that makes him Murmur, and somehow these two just work.

I went into this knowing Murmur was going to be difficult to love. I finished completely understanding why Suyin did anyway.

I’m ridiculously excited to read Belial’s story next. My only problem is that I have to wait until January 2027 for Fallen Demon to release, and it had better not get pushed back because I might actually scream—and not in a good way. I also have a very strong feeling that a certain someone is finally going to give Belial his well-deserved HEA, and I’m really hoping I’m right about who she is. Because after everything we’ve seen from him, I have a feeling she may be the only woman capable of tempering all that rage.

Now I just have to survive until January, and neither I nor my inner BookDragon are exactly known for our patience.

Review By: SASSY
Owner • Creator • Queen of the Chaos
SassyReviews.com
Read, Reviewed, & BookDragon Approved… or Not.