Soleil's Stories: Courage and Other Demons by Jill Daugherty

"Courage is choosing to put aside your fear in order to do what's right."

I really enjoyed reading this book. I was in a depressing reading slump before and this book got me out of it! A very good start to a new series! I recommend going into this book without reading the summary because it spoils a very major reveal that doesn't happen for about 100 pages. Just know that it is a fantasy romance novel with some Irish elements. This review does not contain spoilers.

Summary:

Courage and Other Demons starts off when Maggie O'Neill thinks about The Dream. The Dream consisted of the very dreamy Simon Brady, the new Irish student who looks like an Abercrombie and Fitch model. The only problem is Maggie has a boyfriend. Maggie can't think about other boys, let alone dream of kissing them. This Simon Brady is irresistible, but what is he hiding?

Overall Review:

4.5/5 Stars

What I liked:

I had so much fun reading this book. Not many books make me laugh out loud, but Ms. Daugherty had an excellent humor.

This was a very cohesive novel. The author puts in clever foreshadowing details in the dialogue of the characters and I appreciated that. Not many authors can execute that. I also liked the references to real world matters like Charlie Brown and Harry Potter. The characters were very realistic and that surprised me considering this book deals with fantasy aspects.

What could have made it better:

I would have loved if the title was more related to the book. I know courage will be dealt with in later books, but I wish it was put in this particular one a bit more.

Characters:

Maggie O'Neill

Maggie is the main character of this story. I found her to be a very appealing female protagonist. She is not annoying at all. She has good humor and I especially liked the fact that she kept referencing to her four dead goldfish. The developing of her character was well written throughout the novel. Her reactions to everything that she was dealing with were very realistic.

Simon Brady

Ah, Simon Brady. Where do I begin? Well let's just say I felt he was a little too perfect to be a teenage boy. (Okay, maybe he's not a teenage boy.)

Brandon O'Neill

I feel like Brandon was my favorite character. Ms. Daugherty perfectly captured the personality of a little brother. His dialogue with Simon was so funny that I found myself laughing out loud. I definitely want to go to that DAM museum.