Book Review: A Warm Place to Call Home (A Demon's Story), by Michael Siemsen

A Warm Place to Call Home
Michael Siemsen

 Initial Thoughts: Not Your Average Demon.

My Rating: 4 Stars

Summary:
Frederick is a demon. Born in Maryland in the early 1980's, he hasn't a clue where he came from or why, but feels an irresistible desire to occupy a human body. Once inside, he finds the previous occupants' consciousness and memories forever erased, an inevitable side effect that gives Frederick pause when switching bodies, but not so much as to truly halt his ongoing enjoyment of human lives. In various bodies, he travels the world for decades--aimless--sampling cultures and experiencing life from the points of view of males, females, young, old, rich, poor.

Now, Frederick has an urge to return to his roots in America, explore the mystery of his origin, find someone to love, and settle down for a while. In his hometown, his mission bears fruit much faster than he expected, as person after person presents themselves, and following his impulses, he is lead directly to love, tragedy, answers, and the humanity he never knew he wanted.

My Thoughts:
Okay, I actually fluctuated on this rating, because while interesting and well-written and had a great voice and tone, we have to face facts. Frederick's a dick. Seriously. Must be that ingrained demon essentia or something, but it's kind of hard to emphasize with or like a dick.

Of course, once you read the whole book, then you go, "Oh! I see now!" Yeah, it's that kind of book. You have to read the whole thing to understand Frederick and where he's coming from (or, in this instance, where he "came" from).

The sex scenes? I don't know if Frederick thinking he "was the man" in the sack was written tongue-in-cheek, or if Frederick was really supposed to be that good in the sack, because as written? Nope. Didn't do it for me. LOL The jury is still out on what the author intended on that score. (Score! Yeah, I said it...)

Plot-wise, it started off slooooowwwwww. I could have used a little less of Frederick's inner musings to get on with the story. There's a lot of inner musings in the beginning, however, there are some doozy plot twists at the end. The book made like a pretzel and played with your  mind, man.

And you really want to blow your mind? It will be properly blown when you literally read the last line of the book. That had me stewing and thinking for *days*. Now that's the kind of ending that sticks with you.

So, despite the main character getting off to a sketchy start, the book ended with a solid 4 stars.