Titie: Boyfriend From Hell
Author: E Van Lowe
Release Date: September 10, 2011
Publisher: White Whisker Books

I always enjoy a fun paranormal YA read, and Boyfriend From Hell by E. Van Lowe certainly came through on both the fun and the paranormal. Ever since she was a little girl and her father left, Megan and her mom Suze have been closer than mother and daughter- they’ve been each other’s best friends. For years, their routine consisted of hunting down old treasures at various  types of sales, cooking dinner together, settling in front of the TV to watch chick-flicks, and just spending a lot of time bonding. But now, Megan is 15, and starting to feel uncomfortable talking to her mom about boys, just when her Mom REALLY wants to start talking about them. Suze decides she’s ready to get back into the dating game, and who better to share that news with than her best friend? Megan doesn’t take it very well when her mom starts dating the handsome, exotic Armand, although she tries to put on a supportive show at first. But her mistrust of the man rears its ugly head and causes all sorts of friction between mother and daughter.Meanwhile, Megan meets her own sexy stranger- bad-boy GuyMatson, and experiences her first whirlwind adventure of falling in love. Unfortunately, one of these two new love interests is the Devil himself, and unless Megan can find a way to stop him, either her or her mom will become the new bride of Satan.

The one thing I want to point out is that Megan is very annoying the first half of the book. You will want to throttle her several times before page 100. But I also want to point out that she HAS to be this way to be a realistic character within the confines of the story. She is a teenager in love for the first time, which is confusing enough, but to top it off, her mother- the one person that she always had completely by her side- is now suddenly splitting her attention between Megan and her new love interest. Megan can’t possibly react to this in a manner other than which she does and still be seen as a realistic teenager. Add to all of that the fact that Megan’s other two best friends- those her own age- are now an item, and you can kind of see how Megan is reduced to a whining, petty, jealous child. She does redeem herself though, so cut her some slack until you get past her initial poor behavior.

Boyfriend From Hell is the first book in a new series, and it does a good job of providing a strong basis for future stories. The main issue is resolved, so you’re not left with a massive cliff-hanger, but it does hint to future problems for Megan just enough to make me want to continue reading  the series. It’s a fast read that  is a kind of a cross between Gilmore Girls, Charmed, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.