Demons Prefer Blondes

Ayers kicks off her Demons Unleashed series with this underwhelming paranormal romance. When her friend buys a strange antique known as the Chest of the Damned, cosmetologist Lucy Gregory thinks that it would be fun to try to open it, having no idea of the chest's power or her own mysterious heritage. Paladin Demon Rafael "Rafe" Deleon isn't happy about being sent to Earth to retrieve the chest, but he's determined to find it before his enemy, Belial, and his Infernati warriors, get their hands on it. Sparks fly when Lucy and Rafe meet, and they struggle to deal with their mutual attraction as they try to keep the chest safe from the bad guys. Ayers's attempts at madcap humor and quirky situations soon grow tiresome, as do her clich%C3%A9d characters. In a misguided bid for originality, Ayers includes far too many "surprise" revelations about the secondary characters and their real identities, resulting in a confusing rather than an enlivened plot. (June)