Reign or Shine – Michelle Rowen
Bloomsbury Allen & Unwin, 2010
288 pages
RRP: AU$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-8027-9534-2

Review by Liz Grzyb

Nikki Donovan is a typical teenager. She’s just moved to a new town and a new school after her mother married husband #4, and the Winter Formal is coming up! However, her dreams of the most popular boy in the school are disrupted by a strange boy who seems to be stalking her telling her bizarre stories about her father being a demon king.

After finding out she is indeed a demon princess, and her father is dying, Nikki must make a difficult decision: will she stay in the Shadowlands as her father’s heir, or give up her demon side and return home to her mum and school? Not to mention the difficulties of choosing between the popular and good-looking Chris, or intriguing Shadow Michael.

Nikki is in many ways a stereotypical self-absorbed teen, but still engages the (adult) reader. She’s interesting and real, and Rowen has given her some great lines. It’s refreshing to see a female protagonist in a YA novel getting herself out of dangerous situations by herself, albeit with the assistance of her Darkling self.

Reign or Shine is a breezy, easy read. Rowen touches on some interesting teenage themes like dating, popularity, violence and the search for identity. Some of these are resolved a little too neatly for my taste, but they may come up for more discussion in the second instalment due to be released in July, Reign Check. Michelle Rowen also writes paranormal romance, which if this Demon Princess novel is anything to go by, should be a good read.