Author: Caitlin Rozakis
Release: May 19, 2026
Publisher: Titan Books
Pages: 432
Review: 5 Stars
Synopsis:
A hilarious contemporary fantasy about a junior sales witch stuck in corporate hell, who has to evade devilish pacts and her kickass, world-saving, demon-slaying mum to save a (surprisingly hot) demon, and work out how to hit her quarterly target.
Morgan Blackwater's mother is a kickass, world-saving, demon-slaying Shadow Council wizard. As for Morgan? Morgan's a junior salesperson at a tech startup that can't even decide what its product is. But with magic dyslexia and a disinclination to kick ass, Morgan is doing her best carving out a niche for herself in the mundane world.
Leaving work late one night, she discovers her boss dead from the effort of summoning a demon to trade his soul in order to make his quarterly target. The disturbingly-attractive demon, Lucareoth (Luke for short), is trapped here until he finds someone to sell their soul. While trying to sneak Luke out of the building, Morgan runs into her infamous mother. Apparently, someone has been summoning demons and she's here to get to the bottom of it.
Trying to protect Luke from her mother, Morgan gets sucked into the Infernal Plane and discovers hell really is a corporate nightmare. She only gets back home with a promise to deliver a human soul of her own. While her coworkers are really annoying, she's not willing to sacrifice their souls. The company's tech bro CEO, though, is another story.
With Caitlin Rozakis's signature wit, STARTUP HELL is a contemporary fantasy that exposes the demonic nature of the corporate world.
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Review:
After devouring The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association last year, I knew Caitlin Rozakis was becoming a must-read author! Startup Hell has some different vibes from Grammar School, but still hits that great combination of fantasy, funny, and full of feeling.
Morgan was raised within the magical community, but unlike her parents, she has no magical abilities. Morgan spends her days working in a tech startup, occasionally fielding phone calls from her mother (a magical badass) who more closely resembles your standard fantasy heroine. This totally doesn't bother Morgan at all *enter sarcasm here*. Her work is a disaster, but it's a living, until she walks in on her dead boss-who just summoned a demon. Obviously things can't get worse, right? Ha. Morgan's life, and this book, is a classic tale of "if it can get worse, it WILL get worse". The only good news? The demon doesn't particularly want to be here either and he is HOT. What ensues is a tale of shenanigans, disaster, and just maybe... love.
Morgan was a compelling heroine, even if I wanted to shake her at times to call the (magical) authors. However, her character is developed in such a way that it's completely believable why she wouldn't. Morgan has an independent streak a mile wide and mommy issues to put others to shame. Which to mention, I felt the writing of Fiona-Morgan's mother-was particularly well done. I immediately liked her, but you can see exactly why Morgan struggles with her. Fiona did her best, but what she thought was best wasn't necessarily what Morgan needed.
While Morgan is our single POV lead, we also follow demon-and potential love interest-Luke (short for Lucareoth). He's sweet and funny and totally charming. I love a fish out of water situation with supernatural creatures, where you have to explain all the random things about how our human world works. The burn is slow, and not featured enough to categorizes this as romantasy, but definitely present (and certainly enjoyed by me).
Fantasy fans will definitely want to check out Startup Hell. If you've read Grammar School, there are some fun easter eggs hidden in here, but it's not necessary (but also read Grammar School because it's also amazing). The author infused many of her own experiences in tech startups into the book and it absolutely shows. Startup Hell does a great job of mixing the batshit crazy with more hopeful idealism. It got me in my feelings a few times (especially Morgan's relationship with her mother) and also had me laughing out loud. My arc is full of highlights of truly ridiculous lines that I wish I could share with everyone. All in all, I highly recommend Startup Hell!
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