What a pleasant surprise!  I've had this book in my TBR for a long while and kept avoiding it, probably because it was a novella and I'm not big on novellas.  It's too bad, because I started it late last night and finished it this evening.  It was really good! 

The story is set in a small town in contemporary England that just happens to be the boundary between our mundane world and a world filled with many wild and dangerous and evil things.  A bigbox store wants to set up business in the town and that would bring down the barriers and well... you can imagine. 

Three women stand between the evil, the town cranky lady, the vicar and the skeptical owner of the magic store.  All three of them are terrific characters, filled with flaws and emotions and authenticity that I just loved and was quite frankly surprised to see in the shortened framework of a novella. 

But I'm not gonna lie, I wanted it to be longer!  I wanted to spend more time with these women and learn even more about them - and that bit of a twisty ending!  Surprised the hell out of me, it did!

And Book Two is now on my wishlist!

I absolutely loved it!  I'd been dying to read it and was thrilled when it finally went on sale last week - for a day.  I cannot justify $15.99 for a book.  Not really.  So I waited. 

This book had everything I love about post-apocalyptic type stories.  It had characters that make you want to root for them because while they're good, they're also flawed in some way.  There's magical stuff - fairies and elves and magiks returning to this world.  The main characters are of assorted ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, (Nora still needs to work on her sexualities though).  There's evil that really gives you a chill.  There are friendships, there is some romance, but this is a book about The Doom and what immediately follows.  How life goes on even in the harshest and scariest of times.  And there are dogs.  Damn, I love Nora's dogs.  :)

It was a quick read for me.  I kept picking it up whenever I had a few spare minutes, anxious to see what was going on with my peeps.  And it would make a terrific TV series, I think.  A cross between Colony and The Walking Dead and Into the Badlands. 

So, while there is a satisfying ending to this book, it's not the end of the story by a long shot and you expect that.  This is a series of I don't know how many books - Nora's usual trilogy?  I don't know.  I just know I'm anxious to read the next one and if we don't revisit some of what have become my favourite characters, I'm gonna be pissed!  *LOL* 

DNF

This book held a lot of promise.  Sounded like a fun read with a really interesting twist of a premise. Sadly, it wasn't that.

I could only make it 40% in before giving up.  The thing is SO overwritten.  I mentioned on Twitter that I don't think the author, James Bennett, ever met an adjective that he didn't like.  And use!  Dear GOD, the man needs an editor with a store of red pencils. 

Reading became like wading through mud.  Thick, sticky mud. 

It became really unpleasant and that's when I decided to set it aside.  Too bad.

But on the upside, that's a series I don't need to add to the "get it" list. :)

I really enjoy Alex Bledsoe's voice.  His writing is easy yet rich and full.  Perfect for the subject matter of North America's fairy population. It's not an urban fantasy, it's more a contemporary, rural fantasy, I think.  Set in the Appalachian mountains and peopled with a whole bunch of unique characters, it's the place where Rob Quillan, a musician haunted by tragedy, comes in search of a song to heal him. 

Now there may be other books out there about the other-worldly creatures in this part of North America, but I can't really recall any.  As it is Bledsoe walks the perfect line of keeping the story sounding ... um, not of the city .... yet not sounding like the Clampetts.  His characters are characters, not caricatures and some you love, some you hate and some you just... know.  It's a homey book, but with an edge.  :)

And the fairy-folk themselves.  They're not the grand lord and lady types, not the ethereal little nymphs, not the austere folk we see portrayed so often.  They're good, they're bad, they're dark, they're light and they're not quite like anything I've read about before.

I think if you're a fan of Charles de Lint, you'll enjoy this series.