They live in the House. It’s a House that straddles two realities. So what happens when those realities collide?
Something about this short story made me think about the Innkeeper Chronicles. In the best way possible of course, since I loved that series. And I loved this short story. After all, a house that straddles two worlds and works to keep the peace, keep people safe… it’s definitely the kind of story that I get drawn into.
This was a seriously fun journey into a seriously interesting and intriguing house. It was really hard to put down and I was grinning throughout the whole story. Particularly the couple that runs the house. They are the exact kind of married couples that I love in a good story – obviously in love and filled with witty banter and light.
I’m really disappointed that this is just a short story. I would really, seriously love more stories about this House Between Worlds. There are just so many potential stories!
Title: Working Stiff Author: Rachel Caine Series: Revivalist #1 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Urban fantasy, Zombies Dates read: 18th September – 23rd October 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Novel Publisher: Roc fantasy Year: 2011 5th sentence, 74th page: Bryn tried the keys Fideli had given her, but they didn’t work.
RACHEL CAINE, THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE WEATHER WARDEN NOVELS, TAKES THE ZOMBIE GENRE BY STORM IN HER BRAND-NEW REVIVALIST SERIES.
Bryn Davis knows working at Fairview Mortuary isn’t the most glamorous career choice, but at least it offers stable employment – until she discovers her bosses using a drug that resurrects the clientele… as part of an extortion racket. Now Bryn faces being terminated (literally) with extreme prejudice.
With the assistance of corporate double agent Patrick McCallister, Bryn has a chance to take down the bigger problem – pharmaceutical company Pharmadene, which treats death as the ultimate corporate loyalty program. She’d better do it fast before she becomes a zombie slave – a real working stiff.
She’d be better off dead…
So I had absolutely no clue what to really expect from this novel. But even if I had expectations… they would have been surpassed. This was completely, totally and utterly unexpected. In the best of ways possible. It was absolutely awesome and a lot, lot, lot of fun. I didn’t want to put this down. I didn’t want to look away. And I most certainly desperately want the final two books in this trilogy!
Bryn is a fantabulous lead. She is a little bit weak in some ways, but also has this great core strength that carries her through all of the insanity that this story entails. I mean, there is a LOT of insanity throughout this story. It is just one crazy moment after another… all careening through the pages in an unstoppable plot that has you on the edge of your seat. It makes it way too easy to feel seriously heart sore at her plight and makes you just hope for the best. I’m not all that optimistic to be honest, but that’s probably why I liked this so much.
This is a seriously unique and individualistic zombie story. Not that I’ve read many zombie stories. But the way in which zombies are created, and the whole plot line is just unfathomably unique and sheer awesomeness. It makes this story even more difficult to put down and put away. Because somehow, these zombies feel a little scarier and more plausible… and then you start dealing with big corporations and corruption… and well, the zombie story is just WOW.
Jo, Pat and Bryn are the absolute dream team in this story. They all work incredibly well together to create this team that is kind of personally interwoven, and there are heaps of secrets… and I just can’t wait to see what happens next to this little trio. Particularly with how Caine finished off their journey in this novel… there are SO MANY more questions left unanswered!
Title: Full-Scale Demolition Author: Suzanne McLeod In: Home Improvement (Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Fae, Paranormal fantasy, Urban fantasy Dates read: 19th October 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books Year: 2011 5th sentence, 74th page: After much manoeuvring I balanced the bundled drop cloth on the backs of my thighs, tucking an end into my waistband, and started crawling down headfirst.
She can’t cast, but she can catch Pixies… really well. So when a routine Pixie collecting job goes seriously hay-wire, it might just be up to her unique abilities to stop this full-scale demolition.
I jot down notes when I’m reading, so that it’s easier to write reviews when I’m done. And the first point I wrote for this story… :
Ooooooh. I liked this story.
It’s a pretty good summing up of my feelings really. This was fun and entertaining and I was really, really hoping that it was part of a series (it’s not, but I’m going to imagine it in my mind’s eye anyway…)
This short story combined pixies, sidhe, lamia and kelpies. All paranormal creatures that I have loved in previous stories, so, of course, I was drawn in completely. Plus, any story that starts with pixies is generally going to be fun… they’re such an interesting and insane paranormal pest.
I loved that in the end, this story was saved by pixie dust. Pixie dust saves the day and is what ultimately is the source of power in this fun and incredibly cute short story.
Title: The Lay of the Land Author: Seanan McGuire Series: InCryptid #0.21 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy Dates read: 4th October 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Free online short story Publisher: Seanan McGuire Year: 2017 5th sentence, 74th page: “But you don’t think Mr. Price is a part of that.”
Thomas Price has seen the world, has studied and fought unbelievable creatures on every continent, and knows more about cryptids than almost anyone else alive. But he’s never seen anyplace like Buckley Township, Michigan, and he’s certainly never met anyone like Alice Healy, who is far too young for him, far too much a Healy for him, and far too wild to disregard. This is going to be an interesting assignment.
Unable to understand why her ever-tolerant father wants her to write off a newcomer as dangerous solely because of his origins, Alice Healy has set herself on a collision course with Thomas Price–a man who needs companionship, answers, and someone to guide him through the tangled ecosystems of the local wood, where the unwary go in, but don’t come out.
It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and a new chapter in the story of the Healy family. Assuming that Alice can get Thomas through the woods alive, and Mary can convince Alice not to get Thomas murdered by her father.
Alice is growing into absolutely everything I expected… and more. I almost don’t want to leave the world of the InCryptid short stories. She’s got so much gumption. And is incredibly accident prone. Two things which I absolutely adore in a strong female character. It doesn’t fail to brig a smile to my face, opening my Kobo and reading one of the stories which feature her and her amazingness.
I love that in this story, she’s showing Thomas around. The independent, matter of fact way in which she does so helps to draw you ever further into the InCryptid world and Alice’s great personality. She’s most definitely Fran’s daughter. And although I still miss Fran, I love that there is someone there to fill that void with their humorous take on life.
This story was a great way to see all of the things in the InCryptidworld that go bump in the night. Even the more innocent of the creatures that go “bump” were included. I wish there was an illustrated encyclopaedia of all of these amazing creatures… I could almost die a happy woman then.
Title: Target Practice Author: Seanan McGuire Series: InCryptid #0.22 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy Dates read: 5th October 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Free online short story Publisher: Seanan McGuire Year: 2017 5th sentence, 74th page: It was a rare moment of absolute calm – at least until the blonde blur broke through the blueberry bushes, running hell-bent for the border.
Buckley Township is starting to grow on Thomas Price, rather like a particularly aggressive strain of moss. He still has a lot to learn about his new environs, and about the people they bring him into contact with. People like Alice Healy, whose talent for getting herself into trouble is only exceeded by her inexplicable ability to get out of it again. Luck is not a dependable survival mechanism. And hers is running out.
When Alice stumbles over something that even the ecologically unusual Buckley woods shouldn’t be able to sustain, it’s anyone’s guess whether she’ll be able to handle it on her own–and if she can’t, whether she’ll be able to find the help she needs to stop an invasive species from damaging the town and people she cares about. Thomas, meanwhile, just wants to avoid being shot by her father.
Tensions are high and stakes are higher as Alice and Thomas both begin taking aim on what they want, and where they want to be when they get it.
The first dot point that I wrote in my notes on this short story sums it up perfectly:
Naw. Alice finally broke Jonathan!
That’s pretty much it. There was something that became steadily more irritating about Jonathan as these short stories unfolded. Don’t get me wrong, it’s understandable. But it was still dang annoying. So when Alice finally manages to “break” him… it left me feeling happy. Nothing like a rebellious teen having a point to make me love a story.
As with the other short stories so far in this collection, now all I want is to get the next books in this series and stick my nose into them! But I’m trying so hard not to buy anymore until I finish some from my teetering TBR… I may actually get buried under an avalanche soon.
But I digress… this was a fun story and showed how well Alice’s grandmother knows her, and how the scars of the past and worries for the future can have the exact opposite effect to what you desire. Luckily, things will steadily get more interesting (I’m sure) as the rest of the series about Alice’s children unfolds…
Title: The Way Home Author: Seanan McGuire Series: InCryptid #0.20 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy Dates read: 30th September 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Free online short story Publisher: Seanan McGuire Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: And about that time, pigs would fly.
Alice Healy is sixteen years old and chafing at the yoke of her father’s regard. His overprotective streak has blossomed in the absence of his wife, leaving his teenage daughter sneaking out at every opportunity, trying to find herself and her place in the world without any parental support. But she knows the woods, and she knows what she wants to do with her life; it’s just a question of whether she can keep herself alive long enough to actually accomplish her planned future.
Thomas Price is a man still paying for his past. He’s smart enough to understand that his assignment is essentially an exile, and has enough of a sense of self-preservation not to argue. Those who vex the Covenant of St. George rarely live long enough to explain themselves. At least in Buckley Township, he’ll be far away from danger…unless you’re counting Alice Healy.
Worlds will collide and a new story will begin as Thomas Price arrives in his new home, and Alice Healy does her best to stay alive long enough to say hello for the first time.
Oh, HELL YES!!! A story of Alice as a teenager, man I’ve been hanging for this ever since Snakes and Ladders. And it was everything that I expected – Alice is sassy, accident prone and wonderfully independent, just like her mother. The fact that she also seems to like knives a little… wow.
This story is not only Alice’s first appearance as a teenager, but it also has Thomas and Alice’s first meeting. Which, again, I fell completely in love with. I can now completely understand how they had Verity as a daughter, and I can’t wait to meet the rest of their children and get to know the family even more (when I have the money to buy the books anyway…).
I was intrigued to see how Thomas truly left the Convent. You get to understand the rationale for the Healys throughout the rest of the short stories, but I wanted something at least slightly different for the next deserter. And I got it. It was great, fun and I can’t wait to keep sticking my nose into this fantastic series!
Rick just wanted to make some extra cash. But then a ghost comes out of the floor and his day goes from bad to worse. But maybe he can be brave.
I absolutely loved the fact that this short story ultimately lead to Rick finding his confidence and sense of self. In a way, it was a bit of a Coming of Age story. Alright, he’s kind of already an adult. But sometimes adults do need that extra little shove to be well… adult-like.
I absolutely loved the backstory that was in this tale. I can’t wait to find out more – after all, a world in which Mistletoe is somehow a portal for evil, soul consuming ghosts… definitely sign me up for that one! It just intrigued me so much and pulled me right in from the very beginning.
I love that although most stories I read with ghosts in them portray ghosts as kind of misunderstood, and / or just kind of sad… this one didn’t. The ghosts are dangerous, kind of evil and most definitely scary. It was a great change from the whiney, will-o-the-wisp style ghosts I’ve been reading about a lot lately. Always good fun when a spectral phantom can somehow annihilate you and destroy everything you are…
Cat and Bones’s romantic vacation is interrupted when they’re enlisted to guard a spoiled heiress with both human and undead hitmen on her tail. Things quickly go from bad to worse when details of their assignment make their way through the supernatural grapevine, and what started as a simple bodyguard job ends up being a fight for survival that neither Cat nor Bones saw coming. This story takes place after the events of Destined For An Early Grave and before the events of This Side Of The Grave.
I loved this short story. Didn’t exactly love that it takes place after the next novel I want to read in this series… it kind of gave a few big spoilers as to what happens. But, as always, hopefully by the time I actually get to reading that novel I won’t remember all of the minutiae and can still be surprised. Although, let’s admit it – I’ll be surprised regardless because Frost always manages to pack a lot of storyline and information into one story. Which, I, of course, love.
I absolutely adore Bones and Cat as a couple. They are sexual, intense and more than a little violent. All things that I apparently love in my fictional couples. We won’t delve too much into my brain to discover why I love the fact that Cat cuts ghouls heads off and blows up cars and such… it’s quite cute that this is their vacation and there is untold drama occurring.
One of the parts of this story that was a bit of a give-away, but still enjoyable was the way in which Bones taught Justina to defend herself. It was cute, a little awkward and involved lots of stabbing. It definitely hinted at this great idea that there was going to be some healing of old wounds and fractures in Cat’s relationship with her mother throughout the series… YAY!
He’s a spirit who just wants to move onto the next life. But first he has to restore the head from a Buddha statue and figure out how to let go of the materialism of the past.
I absolutely love the fact that this short story is about Buddhism and reincarnation. In a collection of urban fantasy short stories based around home improvement… I really wasn’t expecting something like this. And I absolutely adored how it was so different from the other stories in this collection. With a whole other mythos and renovation system that I just didn’t expect.
Even though this short story was semi-serious, I found it really cute and humorous. After all, the spirit who is supposed to be guarding the cave is kind of gentle and unwilling to really confront anyone. What a different form of punishment for misdeeds in life, or, in the case of this monk, the inability to say goodbye to the material objects we tie ourselves to. I might not be entirely the philosophy I want to adopt – I don’t want to just say goodbye to everything, but it is a good idea to be a little less attached to all of the crap that we collect…
I love that this story is all about The Path to enlightenment and moving through the circles of reincarnation to obtain perfection. In each reincarnation, a different obstacle is overcome, and in the case of the main character in this – it’s his timidity that he eventually has to overcome. We carry our burdens even in death and try not to take them onto our next lives. Or at least, that’s how I read this short story and I seriously, seriously enjoyed it.
Title: Hounded Author: Kevin Hearne Series: The Iron Druid Chronicles #1 Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Celtic, Magic, Mythology, Urban fantasy Dates read: 18th August – 15th September 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Novel Publisher: Harper Voyager Year: 2011 5th sentence, 74th page: <May I have some tea, then?>
Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona running an occult bookshop and shapeshifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbours and customers think this handsome, tattooed Irishman is about twenty-one years old when, actually, it’s twenty-one centuries. Atticus draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.
Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants the sword, and he’s been after Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down and Atticus will need all his powers – plus a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of lawyers, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good, old-fashioned Irish luck – to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.
This story was kind of fun and brilliant. It was filled with action, humour, and my favourite think of all – mythology. In particular, Celtic mythology and the practices of Druids. Don’t get me wrong, the wit and the wonder of the story are thing that I completely love. But it is just all that much better when it’s partnered with some great magic and mayhem. This is one of those books that definitely ticked all of my happy boxes.
Although I’ve always felt a little drawn to Celtic folklore and Druidry, I’ve not really had much exposure to it. So it was nice to not only experience a new folklore / mythos in a book, but to learn so many, many things along the way. I always love when a new fantasy aspect works its way into my reading list. Sadly, I don’t have any of the other books on my shelves… so now I have to wait to throw myself headfirst into this series again, much to my chagrin.
I’ve read a lot of books with great sidekicks. But, I must admit… Oberon has GOT to be my absolute favourite. He is funny, cute and has the exact voice that I imagine my big dog would have (the little one would be WAY more sassy). I love that the sidekick is a dog that can communicate, but rather than giving him a lot of human traits, he’s doglike in all of his desires and drives. I actually bought this book because of the short story The Naughtiest Cherub, which kind of features Oberon in some ways. After all, any series which features a massive dog as a cheerful and happy sidekick and companion… that’s going to make me incredibly happy.
To further enhance my love of this story – Hearne manages to take a lot of the traditional paranormal creatures I tend to come across in many of my fantasy books. But, then he’s added some more Celtic and druidic characters. Including some of the Tuatha De Danan. I love that there is such a heavy Irish tilt to this story, one that I just can’t stop thinking about and quite honestly, just can’t quite get enough of.
Earth and Skye 