I’ve enjoyed a few of Marjorie Liu’s short stories in paranormal romance anthologies like My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding. When I learned she penned a graphic novel featuring magic and monsters, I was all in! I won an Amazon gift card from Mocha Girls Read and picked this up. And then it sat on my endless TBR pile until I decided to start reading all these dang graphic novels in my house!
Part steampunk, part horror, and part sci-fi, Monstress Volume One: Awakening is a darkly beautiful tale about Maika Halfwolf. We meet her reliving traumatic memories from a war between the humans and Arcanics (part Ancients and part human). She has lost her mom and wanders as a fugitive with her friend Tuya. Meanwhile, a dark power inside her begins to speak to her. A religious sect, the Cumaea, is desperate to capture and harness the power of the Ancients. They’re like a group of female-only mad scientists who have gone drunk with power. Maika barely escaped them along with a young fox arcanic named Kippa. The Arcanics also are looking for her to destroy the evil within. The first volume teases the world and all the dangers for Maika. The real danger is the monster within who wants out.
The world has so many layers. I know this volume barely scratched the surface. I will absolutely keep reading. Maika has to discover what’s inside her and figure out who to trust. The illustrations are magnificent showing so much detail. The lady hunters in their armor look so unique and terrifying in their blind purpose. I’m still struggling to keep track of all the realms and characters, but I think that’s part of the fun when diving into a new series. I highly recommend Monstress even if you’re not a big graphic novel fan. If you love Buffy, Into the Badlands, or fantasy horror comics like Sandman, you’ll enjoy this sprawling world and story.
I love cozy mysteries, cookbooks, and New Orleans, so I didn’t need much convincing to read Bayou Book Thief. Book one in this new series introduces us to Ricki James-Diaz opening a vintage cookbook store. The young widow has moved back to NOLA for a fresh start after losing her prank influencer husband. She convinces Eugenia Charbonnet, owner of Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, to partner with her on the new store. Eugenia agrees that adding a unique store that celebrates history and food is exactly what they need. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees including Eugenia’s nephew and sketchy tour volunteer Franklin. When a mysterious trunk arrives, Ricki assumes it’s more cookbook donation. To her shock, she finds Franklin murdered inside! With herself and museum coworkers as suspects, she decides to start snooping (much to the chagrin of the cops).
One of my favorite things about cozy mysteries is the eclectic cast of characters. This one was no exception with the colorful Bon Vee employees, local acquaintances of Franklin, and of course the devilishly handsome neighbor/love interest Virgil. Plus there are rescue dogs! I was lucky to meet Ellen Byron when hosting a mystery romance panel at The Ripped Bodice. Fun fact: she was also a screenwriter for one of my favorite TV shows, Wings. Read this series if you love vintage cooking stuff, Murder She Wrote, and smart-as-a-whip elderly characters.
I started listening to Once Burned on audio when ElisaMaza76 reminded me of this series. I also attended a virtual event with Jeaniene Frost and Ilona Andrews (and snagged signed books). About halfway through I remembered I had print copy collecting dust on my shelf. I got a ton of free books from BookCon and totally forgot I even had this. Book collector problems, LOL.
Once Burned is a Night Prince novel about vampires and other beings with powers like Leila. She can channel electricity and see a person’s secrets through touch. Her powers only developed after an accident. She’s been going through life on the fringes by working in a traveling circus with a vampire named Marty. To her bad luck, mercenary vamps kidnap her to track down Vlad with objects he’s touched. Yes, that one. When she tries to track him, he looks back into her mind. Cue him rescuing her and whisking her away to his castle compound. He wants to destroy whoever is looking for him and get to know Leila. She can’t seem to resist him because he’s immune to her electrical shock power. They begin a passionate whirlwind romance because Vlad is unsurprisingly very possessive. Leila tries to resist but discovers there’s more to Vlad than expected.
This was a fun read and I’m always game for some sexy vampires. Frost excels at action scenes and weaving the backstory of Vlad and Leila. Leila was a bit predictable, but hoping I like her more in future books. Vlad is 100% alpha male, so I loved it when Leila disobeyed him and made him twitch. Read these if you’re a sucker for a Dracula story, a True Blood fan, and looking for a new paranormal romance series.
I made it to a quarter cannonball and completed the challenge!
