by Hailey Edwards
December 7, 2021
Pages: 272
When one of Santa’s reindeer meets a grisly end during the annual A Downtown Dickens Christmas Festival, Rue realizes her enemies are closing in on her location, and Samford will pay the price. But when one creature turns into two, and two into three, and then three into four, Rue knows the problem is bigger than a singular threat to her new hometown. And that’s before a holiday shopper strolls into Hollis Apothecary claiming to be a long-lost relative. Of her father’s.
As old loyalties are tested and new relationships threaten to unravel the fabric of her identity, Rue must choose either the family she was born into or the one she created for herself, and the losing side might not survive her decision.
As the annual A Downtown Dickens Christmas Festival is in full swing, one of Santa’s reindeer gets murdered in a most grisly way causing Rue to realize that her enemies may have found her and she’s worried that her town will pay the price. As more creatures start showing up in Samford and the surrounding town, Rue has to figure out where they are coming from and why they are here.
Rue may have started out as a black witch, but with her loyalty to Colby, she has been slowly transitioning to a white witch. She hopes that her enemies stay far away and that they do not realize that she has switched her loyalties because that makes the target on her back bigger than ever.
Before Rue even realized that she had done it, she had put together her one little family with Colby, Clay, Asa, the girls at the shop, and now a new one has been added to her growing group. Her connections with each of these people are something to be admired, and I love the growing fascination with her and Asa/Daemon.
Review: Black Hat, White Witch (Black Hat Bureau - Book 1)
Review: Black Arts, White Craft (Black Hat Bureau - Book 2)
Getting 5 sheep
Denise B
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I was one year old when the movie The Dark Crystal hit theaters. I was five when Labyrinth was released. Other favorites of mine include The Last Unicorn, The Hobbit, Flight of Dragons, and Nausicaa. Those are the movies and cartoons that shaped my childhood. I watched them until my parents begged me to stop, and then I waited until they left the room before I hit play one last time.
The movies, the stories, were pure fantasy. I didn’t realize as a small child that those worlds were impossible to visit. I just assumed I hadn’t found my way in yet. I wanted to pet a unicorn. Heck, I wanted to ride one. I wanted a chance to snatch a dragon’s scale and learn what magic it held. I wanted my own sword, which resulted in my parents installing a lock on the silverware drawer. Something about thou shalt not skewer thy baby brother…
I also had a huge crush on Jareth, the Goblin King from Labyrinth. My parents discouraged this obsession as well. Something about thou shalt not bargain away thy baby brother in exchange for a hot boyfriend…
I know what you’re thinking—my parents never let me have any fun. Okay, and that maybe I had an unhealthy fascination with all the ways I could rid myself of my annoying little brother.
But the truth is, those movies kick-started my imagination, and my love of all things fantasy. So it’s strange to think, looking back, that I fell into reading crime and mystery instead of fantasy or paranormal novels. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I stumbled across Darkfever by Karen Moning and became hooked on urban fantasy. From there, I rediscovered my love for the fantasy genre and all its enticing new subgenres.
I gobbled up paranormal romances—J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, and Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld. I devoured all flavors of urban fantasy from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files to Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series.
Really, it wasn’t until after I read Darkfever that I got that tickle in the back of my mind that maybe I could write a book. All those years of reading crime and mystery, and the thought had never occurred to me. But after glutting on fantasy and paranormal romance, I began having ideas for my own worlds and characters. It was so unexpected I didn’t know what to do.
So I sat down. And I started writing.
Six years later, here I am. I still write fantasy and paranormal stories. I still read them too.
I have been told my tastes are limited, but there I must disagree. My tastes are specific, yes, I will admit that. But no other genre has as much variety as fantasy. No other genres encompass witches, vampires, wizards, demons, werewolves, angels, gods and goddesses, creatures of myth and folklore, humans, mermaids, mermen, and every other creature you ever promised your little brother lurked under his bed.
Not that I ever told him monsters were waiting for him to use the bathroom so they could grab him and drag him into their underground lair, because that would be wrong. What? Okay, so maybe I hinted at monsters. A little. And okay, one time I hid under his bed and grabbed his ankles then giggled like a loon while he screamed.
I couldn’t sit down for a week after Mom caught me.
I feel I should add here that my parents had no sense of humor. But I’m happy to report they have much improved since I hit my thirties and stopped tormenting my brother…for the most part. I think giving them a granddaughter probably helped too.
I’m sure you can guess what my daughter’s favorite genre is. Yep. Fantasy.
I guess some things really do run in the family.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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