Fun Adventure Tales

 Everyone needs a bit of fun & fluff for escaping the grim realities of life.  So, this month I thought I would share some new(ish) titles I have read.  I wrote another one awhile ago, so feel free to check that out if you want more.  =)

I was so excited when I saw this trilogy!  It is fun, featuring a full-figured person with some melanin (it's a fantasy world, so our designations don't work)...and the cover.....just wow!  I got it for the Library's collection and immediately binge read all of them.  =)  

So Cinnamon is a spice farmer's daughter and also a farmer.  In this world, all demons are evil and people pray to a particular goddess for protection. Every so often some are selected to fight demons for the goddess.  Cinnamon accidentally saves a demon who escaped and turns out cinnamon (the spice) is all that is needed to cure a demon who is being driven crazy by a spell....a spell set by the "goddess" everyone is praying to, so that they can be seen as evil and dangerous.  She is also killing everyone from that world, and is really not nice.  Cinnamon is convinced to help Fallon ( the "demon" who is really a dragon) and thus begins an adventure and a love story.  I had so much fun with this book and this author's writing!  You should enjoy it too if you are looking for a spicy silly adventure.  This story is complete in the one book, the following books follow other characters from the same village/universe.

Valerie (real name Eiravel, nicknamed Val) Stonehold is selected by the Queen to be a security agent in the human world.  Her talent is that she can pass as a human, which has been a problem for her whole life, as Val is actually a dwarf with giantism (thus her height of 5'9") and she has alopecia (so is also bald and has no beard).  She is always getting a hard time being accused of not being a real dwarf but Val is happy to try out the human realm and to use her dwarf strength to help non-humans living in the human world (in disguise, no one knows about the other realms).  Val's story is well written and fun and the series is also really interesting.  She has layers and is learning about the human world, making friends and also finding out that the "trinkets" she makes (aka jewelry) are valued and admired in this realm.  You do need to be able to just roll with it as some coincidental and magical things just happen to make things easy; but if you can just go with the adventure and not question too closely, you'll be fine.  I read this with my Kindle subscription, and sadly isn't available on any other streaming or e-service at this time. I love a good adventure with some tension but no true tragedies or deep thinking required, at least sometimes.

Allison "Lex" Luther suffers from PTSD courtesy of the military, and extra trauma thanks to the murder of her twin sister.  She has vowed to do everything in her power to take care of her infant niece and help her brother-in-law....and so when someone kidnaps the baby, she is determined to find them and get her back.  It turns out that Lex has magic, but it's closely related to death and thus forbidden ...and her niece is a null, which makes her a commodity everyone wishes to have.  Lex teams up with some local vampires to get her niece back and has some witches showing her a bit about magic, while also being afraid of her.....

This is a very interesting story with some darkness in it, but it's overall hopeful as Lex is a tough lady (I love that in a character).  I don't think I've seen an urban fantasy universe quite like this one, with very segregated powers and feeling very .....mafia-like yet not quite. I am invested in Lex as a character and seeing where it all goes....

This is another title I found with my Kindle app, and I didn't see it available on other streaming or e-book services.

The Undead Detective Agency is just fun, and very silly.  Octavius is a vampire who started a detective agency as a lark, and advertises that he needs a driver, and gets Turney...who is human and has no idea about anything......but Turney is willing to learn and needs a job badly.  Their first case turns out to not be easy at all, but it also pushes Octavius and Turney together.  

I really enjoyed this series, which is only 4 books (but perhaps the author will write more?).  Lots of action and silly behavior, and a fun ride.

Sorry, but another title available through Kindle streaming and couldn't find it anywhere else.  

This series is called Fledgling God because it truly follows a young man as he finds his magic and his possible godhood.   Jason finds his magic, as everyone does, through a near death experience....in his case, it's being beaten to death before it activates and kills his attackers but he is still in bad shape.  Jason finds out that the apartment he has been renting is actually a magical house that is a haven for magic users, and they take him under their wing to show him all about magic and magical creatures.  Turns out Jason's magic is very strange and only works on small things......but, he realizes that he can actually infuse magic into his very cells!  

Lots of things happen in this story, including trauma from his awakening (in the form of actual ghosts haunting him); but overall this is a really interesting and very different kind of magic story.  Jason's creativity in creating teeny tiny magical creatures to help him is adorable and fun and the author goes into detail (sometimes a bit too much) on his journey toward healing after another beating (being magical is dangerous).....but nonetheless, I loved the author's creative idea of someone who can only affect himself in a very small radius or do small things and how little things can be amazing.  There is a growing romance between Jason and his healing magical succubus, Tyler...but it's very sweet and slow taking multiple books to grow.  I really enjoyed this series and am equally enjoying the Audible version.  Sorry but this is another one that's only available on Kindle Unlimited.

This is a brand new series and it is SO fun!  Basically Taylor is feeling stuck in a boring corporate life and in an amazingly funny case of mistaken identity he meets and gets drunk with Holt, who owns and runs a supernatural wrestling group.  They stage matches in the basement of the boring corporate building where Taylor works, and the more he learns about it and Holt, the more he wants to be a part of their world....and especially Holt's.  

I loved this book so much.  I love that Holt found Taylor's uptight-ness and self consciousness adorable and that Taylor dove right into helping and making a place for himself in their world (which to me means that he isn't as uptight as everyone thought he was).  The wrestling is hysterical as it's got the hype of WWE, but with supernatural additions (like a guy who can take his head off).  Sadly another title only on Kindle Unlimited, sorry.

Both of these series are related, and are SO fun!  Chronicles of an Urban Druid follows Fiona on her journey from barmaid and baby sister to an entire family of cops in Toronto to finding her druidic powers and destiny....as well as saving the world over and over again.

Chronicles of a Hidden City focuses on two of Fiona's brothers in a magical city and their journey towards happiness and saving the world.

What both series' have is a strong sense of family, (both found and blood related) and a magical story that feels like the main characters are playing D&D but always rolling a natural 20......but I think that energy is why I adore both.  Even in the midst of a mystery or a worldwide disaster, we see humor and somehow know that everyone will be alright.  

AND the first series is available on Hoopla!  Yay!  

They are also both on Kindle Unlimited, which is how I found them, but the audio versions on Hoopla are really well done.   

Jake wasn't exactly happy getting hit by a truck, but instead of dying, he is transported to another universe.....where he is able to start over and is weirdly the Gay Holy Maiden, able to help the Duke of the North cleanse his duchy of a poisonous miasma.  Jake really likes it here, even if the weird coin he picked up off the street now talks to him.....especially as this is a magical realm, the likes of which he has always dreamed of living in.  

This is a really fun and sweet story, with some silly moments.  It is part of a series where some authors agreed to working within particular parameters but were given freedom to have fun outside of those.....sort of a professional author's version of a creative writing exercise.  While I didn't love all of them, I did enjoy some.  This was my favorite, likely as I already love the author.   She plays with fantasy and anime tropes and yet grounds the characters so it's not completely ridiculous.   This series is only available through Kindle Unlimited subscriptions.

This story is the epitome of a dark but silly story.  Xaviaro Saviano is a known mafia enforcer, and no one messes with him....until the night a man with a sparrow tattoo goes mad with rage and breaks his nose.  The man that Xaviaro calls "Deadly Little Sparrow" is looking for the men who killed his brother, and in spite of his short stature and lack of giant muscles (like a certain mafioso), he is determined to gain his revenge and has no time for a relationship.  Xaviaro has no problem with his Sparrow being in charge, or in helping him find the men who killed his brother and nothing is making him go away.......could there be time for love AND revenge?

I enjoy a dark romance but not usually mafia stories, so this one took me by surprise (and I only tried it because I have enjoyed other books by this author).  I love that she plays with the tropes of who is dominant vs ideas of who should be (based on arbitrary body types/styles/age).  I also like the way Neuhold approached the story, coming at it purely from a character POV, and then building in the tension of what is happening from there.  Is this a seriously dark book?  Sort of....I mean there is murder and rough (but consensual) sex, but it didn't feel icky or ridiculous.....and I will always fall for the "assassin with a heart of gold" trope, if it's done right. And this felt perfect as an escapist adventure story.   This title is only available through Kindle Unlimited.

Frankie (Mary Frances Talbot) is a necromancer and a car mechanic who has an official business running a car garage and a secret one where she arranges for people to "rent a body" after death to take care of those few little things left behind after you die.....or if you just want to pop by and see how your kids are doing.  Everything goes terribly wrong when one of her rented bodies commits a murder, which isn't supposed to be able to happen.....and the spirits of the murdered are literally consumed so she can't find them to figure out what happened.  Investigating the situation puts her on the radar of the her ex, who happens to be in town and know about her magic (which he strongly disapproves of).  Frankie really doesn't want to go to jail and Samuel seems weirdly willing to help her....which makes her even more stressed as she waits for the other shoe to drop.

This story felt really original.  I have never read a book like this and Edwards writes an adventurous tale with in depth character studies and some twists to the mystery that you might not see coming.  I quite enjoyed this and cannot wait to read the next in the series. Thus far, this story is only available on Kindle Unlimited, though it's fairly new, so it may come to Hoopla soon (many of this authors stories do).

This is another "creative writing" series, called "subpar heroes".....featuring SPAM as the organization which trains and deploys superheroes.  (I forget what it stands for but it's funny) 

In this story, Perry has heard all of his life about his famous hero father The Chameleon, but sadly he can only change the colors of things, and the most "extra" thing he has ever done was to convince his magic that transparent is a color (done in an attempt to thwart a bully as a child).  Unfortunately in his job as a mail clerk, when Perry idly checks out what's in a box he sees a bomb.......and thus meets Sergeant Deckard of the bomb squad, but also sets off a series of events that put him in the crosshairs of a criminal and as a suspect in the bombings taking place across the city.  

Harper builds great character arcs for both main characters, giving the reader the insight to why they do things as well as what they are thinking, by alternating chapter POV.  This is ultimately a silly superhero story, but it is well written and fun with a sweet romance (and a cute dog).  I also love the reminder that "everyone can be a hero", and honestly this whole series reminds me of several movies, Disney's Sky High and Zoom, Academy for Superheroes.  I am enjoying checking out a variety of stories within this "subpar heroes" exercise but this is my favorite thus far.  This series is only available on Kindle Unlimited.

Alice Winters is the queen of mixing silly/over the top characters with grumpy, serious characters.  She is also excellent at building stories with depth but with strong comedic moments that will literally make you laugh out loud.  In this story, we have a town with a reluctant peace between werewolves and vampires and someone wanting to disrupt that by killing members of each group and implicating each other.  So, when Julian, the son of the werewolf alpha, is attacked and almost killed and the head vampire Casimir saves him, but also accidentally ties their lives together in the process; things definitely go pear shaped.  Julian is a carefree sort of guy, and Casimir is definitely not......but he can't get rid of Julian now that he's saved him, but he absolutely doesn't like him....not at all....really.   Now they just have to figure out the real culprit before the supernatural community goes to war.

I really enjoyed this story, playing with tropes of vampires and werewolves, but also adding some original twists.  As usual, we have manic moments of silliness but there is a true mystery to solve and Casimir has a dark secret past which adds to the tensions and the characters interactions.  So fun!  This title is only available through Kindle Unlimited.

That's it for this month, and as you can see, I get my money's worth out of my Kindle subscription....haha.  Regardless, it's always nice to enjoy some stories that allow you full enjoyment without making you dive deep into world building, deep thoughts or tragic dystopias (which everyone but me seem to love).  Thanks for reading!

Saleena