Welcome to the eighth of my ‘Calendar Chaos’ posts, in which I take the books I received in my 2024 book advent – each cover representing a different period of time – and review them for you!
Up next in April is WEDNESDAY and the book is Wednesday’s Book by Rebekah Isert.
Read on to find out more…
Blurb: Trillion Orris is no stranger to trouble-or magic. Owner and lead detective for Orris Investigations, he has had more than one odd case stumble across his threshold. When Mrs. Richardson begs him to find her missing daughter-ballet dancer Odell-he quickly accepts the case. But nothing is as it seems; and the tangle of mystery and magic only seems to grow tighter the deeper he gets involved.
Trillion’s personal life doesn’t exactly offer respite either, and when the cat he’s rescued begins to speak, Trillion has to wonder-is he going insane? Is the cat really a cat?
In this magical retelling of Swan Lake, who is who? And who… isn’t?
Review: It took me a while to get into this story, as it is written as if we are already familiar with the world and characters, making me feel like I had missed a prior book that set the scene and backstory a bit more.
Once I got the hang of things, I enjoyed the fantasy-mystery as elven Trillion and his shapeshifter buddy Konstantin investigate a missing ballet dancer while snarkily bantering with the opinionated stray cat that Trillion reluctantly rescued and can’t get rid of or fully understand.
I did solve the mystery before the characters and guessed most of the plot twists along the way, but that didn’t spoil the fun of following the characters as they bickered their way to the reveal, and while I didn’t really feel the chemistry between Trillion and Wednesday as a team, I loved the bromance with Konstantin, and how Trillion develops and grows through the action of the story.
I’m always a big fan of classic tales re-told when done well, and this is a fun light-and-easy read with magic, mystery, humour and some sweet romance as well. It just didn’t quite come to life for me on this occasion.
About the author:
Rebekah Isert (pronounced “eyes-hurt”) chose to become a writer rather than an optometrist. She enjoys writing, watching martial arts movies, and reading whatever sounds interesting. She loves to write fantasy, but delights in the right to write whatever story captures her imagination. She currently lives in the West, but given her propensity to travel, could realistically turn up anywhere, anytime.
Website: https://rebekahisert.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebekahisertauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebekahisertauthor
