Angie Fox

This may be the best of the Verity Long short stories which supplement Angie Fox's Southern Ghost Hunter series. It begins in Sugarland, Tennessee with Verity attempting to train her pet skunk, Lucy — and yes, I do know how frivolous and ridiculous that sounds — without much assistance from live-in ghost, Frankie, the lovable former prohibition-era gangster who lends her his energy so she can see ghosts, and — not often enough for Frankie — turn a buck.

Bree, who works at the show more Sugarland Animal Sanctuary, stops by to enlist Verity’s help in discovering why ghosts have been setting the animals loose at night, endangering both the animals and possibly people. Frankie isn’t keen on the pro bono work, but suspiciously changes his tune when he discovers the animal shelter is near the river. What Verity discovers, while Frankie is using the situation for a little side job, makes for an excellent short story.

I’m reticent to give too many details, but this one is actually quite tender and moving for something in this light sub-genre. It’s funny, atmospheric, and will have anyone who loves dogs and children complaining they’ve got something in their eye before the final page is turned. You get the impression at the outset of this one that it's going to be a little sillier than the other two supplemental short stories, but it ends up being warm and tender, even a tad memorable. I loved this one and highly recommend it. show less

The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox 3.5 stars
Great comedy and characters, lost a half-star for a rushed romance

Sometimes, Amazon’s ‘Freebie” program turns up a jewel. And with "The Accidental Demon Slayer" by Angie Fox, I am thrilled to say I wound up with a ruby. Hey, I like rubies better than diamonds, so sue me!

Come on, who wouldn’t be thrilled to have a kick-butt, 70-something, pink-Harley-riding Grandma show up on your doorstep on your 30th birthday to help you kick demon show more backside? Well, if you happen to be the ‘turning-thirty-preschool-teacher' hiding in the bathroom from said grandma, things can get a bit confusing, but come on. A Pink Harley? Got to love it!

And the action only starts there. Strap your hyperactive (and now talking) Jack Russell into a ferret bag across your chest, hop on the back of Grandma’s Hog, (even if you do get carsick in anything faster than a tricycle) and take off for the Red Skull Hog Ridin’ Grannies biker bar, with demons in pursuit. What happens after had me grinning like a crazed biker granny myself, as Lizzie and Grandma kick fanny and take names across the American South – and a good portion of Hell.

This is the first time I had heard of Angie Fox, and I am thrilled to say it won’t be the last of her books that I intend to roll around in like a dog in road kill (hey, you will get the reference when you read the book – and DO read the book!) Her whole "Accidental Demon Slayer" series (two three-volume sets) is already on my Nook and set up to read. I also grabbed the first in her "Monster MASH" series (the 3063rd M.A.S.H. unit, location – Limbo). Angie has a wicked sense of humour, a brilliant touch with her characters, and her writing shows great pace and timing. In "Accidental" there is, of course, a ‘love interest’, and as usual said romantic twist rolls forward much too quickly for reality, but I have given up on the idea that any book with romance included as part of the plot isn’t going to include rolling around in the sack and declaring undying love within the first two days of meeting. Meh. At least in Angie’s book, Lizzie isn’t totally spineless. She stands up to betrayal and kicks it in the cohones. And the betrayer, too. So, no harm, no foul as they say.

I admit, I had to laugh at some of the low-star reviews. Come on, people! This is fantasy!!! I think that, sometimes, people get so wrapped up in their expectations, whether they be expectations of “realism” or expectations based upon what other writers do (“familiars” and whatnot) that they can’t just sit back, relax, and enjoy something new. It seems that some people wanted formula – shapeshifters shifting every two seconds, ‘my dog is my familiar’, I just suddenly know how to do everything magical even though my life has been totally mundane forever. Puh. Get over it, sit down, and read the book for what it is, a comedy that takes the old formulas and turns them on their head. Get over it!

Overall, Angie goes in my ‘must read when I am reading just for myself’ pile. She made me laugh, and her story was a pure, guilty pleasure. What more can I ask?

Recommended. show less

For a short story/novella, Angie Fox packed in the emotional wallops. I really started to feel for Verity and Frankie in this one. In Ghost of Chance, I felt like the author really gave us a good idea of how lonely both Frankie and Verity’s existence are. Verity’s ostracization from Sugarland doesn’t seem to have eased any from Skeletons in the Closet and it appears that she and Ellis are still keeping their relationship on the down low. This leads Verity to a very quiet Christmas and show more poor Frankie still being tethered to her house can’t really seem to find any joy in the season either. But the big emotional was Mrs. Jackson’s heartbreak over her losing her son in the Civil War. Goodness the author did a great job of describing her pain and loss. I was glad to see the story end happily but it was one emotional ride to get there.

Tavia Gilbert continues to delight as the voice of Verity and the citizens of Sugarland show less

Less than 24 hours after opening the door to greet her grandmother, prim and proper preschool teacher Lizzie has lost her home, her job, her clothes, and her friends. Now, instead of trying not to swear and living a boringly organised and very planned life she is trying to make sense of circumstances that have her meeting a wacky biker coven of the Red Skull witches, discovering her little dog can talk, hiding out with werewolves, making out with a griffin and above all trying to harness her show more own magical powers.

Yep, Lizzie’s 30th birthday is one she is not going to forget for a while. Raised by distant and unloving adoptive parents, the orderly, prim and proper Lizzie had no idea that she was born to be a demon slayer. Well she wasn’t actually born to be one – its just that accidental circumstances have meant she has to take up the mantle – and take it up right now with no training because few minutes after her granny arrives a demon erupts out of Lizzie’s toilet and she surprisingly manages to blast it into “a million flecks of light.”

Having confirmed her gift her granny drags her off to kill a really mean demon who is due to escape from the second level of Hell. First Lizzie has to be inducted into the protection of the coven, who are a crazy bunch of Harley riding, rhinestone wearing, magical women. They make magic spells out of road kill and store them in jars. A hunky shape-shifter Dimitri, a sometime griffin, claims to be her protector but may have a hidden agenda that will take her straight to hell. Oh heck, granny has been taken to hell as bait anyway, so it looks like that is just where Lizzie has to go!

Author, Angie Fox, has done a brilliant job with the characters in this her fun debut book. They are all very memorable and believable, even the bad ones. Lizzie’s character certainly grows throughout the book and I am looking forwards to book two which I purchased as soon as I finished this one. THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER is light and fluffy but there is a suspenseful adventure that kept this reader on the edge of her seat as Lizzie and Dimitri faced ominous dangers. There are quite a few layers to the story, and a few twists and turns in this delightful paranormal world. show less