Vicky Loebel

Note: This book and it’s loosely tied-in sequel, Keys to the Coven, can each work just fine as stand alones.

Set in Falstaff, Arizona in the 1920s during Prohibition, the Woodsens run a speakeasy bar and also sell some of their surplus alcohol to others. Now a Chicago-based mob is trying to move in and run the alcohol trade. They will be surprised at how little pushing it takes to upset a witch. Meanwhile, the youngest of the Woodsen cousins, teen Clara, is desperate to save her beloved show more movie star Beau Beauregard. She’s willing to break some rules in the name of true love (or her first crush). Her older cousin, Bernard (Bernie) Benjamin, is just the guy to help her out, even if he has to be lured to the basement and tied to the center of a pentagram. Demons and zombies have never had so much fun as they will during the dance competition!

Once again, Vicky Loebel has given me something original and very funny. There’s a bit of sexy (though it’s pretty PG-13 for this book) as well. Clara is a driven character who’s young enough to not know to look at the bigger picture when it comes to love, yet old enough to have just enough responsibility and autonomy to get into big trouble. She’s dead set on saving her ‘beloved’ Beau even if he has no idea she exists (and that’s because they’ve never met). She’s even willing to become a warlock by summoning a demon and striking a bargain with it. Hans is the handsome demon that appears and somehow he talks things around so that his demon familiar, Ruth, will enter a dance contest. The pit just gets deeper from there on out.

With the Chicago mob, Bernie and his personal schemes, Gladys the Golem, Beau’s resentment over the whole mess, zombies, stolen booze, and an older Woodsen sibling arriving soonish, Clara really does have her hands full. It was so funny! There’s plenty of clever lines and each person really has their own agenda in mind. Clara wants love from Beau, and to not get caught. Bernie doesn’t want to die a horrible death (which is surely what will happen when Clara’s older witch sisters find out about this whole mess). The mob want their booze, the money, and control (and they seem constantly surprised when that doesn’t happen easily). Beau is quite angry with his situation and Clara is totally surprised by what he truly wants. Gladys just wants to get back to housekeeping.

I really enjoyed the various magical elements. There’s the demon Hans and his familiar Ruth which have their intricate little dos and don’ts. Then Gladys who is a Golem and rather protective of young Bernie. One of Clara’s best friends is a ghost whisperer and she has a ghost familiar (Gaspar, complete with Spanish accent). Loebel manages to pull each one into the storyline seamlessly. Moreover, she gives each one rules to work with and she keeps them within those rules. With a comedy, it would be easy to have these various magical folk breaking rules, so I appreciated that once the author laid down a law of this is how this type of magic works, she kept her characters in line.

I did quite enjoy all the flirty, sexy behavior that popped up here and there. Demons love to trade on sex because it builds up their karma, which is basically spiritual coinage. Clara knows all this from her older witch sisters and her book on demons. Yet when the offers are made to her, she’s tempted. Bernie isn’t as naive but he’s not as well-schooled as he likes to pretend either. Ruth, being a large hunting cat most of the time, has a sexy confidence all the time, even when she’s totally mangling her dance partner’s foot during practice. There’s plenty of wit and humor with the sexy bits, making them just as fun as the rest of the book.

Having listened to both audiobook set in this urban fantasy world, I really hope Loebel gives us more. The humor is a bit unique and I love the mix of serious situations, magic, and laughter. Not everyone makes it out of this story unscathed. In many ways, Clara comes of age in this tale. Loved it and looking forward to more of it!

I received a free copy of this book.

Narration: Emily Beresford and Nick Podehl once again did a great job on this book. Even though they voiced totally different characters for Keys to the Coven, I read them far enough apart that I didn’t have character echos in my head, as can sometimes happen when you listen to books set in the same universe that have different characters yet the same narrators. These two are great with all the emotions and also delivering straight lines so the humor is left hanging there for the reader/listener to catch even as the story moves onward. show less

Set in Arizona, this adult urban fantasy is full of surprises! Felicity, a dog trainer, recently lost her mother and is going through a messy divorce. She’s the oldest of three children, having mostly raised her baby-sister Hannah, who is now in college. Her brother, Alton, isn’t so grateful of her efforts to ‘mother’ her younger siblings. Then in steps Max, a demon on assignment to recover a magical relic, the Minsk Homunculus. It’s been in Felicity’s family for generations, but show more she isn’t aware of it’s magical abilities nor what it means in regards to the powerful demon Roxashael (Rocky).

This was a very, very fun book. The mix of serious adult situations, witty banter, demonic entities in moral crises, and an unknowing witch who just inherited a bowling team makes a great read! Max has used his powers of seduction in the past to rev up his karma, which in turn he uses as a power base to get other things done. His demi Kate, a minor demon tied to his phone, is, by turns, a useful or irritating side kick. For this assignment, she is constantly reminding him to keep his eyes on the goal – the Minsk Homunculus. Yet he can’t help but be drawn into Felicity’s initial drama and later her life as she figures out her family history and the past deals her mom Rose made with the demon Rocky.

Felicity herself started off caught up in her own little drama, a little too much for me. I wasn’t sure I was going to like her character at first. Then as things get explained – the ugly divorce, her mom dying, her inheriting this odd coven with it’s bowling team, and then Max coming in saying he has to recover the artifact (Minsk Homunculus) or the equivalent dollar amount (think 6 digits), I could see why she was on the verge of having a melt down. It’s apparent from the beginning that she has tried her best to do what she thought was best for her younger siblings, but they don’t fully appreciate it. So that gets tossed in her face as well later in the story. She has a lot of stresses and Max provides a handsome distraction and also gives her something to focus on (the hunt for the artifact).

This book also contains a fair smidge of romance, which I normally don’t go in for but it’s done so well with the plot and doesn’t weigh down the pacing, that I found myself rooting for Max and Felicity. They each find the other indebted to them and their ties continue to grow as the story marches on. The make-out sessions, and later the sex, are steamy and sweet. Sometimes there’s a bit of humor mixed in, sometimes it’s intense. As a side note, this book also references some sexual abuse situations, but I felt they were in keeping with the plot and the characters and weren’t there for shock value.

The humor really brought the whole book together for me. Sometimes the humor was a little dark (which suits me fine) and sometimes it was a little slapstick, like Felicity falling off park benches or such. There was plenty of witty banter, but also certain situations the characters ended up in were funny, especially since I didn’t have to live them. All around, it was a very entertaining book with enough wit and a sharp edge to keep me engaged for the entire length.

I received a copy of this book at no cost from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Narration: Emily Beresford and Nick Podehl did a great job teaming up on this book. Beresford made a great Felicity and a jaded Kate. Podehl was a wonderful Max and quite the evil Rocky. There were plenty of secondary and minor characters and this team made them all distinct. show less

What a fun read! Set in the Roaring 20's in Falstaff, Arizona during prohibition, a young lady decides she will become a warlock by calling up a demon to say her beloved silent film star Beau Beauregard. Clara is more successful than she thinks. Now Beau is a zombie attached to her. How does she keep him from making more zombies?

I laughed so hard while reading. It was fun! I loved the pictures that were painted by Ms. Loebel's words. She has a delightful way of putting prose on paper. Her show more use of words and phrases was wonderful. I'll read her again just to see how well she does it again.

I loved these characters, Clara and Bernie. I also enjoyed that the story was told from each one's point of view. Beau and Hans were great as foils to Clara. The secondary characters were colorful as well. Lots of undercurrents run through Falstaff. I cannot wait to read more of this town and its characters. show less

A warlock, a demon, and a zombie walk into a speakeasy... stop me if you've heard this one

I read the sample for this book not because I needed to but because I wanted to. It was calling to me because I wanted to visit the Hellfire Universe again. I had already read Keys to the Coven, which I really enjoyed and is set in the same world as this prequel so I already had some familiarity with this world. I was also a little curious about the zombie element of the story. Zombies are not a show more favorite of mine, but based on my previous experience with this author's work, I had a feeling these zombies would be the kind I wouldn't mind reading about. So I thought I'd read the sample just for a taste to satisfy me until I could get back to it. Well, it was like trying to eat just one potato chip. I couldn't stop and had to keep reading. So here I am. I didn't mean to read this book right now, but I did and when it was over I wanted more potato chips, dammit!

Speakeasy Dead is a prequel story set in the same world as Keys to the Coven including the Falstaff Ninepin Fellowship (which also houses a coven). It is set in the past during the era of Prohibition. Clara Woodsen, who comes from a family of witches, tries to save her beloved Beau Beauregard, a famous film star, from an untimely death by summoning a demon to make a deal. Of course, as the Girl's Guide to Demons clearly points out (from Keys to the Coven):

"By now, if you've followed the instructions set out in this guide, you've formed a beneficial relationship with a demon. The question remains: whose benefit?"

Thus starts this humorous and engaging romp involving an enterprising newbie warlock, a cousin prone to fainting, a dashing but devious demon, a somewhat narcissistic zombie film star, a formidable golem housekeeper, a genie with two left feet, and a Zorro-esque ghost. Throw in some mobsters, some hooch, and a speakeasy dance contest to round it all out.

I enjoyed all the characters in this story. There is quite a varied bunch of them. They all just jumped off the page for me and felt well-rounded. One of my favorite minor characters was a little boy who fancies himself a cub reporter and doesn't quite get all his words right to humorous effect. Gladys the golem was interesting as well, but I wish her golem nature was more prevalent in the story. I would like to have seen what she could really do considering even a warlock is hesitant to tangle with a golem. The one disappointment I had with a character was Ned Aimsley, but not because I didn't like him. It was because I did like him even though he had very little page time in the story. At one point there seemed to be some hint of romantic promise between Ned and Clara but it ended up going nowhere.*sigh*

Speakeasy Dead is told through the alternating POVs of seventeen-year-old Clara Woodsen and her cousin Bernard "Bernie" Benjamin, who is a few years older than Clara but acts like Clara's sidekick. The POV switches with each chapter. I actually really like dual POV that is done like this so it worked for me. Just like in Keys to the Coven, each chapter starts out with an epigraph, but given the dual male/female POV, Clara's chapters start with a quote from The Girl's Guide to Demons and Bernie's chapters start with a quote from The Boy's Book of Boggarts. I liked the epigraphs from Keys better, but I still enjoyed the ones in this book and looked forward to reading them at the beginning of each chapter.

Besides the characters, one of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the humor. I laughed out loud several times. Bernie's dry wit was delivered with a style that - I think - is representative of the P.G. Wodehouse inspired element of the story. I haven't read P.G. Wodehouse so I can't say for sure if this is the case, though I believe I understand the gist of those books.

There were some aspects of the zombie plague that didn't make sense to me and I thought a big plot hole was looming in the distance, but I had a feeling that everything would come together at some point and it did. On the other hand, there were a few other aspects of the story I questioned concerning what happens to the ankh that houses Luella's swashbuckling spirit guide; something that Ruthie (the genie) says and does that seemed contradictory; and something that happens to Bernie. All of which I can't discuss without giving away spoilers. Looking back on these scenes, I can probably see an explanation for some of it. The author's writing style tends to lean toward letting the reader figure some things out on their own, but some of it was a stretch for me.

On a personal note, there is repeated reference to Narcisse Noir perfume, which is the signature sent of Luella, Clara's best friend. This happens to be my mother's favorite perfume. I was gobsmacked when I saw it mentioned. Maybe it was a popular scent back in the 1920s (it has been around since 1911) but it's not exactly well known or easy to find off the shelf these days. I couldn't believe it actually came up in the story. It gave my reading experience a little extra something that I could connect with on a personal level.

If you are looking for a classic zombie story with all the associated gore à la The Walking Dead, then this book probably isn't for you, but if you want a zombie story that is more lighthearted with more humor and less braaaaiiiinnns, then you might be interested in this one. Though I think a reader might appreciate some elements of the story more if they read Keys to the Coven first, it is not completely necessary. How karma works and the relationship between warlocks and demons, etc. are touched on and I think it is explained enough for the story to make sense but there is also a glossary included that describes a lot of these things.

I found Speakeasy Dead to be a well written story with great characters and dialogue, good plotting, unexpected twists, and witty humor that kept me engaged and entertained. I didn't want to put this book down and would have jumped into the next book if I hadn't read it already. I'm really looking forward to the next story based in the Hellfire Universe. I just wish I knew when it was coming out and what it would be about...

Cover Art: Though I really like the cover art and it elicits the 1920s era, it doesn't really scream urban fantasy or humor. It looks more like a 1920s mystery.

Word Count: approx. 58,000 (Short Novel)
Kindle locations: 3311 (story text ends at 88%)
Print Length: 199 estimated pages
Ebook includes a Table of Contents, Glossary, and excerpt from Keys to the Coven

(Honest review requested by author - review copy obtained on my own during a free promo) show less