Devon Monk

The 4th book in the series collects three novellas - each set during a holiday and each dealing with one of the sisters and her love life. The gods are mostly missing (as Delaney's trick at the end of the previous novel meant that they need to leave for an year). The rest of the community shows up here and there but the stories are more about the Reeds than about Ordinary.

"Rock Candy" takes place during October, culminating at Halloween. So what is so interesting about October you would show more ask? Well, there is a curse and all garden gnomes become alive... during the nights anyway. Except that the usual orderly progression of things go a bit weird when it turns out that the chief gnome had been killed. Meanwhile, the baker Hogan, who just happens to be Jean Reed's current boyfriend, has more secrets than you would expect - including the identity of his parents. So off everyone goes looking for the murderer of a garden gnome while Jean needs to decide if she wants a long term relationship (and the secret helps for a change...)

"Paper Stars" is the Christmas story. Ryder Bailey had been away on a job site and Delaney is prepared to spend the holidays on her own. Until he decides to come home - and things get complicated. By the end of the story, everyone is still alive (not without a certain demon's help), there is a dragon masquerading as a pig and everyone is back to normal. Normal for Ordinary anyway.

"Scissor Kisses" is the Valentine story but it is also the only story where there the love story is not resolved (in a way, it is a prequel for the next novel even if it is a story on its own). Myra Reed does not expect much from the holiday and having a demon show up out of nowhere (another one, Bathin at this point is a somewhat known quality) is a bit distressing. Then it turns out she needs Bathin's help to deal with the other intruder and something in Myra's heart is tugging towards the demon. In a very romantic way. Except that she is also looking at how to get her sister's soul back and banish him forever. Oh, and guess which God decides that this is the perfect time to come back? Apparently the God of Love really does not like Valentine's day.

While the 3 novellas were entertaining, I wish there was more of a difference between the three sisters' voices. Ignore what is happening and you will be hard pressed to determine which sister is telling you a story. That will probably smooth out a bit as the series progresses and it is not really a major problem even if it does not but if you read the 3 novellas back to back, it is noticeable. show less

I've read the beginning of this - interrogating the gill-man - several times; I don't know whether it was published separately (seems unlikely, there's no conclusion to that part) or I've started and put down this book several times. This time I went a bit farther, and was drawn in. The premise is fascinating; the gods come to vacation in this small town, leaving their power behind them. The inhabitants of the town include the (for now) mortal gods, various mythical creatures (I liked her show more handling of the vampires and werewolves...), and mortals, most of whom haven't a clue who their neighbors are. And lots of rhubarb - every small town has to have some quirky festival, right? Everything does seem to pile on at once (explosions, murder, romance, and the Rhubarb Rally, all in one week. And the anniversary of her father's death). Delaney is amazingly obtuse on a) what's going on with Cooper and b) what's going on with Ryder... romance, even ex-romance, seems to shut down her brains. It's fluff, but it's _really_good_ fluff - I went and got the second book already. show less

Ordinary, Oregon is just a small coastal town, known mainly for its yearly rhubarb festival. At least in the human world anyway. It is also the place where gods can shed their power for a bit and take a vacation and where all the creatures are welcome to move in. There is only one condition (for them all): find a job, even if you are bad at it. And of course, they all are mortal while in town.

A year ago Delaney Reed became the police chief after her father, who was the old chief, died. Her show more two sisters are also policewomen - and all 3 also have special powers allowing them to deal with the supernatural community. The festival security is about to stretch the already understaffed police department resources. Add an ex boyfriend, who seems to want Delaney back, and Ryder, a man she used to be in love with and who had just returned back to town and that last thing Delaney needs a dead god on hands. Unfortunately for her, that's exactly what she gets - so on top of everything else, she needs to find a mortal to accept the god power. Hilarity ensues.

The book is pure fluff - Delaney seems to lose all her brain cells when Ryder or Cooper (the ex) come anywhere near her (and she spends half of the rest of the time pining for Ryder). And yet somehow the whole thing works - I wanted to hit her on the head for missing the obvious multiple times (but she did have an excuse in this book) so we will see how it goes in the next day. But even if it remains the same way, I would still read the next novel. show less

I really enjoyed Monk's Allie Beckstrom and Broken Magic series but wasn't a huge fan of her Age of Steam series (odd since I usually love steampunk books). I was excited to see what she would come up with next. House Immortal is the first book in a new fantasy series by Monk. I wasn’t able to find information on how many books are planned for this series. The 2nd book in the series, Infinity Bell, is due to release in March of 2015. I really enjoyed this book and think that House Immortal show more is Monk’s best book yet.

Matilda (aka Tilly) Case was stitched together by her father and brother. Stitching people and animals together is illegal. After her parents deaths Tilly has remained in hiding at a rural farm, taking care of the animals her father stitched together. Her only company for years has been the two headed farmhand named Neds and her mentally unstable grandmother. Then Abraham Seventh shows up at her door. Tilly has been discovered and she is the thirteenth of the galvanized. The galvanized are beings stitched together in a way that makes them super strong and pretty much immortal. Suddenly in an effort to save her farm and her grandmother Tilly is thrust into the complex politics of the Houses and fighting for her future.

I loved the unique world-building, the idea of the galvanized and really enjoyed the characters throughout. It's hard to pin down the genre for this book. The story has a bit of an urban fantasy feel to it, some mystery, some science fiction elements, some steampunk ideas, and lots of political intrigue. I thought it was very different from anything I have read before and really enjoyed both its uniqueness and how engaging the story was.

The world building really is top notch. There is a complex system of Houses. Each different color House specializes in something (Black is defense, White is medical, Grey is people, etc). The galvanized that comes to Tilly’s house, Abraham, belongs to House Grey. Tilly is secretly a member of House Brown, which is a House that stands outside all the other Houses. It is all a bit complicated at first but Monk does an excellent job explaining this complex world well.

I loved Tilly and Abraham as characters. They have excellent chemistry together and are very intriguing characters. Tilly is just very fun to read about, she’s got this whole mysterious past but she is a very down-to-earth farm girl type. Tilly has a lot of bad options to choose from in this book and does her best. She is one of those characters that doesn’t seem super tough at first, but she really steps up to the challenge when it matters.

Abraham has that whole dark and mysterious going on, yet he is very practical too. I really enjoyed his character and thought his personality played nicely off of Tilly’s. As mentioned above I love the idea of immortal characters that are made from stitched up bits of other people (very Frankenstein).

The whole story is very fast-paced and engaging. I really really enjoyed it. The book stops at a cliffhanger that had me desperate to read more. Usually cliffhangers frustrate me but it worked well for this book. The point the story stops at is a cliffhanger but it is a also a point where you can tell we are transitioning from one type of story to another.

Overall I really really loved this first book in Monk’s new fantasy series. I think it is her best book yet. This book is a unique blend of many genres and has a very urban fantasy/steampunk feel to it. I enjoyed the awesome world-building and the engaging characters. Highly recommended both to urban fantasy fans and to fans of Monk's previous works. show less