Devon Monk

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

Previous to reading this book I had read Monk’s Allie Besckstrom series (liked it), House Immortal series (loved it), Broken Magic series (loved it), and Age of Steam series (it was okay). This is the first book in her Ordinary Magic series and I absolutely loved it. This book was just so much fun to read.

Delaney Reed is police chief in the town of Ordinary, a town where Gods relinquish their powers to become mortals and take a vacation. Ordinary also has normal folks and a bunch of show more tourists who come out for the Rhubarb Festival. When people/gods start dying and rhubarb gets blown up, Delaney knows she’s going to have her hands full. Then Death shows up wanting to take a vacation and things get even weirder.

I loved the idea of this town and the mystery behind the murders. The characters in here were amazing and I loved the witty banter. This book was an excellent balance of world-building, mythology, mystery, magic, and romance.

Delaney and her sisters are intriguing characters that really pull you in. Ordinary itself is absolutely fascinating. The writing was easy to read and the whole package was highly entertaining and amusing.

Overall I really really loved this book and have already purchased the 2nd book in the series. I would highly recommend this series to fans of creative investigative urban fantasy. show less

3.5/5 stars.

We pick up with Matilda right where we left her: standing in a new timeline (timeway, the book says), explaining to her brother how she's Matilda, and that the Evelyn he knew is gone. Abraham and Foster are there, mercenaries who remember her as a small girl in 1910 but have no memory of the alternate timeway, and Neds and her grandmother are alive.

Matilda not only remembers the other timeway, she seems to be briefly visiting it, and she's not alone because Slater Orange is show more often with her, still trying to kill her and rule the world. This put rest my fears about abandoning everything that had come before and restarting with this new timeway, because the enemies and issues were the same, even if the timeway was different.

There's some great stuff in here with old friends being given new life, and the chimeras are even more varied and fun (and feral). The mystery of the diary from the first book is solved, and it made so much sense when it was.

I like this series. I like Matilda, the galvanized, her entire family, Neds, Welton, Oscar, chimeras, and specifically tiny blue sheep. I was very pleased with the way this book wrapped up so many things that had been put in play since book 1.

[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] show less

Ever since I read Devon Monk's debut book (Magic to the Bone) I've felt obsessed (in a non-creepy way, okay?) with her books. When I finished reading the second book, (Magic in the Blood) I wanted to read it again. With this book I felt the same.

In this installment Allie Beckstrom deals with having her brain inhabited by her father. She also acquires a sidekick (one of my favorite characters in the book). She is tested by the Authorities, has other-worldly beasties after her, and is trying show more to keep the Hounds safe, together and organized- something she had promised Pike she would do. Not all of the members of the Authority are happy to have Allie around. Some of them want to have her "closed", her magic use taken away, along with memories of magic. New human (as opposed to her new sidekick) characters are introduced. All of the characters in Devon Monks books are interesting-like real flawed people (except they use magic).

The conversations between Zayvion Jones and Allie are fun to read. I enjoyed Allie's adventures, even when she does something incredibly stubborn and stupid. There's a moment during a dangerous situation that Allie does something she's been warned - very strongly- not to do. The moment she does it, she's thinking she should have listened. There are moments with the Daddy presence in her head when they are both being incredibly stubborn - foolishly so- fighting over control of her body.

I enjoyed very much revisiting the world that Devon Monk has created with this series and I am already looking forward to the next book, Magic on the Storm. In the back of my head, I'm also already planning when I might re-read all three books (maybe this coming summer). show less