Betwixtby Darynda Jones
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781734385243
Series: Betwixt & Between #1
Publication Date: February 15, 2020
Pages: 254
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Self-published
Forty-something Defiance Dayne only recently discovered she comes from a long line of powerful witches. Added to that was the teensy, infinitesimal fact that she is what’s called a charmling. One of three on the entire planet. And there are other witches who will stop at nothing to steal her immense power, which would basically involve her unfortunate and untimely death.
No one told her life after forty would mean having to learn new lifeskills—such as how to dodge supernatural assassins while casting from a moving vehicle—or that the sexiest man alive would be living in her basement.
Whoever said life begins at forty was clearly a master of the underappreciated and oft maligned understatement.
I heard about this one from a fellow reviewer, and being a big fan of Darynda Jones’ other work in paranormal stories, I bent so far as to buy the ebook, I was so eager to read it.
This is an easy to read, fun, well-written story of no immense depth, full of the wonderful narrative snark that Jones is brilliant at. If you’ve read her before and didn’t care for the snark, this one won’t endear her to you, but it’s a lot of fun to read.
At its heart is the friendship between the main character Defiance and her BFF, Annette. And, of course, the romantic interest that is Roane. Jones tries really hard to make Roane not be Reyes from glorious Grim Reaper series, but while she succeeds at making him look different, a rose by any other name would still be Reyes. The author definitely has a type. Fortunately it works.
While book one is light on plot, focusing mostly on world and character building, I didn’t feel the lack. These are characters I genuinely enjoyed reading about and their new life was interesting in itself. The only complaint I had was the dangling storyline of the Ex. His brief re-appearance was unnecessary, made more so by the complete lack of follow up. It feels like something an editor forgot to take out.
The book ends on a definitely lead in to the next book; not a cliffhanger, but definitely a dangling carrot of sorts. If you find yourself enjoying this book, you’ll likely want to jump right into the next one.