This was an entertaining dual POV, Sapphic paranormal romance set in Toronto and Northern Ontario and I love, LOVED just how Canadian this book was!!! At times a bit bonkers with lake monsters and magical beings out for revenge but at the core there's a great found family vibe, lots of positive queer rep and fun small town diner and library locations. Great on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Loghan Paylor or Heather Fawcett. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This was my first Tanya Huff book and I can't wait to read more by a new to me Canadian author!

How have I never read Tanya Huff before? I'm a fan now! DIRECT DESCENDANT is one of those breath-of-fresh-air books that is completely revitalizing. It has a little bit of absolutely everything, with some calling it a romantic, cozy horror story. There's no chance of you developing a headache from thinking too hard on this, instead, you'll smile, ponder a bit, and say, "Aw. How cute!" at least once. All that is in a book that has reviewers using the term "eldritch horror" at least once.
The entire cast of characters is a delight. It's not often you read a fun book with diverse, unique, and engaging characters. And many of them are strong, capable women (I'm looking at you, Alice).
Fans of Ms Huff's work will love this addition. If you, like me, are a first-time reader, I think you'll wonder how we've ever gone without.
#NetGalley

Sadly, I did not enjoy this and ended up not finishing it. I was just confused while reading and couldn't get into the story. This wasn't the story for me, but I hope it's a great book for others.

Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff is the first book I have read by this author, and I have mixed feelings about it. The attractive cover art and the premise caught my attention right away. It was a very slow read for me until about two-thirds in. I was somewhat confused about what was happening and, at times, about who was speaking. There were many characters, and it took a while to get them all sorted out. Despite it being slow and unclear at first, I never felt like I wanted to DNF. One of the many things I love about reading is that each book is its own experience. This one, for me, was weird but overall entertaining.
I saw that there were mixed reviews, and I completely get that. It seems like the kind of book you either love or hate depending on personal preferences. Although some readers did not appreciate the writing style and humor, I really enjoyed it. The dialogue and interactions between all the characters were what kept me reading. I found it highly amusing and quirky, and I got a cozy feel from the story. It's not particularly cerebral or profound, but just kind of silly and fun. It's creative. 
The "romance" was more of a subplot. As an instalove, it didn't completely convince me, but I chalked it up to the supernatural element and let it go. There was gay family rep and lesbian main characters and no conflict regarding same-sex relationships.
I am giving this one 3.5 stars.
I don't know if this author has written other sapphic fiction or not. If she has, I would be willing to give those a read.
#Eldritchhorror #cozy #smalltown #instalove #HEA #Canada
I received this free ARC from NetGalley. This is my honest opinion.

I finished this book yesterday and am still not sure I understood everything I read. The first 30%, I was sure this was a sequel to a series I had missed which had been marketed incorrectly - I was THAT confused. However, dare I say my confusion paid off because I really enjoyed reading this book although I caution it is getting plenty of divisive reviews so maybe do some research before you decide to pick it up.

The book centers around a cozy little weird town near Toronto, Lake Argen. I would say think Gilmore Girls meets The Twilight Zone meets SyFy's Haven. Man, I miss Haven. This town has a very small population and owes its economic success to a silver mine and a deal made with the devil. The town's safety and protection from outsiders is governed by The Four, who are the Eyes. Ears, Mouth and Hands of the town. They are able to predict issues with The Agreement and intervene in issues and eldritch horrors which enter through cracks in the surface and in one instance, a basement. The town also has Guardians (eldritch horrors who were once people) who live in the woods or in Alice's case, the lake. In fact, Alice is the all-knowing person and will answer questions when a sacrifice of some sort is made.

So, an outsider shows up in town and s-words himself (seriously, the number of times I read s-word instead of sacrificing was immense) and the town fears the Agreement is growing weak. His disappearance is covered up but then his aunt hires an unemployed teacher, yes, a teacher, to go investigate her nephew's last days. Melanie arrives in town and immediately feels an attraction for Cassie, who has newly been appointed as The Mouth.

I'm explaining this book very badly but honestly, I can't figure out a better way. I've read some of Huff's works before and enjoyed them, and I really did enjoy this one as well, even though as you can see, I apparently remain pretty confused. It does have some fun characters and some really cute creatures (Jeffrey and T'geyer) and while it says it's a stand-alone, the ending does provide a potential for a future installment. I would categorize this as cozy fantasy with a few horror-like elements but if that sound like something you would like, by all means, give it a go!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I don't typically listen to audiobooks but if you do, this one may not be a good candidate. There are MANY random capitalizations in the book which actually make more sense the more you read, and I feel that an audiobook might even be more confusing.

I wanted to like this but I had a hard trying to get into this story. I think I decided that it wasn’t for me and that’s alright.

In the small Canadian town of Lake Argen, the inhabitants live a life of comfort and prosperity due to a pact made with 'the Dark' by their ancestors hundreds of years ago. Cassie Prewit is one the current 4 conduits of the 'Dark' (in addition to being one of the town's bakers) and happens to be the last person to see a rich outsider go missing. When a PI is hired to find this outside and comes looking for answers, Cassie has to help hide the town's secret while fighting an attraction to the very pretty PI.....

If you want cozy horror, 'Direct Descendant' delivers in spades. Its definitely the epitome of minimal plot, just vibes and you know what, I'm not mad about it. Huff manages to capture the idiosyncrasies of living in a small town in a very humorous manner. The 'Four' not only deal with the existential threats to the town but also the most mundane of tasks that the dichotomy is just hilarious. (Did an Eldritch Horror just crawl out of a crack in the universe? Guess its the new town pet! )

I adored the cast of characters who are definitely all small town archetypes but made unique by the premise. Cassie was a great main character. I found it hilarious that she treated being the conduit of an unknowable dark force as an annoying part time job. I just feel that is so on point for someone at that age. Our other POV character, Melanie, does act somewhat as the audience surrogate but also manages to be the one person to figure out how to beat the big bad in the end despite being the newcomer. Again, hilarious. Was the relationship between Cassie and Melanie insta-love? Yes, but it works.

What I seriously appreciated is that this book did not hold your hand in terms of explaining the lore and mechanics of Lake Argen. There are very few exposition dumps and the reader has to figure everything out via context clues. Hats off to Tanya Huff for trusting her readers.

My only quibbles are that I wish that the town and plot were just a bit more fleshed out. I also would have liked more substance to our antagonists as they are off page for the majority of the book.

Other than that, an absolutely delightful cozy horror book!

Reviews going live on Goodreads, Fable, Storygraph, Tiktok and Amazon on 4/5.

This was a good cozy horror in the sense that nothing was truly scary, but more horrific and dealing with eldritch entities. The overall setting was cozy, but the vibes were a lot more tense than cozy. I found the humor to land well for my sense of humor and had me laughing at times. I loved that the characters were mostly older, at least in their mid-twenties or later, some much later, and I found some situational things very easy to relate with.

“She really loved the library.”
“A love that transcended death?”

“Then why ramp up the worry if we can’t do anything?”
“Because that’s what adults do, Cassie; we worry about things we can’t affect.”

The romance between Cassie and Melanie was well-written, but as in all stories I was not a fan of the instant love/attraction between them. That trope just never works for me, personally, though I know many of you will actually really love that. T’geyer as an eldritch animal companion was cute and I enjoyed the creativity put into the weirdness of the deal with the Dark.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to @dawbooks and @netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to DAW for providing this e-ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own!

3.5*

This book, if you can't tell from the reviews, is fairly divisive. The juxtaposition of quirky humor and coziness with eldritch horrors is not for everybody. There is a very casual attitude towards the nightmarish entities that often inhabit the town of Lake Arden. For the townsfolk, these occurrences are mundane and practically expected. I very much enjoyed this aspect of the book and couldn't help but laugh.

The beginning of this book throws the readers right into the deeper end which can be off-putting to some, though I personally enjoy the initial confusion when delving into a new fantastical world. Very little makes sense at first, but you quickly catch on to what different terms mean and who each person is in the town.

The romance was just okay for me. I'm not a fan of insta-love, though at least this book provided a bit of a fantastical explanation as to the why behind it. The two leads, Cassie and Melanie, just moved a little too fast for my taste. Both characters got on my nerves at times, but I think that was the point. I also don't think the book left enough pages to really flesh out their chemistry in the beginning.

All in all, I think this book just needs to find the right audience. If you can vibe with the quirky writing style, slightly slower pace, and insta-lovey romance, this book may be a win for you the same way it was for me.

Lake Argen is NOT Toronto – in spite of what the blurb says. In fact, that’s kind of the point of the place, that it is DEFINITELY NOT Toronto. Because what happens there, and how it happens, and why it happens, wouldn’t be remotely possible in a big city like Toronto.

So that’s precisely where Lake Argen is – remote from Toronto – or pretty much anywhere else. It’s a five and a half hour drive north of Toronto – not accounting for Toronto or Sudbury traffic along the way. Lake Argen is tiny and remote and near enough to Timmins, Ontario that it’s easy to guess where it would be on any map.

But of course, real maps, and real mapping, and pretty much anything of the outside world tend to ignore Lake Argen. Because that’s exactly the way that the people and the creatures in and around Lake Argen, the lake and the town and the silver mine that keeps them both going, want it to be and make sure it stays.

There’s something there that makes certain that anyone who DOES manage to find Lake Argen forgets the place and anything that happened there the moment they leave. Which is where the story begins, as a pretentious little rich boy has managed to overcome all of the town’s protections to sacrifice himself at one of the town’s sacred spots at dawn on the Summer Solstice. The body – or at least the locals presume it’s a body – has been whisked away by the sacrifice, into The Dark. Which is a real thing and not just a euphemism for disappearing a body. Travis Brayden has been sucked into elsewhere – and only Cassidy Prewitt is as worried about that as everyone should have been about exactly what that might mean.

In the near term it’s going to bring out the Ontario Provincial Police, because pretentious rich dudes have equally pretentious rich families who are going to demand to know what happened to their spoiled scions. The police can be persuaded – read that as magically induced – to believe that the idiot got eaten by a bear.

It happens. It really does. Maybe not quite as often as people think it does, but it does. It’s plausible enough to close the case file for the cops. It’s even happened before near Lake Argen, so it works all the better for being an established possibility.

But families down in Toronto can’t be charmed the way that the OPP visiting Lake Argen can. Brayden’s grandmother wants answers. So she hires, not a PI as the blurb says, but a currently unemployed teacher who needs the money badly enough to not question the dubious job she’s been given.

To go to Lake Argen, poke around for a week, and come back with what she’s learned so she can give the poor, dear, boy’s old granny some closure.

And if you believe that I have a Bigfoot to sell you. Not literally, not even in Lake Argen. But there’s certainly something behind the town’s fascinating history, near-complete isolation and surprising prosperity. Something that the town is determined to keep from any potential incomers until they’ve earned the town’s trust.

Which Melanie Solvich really shouldn’t, but somehow does anyway in spite of the shadiness of her mission. Or at least the trust of Cassidy Prewitt, to her confusion, delight and heartbreak.

Which is when the town of Lake Argen reveals its true colors, and things get really, really interesting – and very, very dark indeed.

Escape Rating A+: Direct Descendant was everything I hoped for from this author, which is what got me here in the first place.

It didn’t matter that this is being marketed as horror. I didn’t even notice when I picked it up. All I cared about was the author. I’ve loved so many of the stories she’s written, including but absolutely not limited to the Vicki Nelson/Blood Price/Tony Foster series and especially the Confederation/Valor/Peacekeeper series.

I was expecting this to be more Blood Price, at least in the sense that I was expecting urban fantasy – and that’s actually close to what I got. (Confederation/Valor/Peacekeeper is SF and the cover of this book was enough to tell me we weren’t going to go there. Not that I’d mind, you understand, not at all, if the author did go back there because that series was AWESOME.)

Direct Descendant turned out to be awesome as well, just not in the same way. Which is even better.

This is one of those stories that is best described through the book blender – and it’s going to take a big blender to fit everything in order for this to be what comes out. The blurb is right about T. Kingfisher, Grady Hendrix, and Darcy Coates being part of the mix, but I’d personally also throw in Jennifer Thorne’s Lute, Alix E. Harrow’s Starling House, Anne Bishop’s World of the Others – because The Dark is certainly Other with a capital O – along with Hazel Beck’s Witchlore and even a touch of Annelise Ryan’s Monster Hunter Mysteries. (If you’re looking for readalikes, those are ALL hints.)

The story sits right at the crossroads where horror and dark fantasy meet and nod warily at each other, while urban fantasy leans against a fencepost and gives both of them a bit of side-eye.

How horrifying the horror is depends on how one sees The Dark – and yes, that’s capitalized. The Dark is certainly not good, but it’s not really EVIL, either. It’s OTHER, and its motivations and morals are its own based on its own world which is not ours.

That doesn’t mean that humans haven’t and won’t do TERRIBLE and EVIL things to bargain with it, serve it, or attempt to conquer it. The history of Lake Argen as well as its current, totally anomalous, health and prosperity, are all direct results of a group of humans doing something really evil to get The Dark’s attention. An attention that their descendants still benefit from.

A more benign method of getting The Dark’s attention might have worked equally as well, but that’s not the kind of people the Founders were, so that’s not what they tried. And not that they, personally, didn’t get exactly what their methods deserved while their descendants reap the benefits.

What tips the scale, at least for this reader, over into urban fantasy or even, believe it or not, cozy fantasy, is the way that everyone in town is determined to do their duty, serve the town and make a real and really supportive community. It’s a truly lovely place – if you can stand the weather and the isolation and the generally creepy vibe. But most of the time, the weather is the town’s biggest problem by a considerable margin.

The romance between Cassidy and Melanie, while it is inevitable, is also utterly adorable. And it’s the perfect vehicle for explaining just how things work in Lake Argen AND finally getting to the bottom of what’s threatening the town. That the eldritch horror who brings the warning is also the cutest little thing ever described in the pages of a “horror” story puts an exclamation point on just how cozy this horror/fantasy really is – especially when it’s his nagging that finally saves the day. Or night. Or just Lake Argen’s symbiotic relationship with The Dark.

I really enjoyed this cozy-esque horror taking place in a small Canadian town.
I loved being dropped right into the middle of the story, while I was a bit lost at times, I had a great time seeing the story unfold and learning what was happening in Lake Argen as the story progressed.
I loved Cassie and her outlook on being not only the Mouth of the Dark, but also a baker, with friends, and a heaping amount of expectations from the townspeople, as she and the other members of the Four watch out for the town.
This was so much fun! I loved how this one played out. The sarcasm and banter were on point, and I definitely found myself laughing out loud frequently.
I loved this from page one, and if this author writes more in this world it will be an autobuy for me, I need more T'geyer! And Ill definitely be checking out her other books!

Thank you to Daw books and Netgalley for his arc.

Set in small town Canada sounded right up my alley. It's quirky and fun. Liked that this was set in Canada. I'm not sure the cozy part came through for me. But it was a quick, interesting read.

I will start my review by saying I don’t like rating ARCs so low, especially when it is evident how hard an author worked on their book, but I just didn’t love this book. Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff markets itself as a sort of cozy horror/rom-com mix, but I don’t think the mix worked that well in this case. I also didn’t necessarily find the book exuded cozy vibes, which was also a bit of a disappointment. The humor from the rom-com aspect of the book also fell flat with me, it just didn’t seem to fit.

Not to say that this book won’t find its target audience, and that it isn’t a good book in general, but I just didn’t enjoy this read.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and DAW books for allowing me to read this e-arc.

Cassie Prewitt is a full time baker and part time conduit for a eldrich force hidden under her town. (Her ancestors made a deal in exchange for prosperity to the town.) Despite all that she's a nice, MOSTLY normal girl, and when Private Eye Mel rolls into town, she falls for her hard. Alas, Mel is there looking into a disappearance that could blow the lid off the town's secrets...

Good, solid, 'Welcome to Nightvale' vibes book. I really liked the world building and set up, and the romance worked for mne. I'm hoping for a sequel....

I’ve loved Tanya Huff for years so I won’t claim this is an unbiased review in any way but in Direct Descendent Tanya Huff has blended elements of previous novels into something new, a queer and fun eldritch paranormal story that is just a blast to read. I dare you not to fall in love with Cassidy and Melanie.
It’s hard to pinpoint what I loved the most because it was such a fun read. But I’ll start with the witty dialogue and the unique characters in the town of Lake Argen. Just when you think you’ve read it all, Tanya Huff flings another unique townsperson at you. The cast and the humorous conversations will keep you entertained.
I also love how the dilemma is written, with conflict on the rise and Cassidy along with the town trying to discover who is behind the dark emerging. The actual conflict is well handled and while I won’t hand over spoilers, I like who the ultimate antagonist turns out to be. It was interesting and the resolution was intriguing. I also like that there’s a fun surprise at the very end.
If you like unique paranormal romance that is queer and fun with a touch of eldritch horror thrown in, I expect you will love this novel. It is entertaining, funny, and everything you want in a queer romance that involves an army of darkness.

I don't believe I have read anything ever described as a cozy horror before, but I must admit to being a fan now. I was all in on this little town with a secret story that perfectly blended the supernatural and romance elements. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you to DAW Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This was a unique and immersive queer fantasy romance that was a satisfying and unexpected read. I loved the characters!

Thanks to whoever thought of cozy horror. This book hits all the right notes, funny, mysterious, and monsters. Loved the lake setting, and the small (very!) town vibes. Definitely purchasing for my library.

While this is mostly cozy in terms of the scope of the story - small town setting, small town characters - this is a fun, bright take on eldritch horror. The town of Lake Argen owes its stability and riches to a long-ago bargain with the Dark, random capitalization a necessity, and the town has gained a number of traditions and quirks around that. On many fronts it’s a normal small town, but on the other, kids push their siblings into the lake in an attempt to gain a favor (making friends) from their town’s patron.

Cassie is the Voice for the Dark, and new to her role in a way that she doesn’t quite know what to expect when she’s witness to a man sacrificing himself at Midsummer and what that might mean for the town. What it does mean is that Melanie, an ex-teacher-turned-PI, has shown up to the town to investigate said man’s disappearance.

Overall, this is really charming - I don’t mind at all that you’re thrown into the deep end in terms of finding your footing with how the town works - you’re expected to just sort of roll with it when the kids in town are going for their shadow hunting badge, or everyone just shrugs it off when someone disappears because she left her window open at night and it was her own fault for doing that. It makes it a fun time, thought the proximity and crossover to the regular outside world could have used a little more explanation, especially with how the end pans out.

Cassie and Melanie are cute together, if very insta-love (which Cassie herself pokes fun at, which kind of helps, but also does serve to stress just how quick it is. I’d love to see more of them and watch them and the town develop if there’s more in the future!

At the risk of dating myself horribly, this is where I admit that Tanya Huff's Blood Price series was one of my first introductions to urban fantasy, back in high school. Requesting an ARC of <i>Direct Descendant</i> was an act soaked in pure nostalgia. So how did it hold up?

Well... Insert hand wobble here. There were some good bits. There were some annoying bits.

Let's start with the good. I'd been known to complain about cozy novels supposedly focused on community, which instead barely bothered with its secondary characters. A name and a job - good enough, right? Here, <i>Direct Descendant</i> does a <i>much</i> better job. Argen Lake is quirky and specific, with an eldritch-made-mundane setting a la Welcome to Nightvale, and a lovable supporting cast. Huff did a great job making me care about the townsfolk, and when she put them in danger, I was on the edge of my seat.

But then, there was the romance. I really, really wish Huff had put some of that effort into the romance. Instead, we get awkward instalust-turned-instalove. I found it so unbelievable and stupid, it actually damaged my attachment to both leads. It didn't help that they/Huff had a tendency to focus on said romance when there were far more important things going on. But to be fair, I would have rather focused on the local middle school running a shadow bake sale than this romance.

I'm erring on the side of giving <i>Direct Descendant</i> three stars rather than two because it read quickly, I would happily return to the setting in a sequel with a different character focus, and I actually didn't mind Cassie as a protagonist, as long as she focused on the town and not Melanie. (I'm afraid I didn't like Melanie at all, finding her dumb and sanctimonious.) But from an author I originally picked up because of her bisexual deuteragonist, the fact that it was the center-stage queer content falling flat is still a hell of a disappointment.

Thank you to DAW and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.