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.

I didn't know I needed a book that mixed HP Lovecraftian type monsters with a bit of cozy romance, but when this book came along, I was intrigued by the cover and the brief description I read. I also saw this book would be perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, but I am not certain it really lives up to that hype.

In the town of Lake Argen outside of Toronto, the townspeople have an agreement with a dark force. The Dark will help ensure they are prosperous and successful, but in return the town will "serve" the dark. Cassie is the "Mouth" of the Dark, so it uses her as a conduit to convey it's messages. There are others around town who are also conduits of this force but this story mainly focuses on Cassie and a newcomer to town called Melanie.

The story does get a little confusing ta times with so much happening, but Melanie and Cassie do have a bit of a cute romance. There is also the issue that the Dark seems to be a bit broken and something is going on with the town's connection to their dark force. Cassie tries to reach out at one point and gets a busy signal.

There are some incredibly cute and funny moments. It's both dark and wildly silly at times. I was entertained and found myself chuckling.

This is the first book I have read from this author (who has an impressive back catalogue), and it caught my attention as it looked quirky, fun urban fantasy with a hint of darkness. To be honest it didn't disappoint and from the outset I was glued to the book and rooting for the main characters, Cassie and Melanie.
Cassie lives in the town of Lake Argen in the Canadian boonies, though reasonably close to Toronto (if you are Canadian). Her family have been in residence since the founding of the town and also one of the leading families who made an agreement with a power of Darkness that ensures the prosperity of all (a silver mine that never runs out of silver), excellent mobile/cell service and WiFi, a train connection, doctors, schools - oh and ensure that supernatural nasties do not conquer the world. The Agreement also ensures the privacy of the town as once someone leaves they forget they were ever there.
However the balance of power at Lake Argen is upset when Travis Brayden sacrifices himself to the Darkness. His grandmother dispatches out of work school teacher Melanie to trace what Travis did in his final week, with the lure of $10,000 as a fee. When she arrives at Lake Argen there is an immediate connection between her and Cass, with some flirtation whilst delving into the deeper mystery of what happened to Travis. The story has a host of great characters, including the ravens and I thoroughly enjoyed the story, which comfortably fits into the cozy category.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC, all views are my own.

I give this 3.5 stars.

I find this more like Molly Harper than T. Kingfisher or Grady Hendrix. Not that it’s bad or pales in comparison, the humor and setting is more aligned with MH’s books than the latter two. I also found the banter and attempts at humor to be forced, like scripted v improv.

The plot, town, lore, and myth are entertaining. Though it’s marketing itself as cozy horror, there’s depth to the story and the problem-resolution was well constructed. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Lake Argen with its Hallmark-like vibe full of interesting residents and weird happenings. The romance between Cassie and Melanie was cute however the ending was a little weird. Is the author hinting at a sequel? I wouldn’t mind, but I also think things are good where it stands.

Fable review: https://fable.co/review/523b94bf-7a5c-4eac-9276-e9a8168c9fe5/share

🌟 4

I never knew something as cosy horror theme existed.

🐙 Cosy horror
🐙 Queer writing
🐙 Horror themes
🐙 Small town
🐙 Funny & humorous
🐙 Supernatural themes
🐙 Romance

Queer romance between a small town baker (and part time servant of darkness) and a witty-flirty PI 🙌 Charming town of supernaturals with ancient evil and building of dark forces feeding on the elite of town with a “touch of eldritch horror” 🙌 I’m sold! And so satisfied! Such and interesting story and now I have another genre I’m on the look out for.

If I were going to categorize this book at all, I'd call it cozy paranormal rather than horror, but I'm guessing the casualness of death (and the prevalence of tentacles) in the story is what pushes it to the horror side. Either way, I loved it and it's definitely not scary horror.

I think the plot synopsis does a great job of summarizing and giving a sense for the feel of the book - humorous, kind of snarky, and pretty matter-of-fact about all of the strange goings on in the little town of Lake Argen. The various and assorted deaths are mainly off page and not described in detail. I like being dropped into a story without a lot of "as you know Bob" exposition, so the way the book started, without much background for the current events, was a plus for me.

I'd agree with others that the romance between Cassie and Melanie felt rushed, but I'm also a reader of the fated mated trope, so I looked at their romance through that lens and rolled with it. I also loved all of the eldritch creatures that made appearances, especially the hellhounds, Dexter and Daffodil, and T'geyer, the who knows what eldritch creature. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope there are more books set in Lake Argen. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

While i always love Tanya's writing, this felt rushed and yet not well pulled together. It's definitely a strange combination.
I felt behind the 8 ball for 75% of the book...like there was a book 1 that I was supposed to read so I'd understand what was going on in this one. (there isn't)
Everything comes to a head in the last 25% and it was interesting and fun...and surprisingly emotional (hi Jeremy!) with Melanie really coming into her own to help the town and Cassie.
I loved that it was set in the Canadian North and Toronto (where I grew up) so it was very relatable in that sense. It's described as a cozy horror and while I think elements of cozy were there, it missed the mark in the end. The best thing about cozy is normally the community aspects but in this case every one seemed mad or irritated with each other all the time.
The characters were the best part but i was left wanting MORE...perhaps in a second book to the series? we will see!
My rating is 3.75
Thank you to #NetGalley and #Daw for the E-ARC in exchange for my unbiased review. My thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

Where do i even start.

This book started out pretty well; it was a little confusing, being introduced to so many characters to quickly, but once I figured out what was going on it was pretty fun! I loved exploring this quirky small town and meeting its various residents, not to mention the introduction to the Dark was hilarious.

That's about it. Unfortunately, I found the plot uncompelling, but not as uncompelling as the romance. What can I even say. The second they see each other it's love at first sight. I'm not even joking, they immediately start dreaming about spending their lives together. We are told that they have good chemistry, but it would have been nice if we could have been shown that instead.

There is also some discussion about trans rights, as one of the MCs was a high school teacher who quit to protest the mistreatment of trans kids, which is very cool, but this book also makes a Harry Potter reference, which is not cool. How can your book talk about supporting trans kids, and then reference the works of the most notorious transphobe?

Another thing, it is stated that the town is built on the traditional land of the Mattagami, but they are cool with this and do not want this land back as it's cursed or whatever. I know it's fictional, but can we not make up narratives about indigenous people not wanting their land back? That part was so unnecessary and did not need to be explained.