I've read author Tanya Huff in the past - I really liked her vampire & Gale women series quite a bit, so I was interested in reading her latest attempt at the cozy horror genre in "Direct Descendant". Overall, it worked okay for me, but I did feel the pacing was off and that there were just a few too many characters, but I really did like the concept a great deal - a small, Canadian town with lots of eldritch horror elements and a sapphic romance. And the town is so cute & quite quirky. Overall, I felt it quite decent at what I think it was trying to do. My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for my advance readers copy - very much appreciate it

This is a great romp in a small town, where magic and contracts with supernatural forces maintain the status quo. It's got excellent characters including two adorable and fierce protagonists, terrific dialogue, and perfect pacing. It's a standalone, and I liked it so much I'm going to go read more of the author's work, and lucky for there is a TON of it.

This had a great premise and an interesting love story. It took me a minute to get oriented, but Huff's world proved really engaging and her characters well-rounded.

Direct Descendant is a queer, cozy horror from Tanya Huff. I felt the story was well written but just didn’t pull me in. I need more world building and context in the beginning. Maybe I’ll come back to it in the future but for now, DNF.
Thank you to Net Galley & DAW for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy of the book. This was a fun story. It's not normally my type of thing-eldritch horror but this worked. At times in the beginning, things were a little confusing but again this is eldritch horror mixed with cozy fantasy so it makes sense. Overall I enjoyed this book. This is the first time I've read this author but I'll have to look into more of her books in the future.

In the shell of a nut: Cozy, quirky, and just the right amount of eldritch nonsense.

This book was *fun.* Eldritch horror, but make it cozy (I and SO glad cozy horror is catching on!). Mystery, but make it small-town drama. Potential world-ending horrors, but make them an average weekday.

The humor was spot on—dry, casual, and made the weirdness feel so normal that I just went with it. *“I guess we’ll find out if eldritch hordes burst forth from the cellar to destroy the earth.”* / *“You seem remarkably blasé about that possibility.”* / *“I’m panicking inside.”* / *“Join the club,” I sighed. And that was Tuesday.”*

That pretty much sums up the atmosphere.

The beginning was a bit... thick? I was struggling a bit. There are a *lot* of characters, and everyone has this rambling way of talking that made them blur together a bit. I felt like things were thrown in at random and I wasnt always sure if it was to add to the vibe or just me missing someone. For example, this is in the middle of the main character talking while walking down the street. *“One of the teenagers turned around, became a third cousin on my mother’s side, and raised a questioning brow.”* No follow-up, no explanation. Maybe it’s part of the magic of it all, maybe I just missed something.

Anyway, it starts by throwing a ton at you, no easing in, just full immersion in the world. I liked that overall, even if I was lost. Others might not enjoy it. Why are the verbs capitalized? Assume magic and move on.

I *loved* the low stakes. Eldritch horror without the existential dread? Yes, please. The romance was cute, but it took over the mystery plot about halfway through. I knew Huff had a background in romance when I started, so I wasnt too surprised. My biggest romance-related complaint was that I’m not the biggest fan of insta-love. But it didn’t ruin the book for me.

So. If you need slow-burn romance, deep mystery, or super-tight plotting, this probably won’t be your thing. But if you’re down for weird small-town magic, a cozy eldritch vibe, and a sapphic love story with a side of supernatural nonsense, this one’s a good time.

A light campy cozy horror novel where the nearest eldritch horror might just be your neighbor, and a town where the god is very real - and all you need to do is make a sacrifice for it!

Direct Descendant fits right into that campy semi-serious horror genre that fits podcasts like Welcome to Night Vale and novels like The Stranger Times, and once the story took off I could see the charm.

My biggest issue with this novel was the beginning simply dumping you into the story with no buildup or anything to make the reader understand anything of what was going on - or who any of the characters were. Several times I re-checked to ensure that this actually was a standalone novel and not a “standalone but connected to another series” novel, because in many ways it felt like one. Rather than introducing the reader to the story, the location, or the characters - we are instead starting in the middle of the story, and we (the reader) have to slowly piece together who exactly everyone is, and what exactly is going on. Once this footing was found I enjoyed this novel a great deal more, but the rough start seriously made me consider DNF’ing as it was just very difficult to get into the story.

However, I did find this novel to be cute and charming, and I always have a soft spot for stories that add the aspect of “cursed town but everyone is fine with it” into it. I love stories that focus on a small group of people having insider information, where the world at large is ignorant of whatever is “actually” going on - and this town fits the bill perfectly.

When a stranger Sacrifices himself and vanishes, it sets off unexpected consequences throughout the livelihoods of everyone around. Suddenly, the agreement they have with the strange eldritch monster is falling apart, and things aren’t working as well as they used to. Compounded with the grandparent of the man who vanished, hiring a schoolteacher to nose around the town to figure out what, exactly, happened to her grandson - and the secrets of the town are about to fall apart entirely.

The romance between our two main characters I thought was cute, but it was very “lust at first sight” that made both of their insistence that this was, somehow, a relationship that they’d be together for years to come seem…unrealistic. I can understand them liking each other, and forming a bond and wanting to see where their relationship goes, but the sudden idea - after they’ve slept together once - that they were the true love of the other felt a bit shoehorned in to give romantic tension when there otherwise wasn’t any.

Overall, I did find this book not be a bad read, but the rough start, as well as the romance and some of the characterization and writing/dialogue, kept it firmly in the 3 star range for me. I enjoyed the worldbuilding of the town, and the people within it, but felt like much of the rest of the plot to be a bit shaky and not very coherent - or concrete. I would recommend anyone who is a fan of the idea of cozy eldritch/cosmic horror to give this book a try, however, and to see if you find something in it that I didn’t.

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and DAW for providing this e-ARC.

Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff

A funny, creepy but cozy small town sapphic romance with eldritch horrors.

As a direct descendant of the town founders, Cassie is one of the Four chosen to protect the town and the agreement with the Dark. But when a stranger sacrifices himself and disappears into the Dark, the agreement begins to fray.

I enjoyed the story. I liked the main characters and I loved the small town Canadian setting. The dialogue was great and the secondary characters were all interesting- in fact, I would have liked a lot more of their stories. There isn’t a lot of explanation- the reader is just dropped into the action, so the beginning was a bit confusing, but the story is definitely worth continuing. I wasn’t a fan of the insta-love, although it was both sweet and clearly necessary to the plot. My favorite character was the “animal” companion that shows up midway through the book.

Definitely a fun read and I’d love to see more in this world.

This book is described as a cozy horror novel, which sounds exactly up my alley. There is a dark force in Lake Argen that helps the town to keep outsiders away and keep the town safe. The Prewitt family work for the dark force as part of a bargain set up generations ago. Again, this all sounds like something that I would love. However, I am sadly going to DNF this book. I am sure that many people would enjoy the writing style, but I could tell pretty quickly that it's not for me. It is supposed to be comedic, but it never really hit for me and I found it more annoying than funny. For example, in the first chapter, we learn that the family does not like to say the word "sacrifice", but it is relevant to the plot so they say "s-word" (both in the dialogue and narration) many many times and it really bothered me. My biggest complaint is the lack of introduction to the magic system and characters, especially in the first few chapters. I completely understand that some of these things need to be developed throughout the story and I do not need everything handed to me on a silver platter. However, the first chapter alone introduced a ton of characters with very little explanation as to who they are (Alice is mentioned a minimum of three times in the first chapter as if we should know who this is, but there is no detail), and the magic system is presented with very little context. Again, I completely understand that it takes time to meet all the characters and get the world-building to a certain level, but I feel like the ball was dropped in this case. I do think that this novel will find its audience, but I think it's being mis-advertised as a hit for fans of T. Kingfisher, etc. because the style and vibes are completely different.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

First of all...loved the premise of this book. The entire nature of what was going on, once you get the reality of it, is really interesting and the mystery does definitely fit well into it. Also loved the various characters in the story - there's definitely that cozy small-town vibe next to the horror and I definitely enjoyed that quite a bit. The romance part never fully clicked for me, but that might have been because of the whole insta-love thing that isn't always my vibe - it is tough to pull off well and while the author really tried...it just didn't click with me. Which is sad because I liked both of the lead characters quite a bit, particularly Cassie. In many ways, I feel this would have been better off with a friendship rather than a romance...might have bumped it up a bit for me.

The big issue I had is that while I did love the premise...it takes forever to get there. You are dropped in the middle of something and you really have no idea what's going on. Now, that can be a great thing...but to string the payoff for that out as long as it was...that left me feeling underwhelmed. I just couldn't completely get on board when deep into the book, I really didn't know what was going on.

YMMV on this one - I can see where some folks are REALLY going to resonate with this. For me...it was a bit of a miss. A well-intentioned miss, but a miss nonetheless. 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own and are uncompensated. Direct Descendant is out April 1st and you can preorder it online now!

I started Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff but didn’t finish. The premise—an isolated town with a dark secret—was interesting, but the slow pacing made it hard to stay engaged. The mix of cozy horror and romance might appeal to some, but it wasn’t for me. If you enjoy atmospheric, slow-burn stories, it could be worth a try.

This supremely cozy horror story is directly up my alley - I was so surprised to see how split some reviews have been! Up in Northern Ontario, there is a town where everyone is happy, healthy, and has enough money to only pursue the jobs they enjoy as a hobby... yes, it might have come about as a result of black magic, but that was ages ago! Sure, the kids have training to kill Shadows that might infiltrate, but it gets them outdoors, right? The blasé acceptance of the dark entity on the other side of the silver mine is delightful to me, I adored this book.

I would definitely think the perfect read-alongs would be The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by CM Waggoner and Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper.

I did quite enjoy this book but felt that I was missing out on the ' in the know' / cultural references jokes and references. Being old, British and straight is probably why I didn't understand . I did not even know what a U haul was. Definately more for the US / Canadian market but I did enjoy the folks, relationships and strange circumstances they found themselves in.

Direct Descendant had all the ingredients for the perfect cozy horror story—a small Canadian town with a mysterious secret, a group of people who were the conduits for an indescribable darkness, and a mystery waiting to be solved. There were many details I appreciated, but, unfortunately, one too many that dropped my rating.

The two narrators had compelling traits and backstories, but toward the end, Cassie overshadowed Melanie in a lot of ways (which is fair, considering this is all happening in her town). I wished I could empathize with Melanie more, considering how she challenged Cassie's privilege at times, and showed us glimpses of the real world. And, although I'm pretty neutral about insta-love tropes, its occurrence in this book was still a bit too sudden for me. I wished I could have seen more of their relationship build up authentically, but their conversations and overall dynamic felt extremely rushed and sometimes muddled up the rest of the plot.

I liked reading about the other conduits, supporting characters, and the history of the town. But the pacing of it all felt very off, so I found myself getting distracted or confused when trying to figure out what was happening. Sometimes, there was a lot of dialogue, but not enough action. The twist and its resolution also felt slightly abrupt.

With that said, I still enjoyed the prose and writing for this book. I would still read another one of the author's works; this was just a miss for me.

I got about 15% of the way through the book and still had no idea what was going on in the slightest bit. DNF.

Loved this, started reading it whilst in the emergency room and could not put it down. Finished the whole thing in less than 36 hours, and that's with me too drugged to read for most of that time! The cozy eldritch horror vibes were perfect, the characters mostly acted like adults and used their words, and T'Geyer is the cutest little eldritch horror pet ever, and should have a stuffy.

Pros: I think the supernatural elements of the story had a lot of promise and I liked the atmosphere.

Cons: Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me - it definitely leaned much more into the "rom-com" style of storytelling, with dual first-person POVs and a very simplistic writing style. It wasn't as whimsical as I think it needed to be to pull off the comedy-horror balance it was going for.

I was more than ready to devour a small town cozy romance with horror in it - honestly it sounded like it was written for me!- but struggled to get into this. The instant attraction with our main heroes as well as the lack of real stakes and a somewhat banal ending left me wanting more!

Overall rating: 3⭐️


Tropes:

🪶 Insta-Love
🪶 Cozy Horror
🪶 Queer romance
🪶 Paranormal Mystery
🪶 Small Town


The story is set in a small town in Canada, plagued by Lovecraftian evil. The setting alone is what made me go “ooh I want to read this”. All the pieces were there, all the things I look for in a story - it just didn’t really work for me.

The romance was a bit off. The FMC objectifies the love interest, a woman named Cassie, in a very…masculine sort of way. I don’t normally enjoy insta-love, and this was no exception. Two dates in and they’re planning their future 👀

All in all, it was ok but it wasn’t for me. If you enjoy comedic horror and authors like Grady Hendrix, T. Kingfisher, and AJ Martinez, then you may enjoy this book.


Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for a chance to read and review this eARC and give my honest review.

Although well written, this book was just not fast paced enough for me.
I can and do enjoy loads of slow paced books, but for some reason this seemed to drag on and on.

And the little to no world building for two thirds of the book ensured that I was mightily confused from page 1.

The concept of a cosy horror was good, and the idea of the eldritch type deity was interesting but it lacked execution.

I don’t know, it just didn’t agree with me, I had no interest in the story or characters.

Thanks to DAW and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.