Much of Madness

I could not put this book down. The story is great, the characters are great and I think this is a great beginning to a new and exciting series. There are just so many lovable things - magic, curses, love, friendship, voodoo, creatures of all kinds, twisted minds and death. Awesome!

I loved all the supernatural things and the backdrop of New Orleans and Nashville contributed to the Gothic horror feel that I really enjoyed. I thought there were many fascinating beings, such as Finn, Seraphina's BFF, who was a Sin Eater (a shit job really), the zombie-ish slaves and the personification of Death. The world was really cool.

Something I'm allergic to in books is when characters fall in love way to quickly without spending any time together. It's just very rarely believable. That did NOT happen in this book and that's one of the reasons I liked it so much. The relationship between Seraphina and Marceau progressed so naturally and lovely, and since the story is told through both of their eyes it became very real. They were interesting and complex characters and I read this book mainly for them.

A lot of shit went down by the end of this book and I can't wait to find out what happens now. So give me more please. Preferably soon.

Normally, I'm not drawn to covers, but this book's cover is really interesting and almost perfectly fits what this book is about: magic, horror, hope, and evil, as well as few other extra emotions thrown in. After getting past the cover and starting the book, the book's plot quickly drew me in and wouldn't let go. It was hard to stop at times. The book was fast-paced and entertaining, with a dash of humor tossed in with the horror. The humor and horror was never heavy-handed, and it all fit together perfectly. Marceau is a very complex and interesting character and I found I liked him from the very beginning. When we met Seraphina, on the other hand, it took me longer to get to know her, but I did get to know her. I just wish I could have clicked with her as fast as I did with Marceau. Although, to be honest, the book could have used a little more backstory and fleshing out of the characters. I would like to know Vespa a little better; she intrigued me. But, I bet we get to know more in the next books. But, back to the point, don't let this minor annoyance deter you. The book is well-worth a read and I am really looking forward to the next one. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Inkmancy Press/Pikko's House for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review. This exact review will also be posted on Amazon and Goodreads.

A beautiful cover, an interesting premise, and a death curse all tempted me towards reading Much of Madness by SE Summa. Thankfully, it all comes together for a wonderful payoff! If this was a standalone book, I would have given this a full five stars, but as it’s only the first in a series, it’s getting four since I know the next one will likely (hopefully?) expand on the wonderful foundation work laid here.

Summa does a fantastic job with the setting. You can tell she knows what she’s talking about as I was able to visualize the areas of New Orleans she spoke about, recognizing it from my visits there. The way she describes Nashville is just as vivid and really makes me want to book a trip there to learn about all of these fantastic areas. I want to see more of the city, and even the nature part of Nola and Nashville. Maybe in the second book??

The characters are fun. The relationship between Seraphina and Finn kills me. I just love it so much. It’s perfect. I especially love that Summa avoids creating ANY love triangles. Like wow, what a novelty, a male and female relationship that is platonic! Secretly, I kinda hope that it will always be Seraphina and Finn as the main priority in life, regardless of relationships. Then there’s Khat, Finn’s girlfriend. Seraphina dislikes Khat at the start, but then, she actually gets to know her and they actually become friends! Wow again! Women able to be friends instead of trying to fight with each other and mark their territory. It’s fantastic and feels so refreshing to read! The fourth main, Marceau, is good. He’s not as fun/flashy as Finn or Khat, but he seems perfect for Seraphina. He’s sweet and old-fashioned, but also has a great dark side (though who knows if its his dark side, or a by-product of his benefactor).

Now, to the story itself! It was super interesting! I think it was the perfect opening story to a series because it brings all four characters together and to an understanding. Seraphina wants to get rid of her curse. Finn wants her to be safe and happy. The other two are there to make that happen. Then, there’re the side stories between Marceau and Death, and Seraphina and Death, which will prove to be the greater story to come in the series.

Much of Madness by SE Summa is a really solid story with four likeable characters and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series!

I received a copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an interesting take on magic, voodoo, etc. I liked it. The story itself was good and intriguing. The writing was fine. Didn't pay much attention to it. The characters were very well done. In my own opinion I believe they're the best part of this book. The world is a close second though. The world felt realistic.
A secret supernatural community is where you start. You have a nice guy stealing something and a psychotic female creature of some sort sucking out souls. Then you have a sin eater, a guy who eats your sins before death so you go peacefully and your empty body doesn't get possessed. And his friend a young woman who can't touch anyone she loves or cares for or she will kill them or herself.
Over all this was a good book. And I'm curious to see where the story goes. The ending wrapped up a bit too nicely but even so I still really liked the ending and the set up for the next book.

**Thanks to Inkmancy, the publisher, for providing the book in exchange for an honest review. Crossposted on Amazon and Goodreads.**

Like many other reviewers, I was initally drawn to the gorgeous cover art of Much of Madness. The themes of the book are richly illustrated on the cover, and several aspects of the book are subtly included as well in the dahlias and the chosen color scheme. The cover definitely has an appeal that I think readers will respond to.

As far as the story, I have some mixed feelings, though I was generally pleased with the book and could not put it down once I started. (I literally missed my stop on public transit this morning and was almost late for work because I was reading the last chapters!) The characters are engaging and sweet, though I found the male characters to be generally more fleshed out and "real" than the female. I loved the relationship between Seraphina and Finn, and appreciated that there was no late reveal of secret feelings between the two. Marceau started out very strong, but I felt like, once the action started, he became a little more of a caricature of himself than he was at the beginning. Khat frankly grated on me a bit, but I think that's partially that I don't understand why so many writers force supernatural characters to be surrounded solely by supernatural characters. I think I might have enjoyed Khat more as a human being swept up in the world of supernatural beings and running with it because of her love for Finn. I liked Seraphina, but I think the book did a lot of "saying instead of showing" how great she is.

None of this means I didn't like the characters, or the book. On the contrary, I enjoyed it a lot. This is a book you read for fun when you're the type of person who likes things a little creepy but covered in a sheen of djinn-style glimmer. There's some macabre stuff that goes down in this book, such as Seraphina and Marceau's visit to the museum and the introduction of Babette. There's also some genuine beauty and sweetness to the book. I'm a sucker for a love story, especially those rich in atmosphere. In that area, Much of Madness did not disappoint. The development of Marceau and Seraphina's relationship was very sweet, as was Finn and Khat's. I loved Seraphina and Rolf's relationship.

My (I hope constructive) criticism basically boils down to:
- There's some bad editing work with grammar and punctuation. That immediately removed me from the story when I came across it, which was frustrating. Not a knock against the book itself, however.
- It felt like too many stories were happening at once a lot of the time. I read this book in less than 24 hours and I still had trouble remembering a few details about things that happened earlier, such as Virgil Woodard's Sins.
- After a certain point, right around when I felt Marceau becoming less defined, the story just felt like it was whipping along very rapidly. This can be really great! In this case, it felt a little rushed, though. I would have loved to spend more time developing the world around them, maybe having things happen in the apothecary. I also would have liked to get to know Vespa a little better, but I'm hoping that happens in the next book. She was... she was somethin else.

All in all, the book was a good and engaging read. I'd definitely suggest it to my friends that enjoy paranormal romance. Just don't expect smut. This is a super chaste and sweet relationship. I look forward to the next book.

I discovered this book via my friend Jenny from Supernatural Snark & Seedlings Studio, because she's the talented cover designer that did the gorgeous cover for this one! Cover lust made me check the summary and I was intrigued, so when I saw it up for request on Netgalley, I jumped to the chance of reading it.

Much of Madness is a different twist of a paranormal story, with Sin Eaters, Spellcasters, Djinn and ghosts and Curse-Breakers! It was quite refreshing to see a story full of different paranormal types but without vampires or werewolves!

The story is told in dual POVs and at first the separation was done more clearly, one chapter per POV, getting Marceu's and Seraphina's story as they come to intersect and I really enjoyed their voices and individual stories. I loved seeing their different worlds and the way the interactions with their close circle of either friends or associates show their personalities.

When they met and started interacting I liked how their differences were showcased and how the worlds could collide, but I wasn't so keen on how their voices mixed up on the narrative... they were different enough to know when they switched even in the same chapter, but it seemed to muddy things a bit and confuse the narrative a bit.

Plot wise, it seemed quite clear where things would come to a point but I was pleasantly surprised that I still got some unexpected twists here and there. Some of the intersecting plots felt a bit forced to come together, even if when they did mix, it all seemed to work out pretty well.

I must confess the romance didn't really work for me. It wasn't insta love or underdeveloped, but I just never felt the chemistry or tension between the characters, so I never really connected with their romance. I did connect much more with the romance between two of the secondary characters. I cannot say why or why not... it just happened!

I really enjoyed all the NOLA and Nashville references and really felt like the atmosphere was so very realistic, even if I've never been to any of the places. It made ME want to visit there for sure! And made me crave beignets & chicory coffee like mad, dammit!

All in all, I'm pretty torn because I really enjoyed the first half of the book and then things became a lil messy in the second half and although I liked the ending and I'd probably read the sequel, I was not blown away by the book as a whole. I guess it'd be fair to give it a 3 star rating as it can stand as a quite unique paranormal.

The plot was well written and the formality of some of the characters made me love the author’s writing style.
I liked the fact that the author created a strong friendship between characters from opposite sexes that didn’t even consider a romantic relationship.

Much of Madness is an ebullient supernatural fantasy with more than a touch of romance. I found the beginning of the story to be trite and superficial. I'm glad I continued reading, because the writing improved as the story unfolded. It took me a while to get a clear picture of who and what the characters were. Summa mentions the "conexus" a few times, but does nothing with it, which made me wish it was omitted as it felt like a distracting loose end. What seemed at first to be a vapid tale, turned into a fun, original story with characters that are endearing. Much of Madness is not scary, but it was a bit creepy at times, which added to its allure.

MUCH OF MADNESS wraps you up in a magical world full of mystery and suspense. I really enjoyed this story although my one issue was that I kept feeling like I was missing some key information that was covered in a previous book which is odd since this is the first book in a series. I understand why certain plot points were kept hidden to keep up the suspense, it just made for a confusing read for a section of the story until everything was revealed.

Aside from that confusion the story really kept me entertained and captivated with interesting supernatural characters including a sin-eater, curse breaker, spell caster, and djinn. They all felt pretty repeatable and were pretty funny together. I enjoyed seeing the story of how Seraphina and Finn became cursed and how that curse connected to the rest of the cast of characters in some way. It was a really clever way the story threads were brought together so slowly leading up to a surprising reveal. I also really enjoyed how the relationship between Seraphina, Finn, and Marceau did not turn into some sort of love triangle. Finn is her Seraphina's dear friend who really cares for her and does have some issues with Marceau not due to some unrequited love but do to his platonic love for her. The budding romance between Seraphina and Marceau is sweet and very chaste.

MUCH OF MADNESS is a wonderfully slow burn with magic, strong friendships, curses, and even a touch of time travel. The ending of the book includes some fascinating paranormal changes for our characters that I am interested in seeing evolve in the next book.

This was one of the most interesting stories I've read involving the supernatural. It has some very intriguing characters. There was a spellcaster and sin eater, bound together by a hex that was many years old. A djinn and a curse weaver that enter the story and become friends of the other supernaturals and Death himself and a character. The story grabs your attention and you slowly see the relationships build between the characters. Some of these supernaturals I had never heard about before and was interested in learning about their abilities and what they did in the story. Fascinating!!

The story has plenty of twists and turns and a very deep back story that slowly reveals itself. The relationship between Seraphina (spellcaster) and Finn (sin eater) is a deep friendship that goes back a long time. Kat enters as Finn's girlfriend and it is revealed that she is also a supernatural (a djinn) and she is plenty powerful. Marceau is a curseweaver, sent to Nashville to procur a mystical supernatural book at an auction that Sera is determined to win. The two meet up at this auction and Marceau is instantly attracted to her. As they become acquaintances, and then friends, he learns of a hex that she has been carrying for years and is trying to break. He offers his assistance in exchange for information on the book, which he is secretly sending back to his benefactor, Death.
Over the next days, many events take place and relationships build and connections are slowly beginning to come into focus. The ending shows webs that have been in place for years and a plan that was put in place by Death himself that manages to backfire. Don't want to spoil this wonderul story. Very good ending.