Steph was the reason this worked so well for me. She is forty-three, has grown children, bills, a demanding job and an entire life that doesn’t disappear just because she discovers a hidden supernatural world.

I also loved the friendship at the center of the story. It is complicated, painful and impossible to divide neatly into right and wrong. The supporting characters are fun too, especially Joss, and the slow burn with Cal never takes over the story.

The ending completely changed where I thought the series was going.

I’m in for book two.

Recommended if you like urban fantasy with a heroine who has lived a life.

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I want more

I have read a few midlife urban fantasy and have enjoyed the genre. As a nearing 50s woman I like to read how the heroine deals with a body that creaks and groans. This book fits that genre.

Steph is a middle school teacher with 19 year old twin children. She isn't in her prime, but she doesn't let that get to her when her world is turned upside down. She may grumble and try to work out how to walk away, but in the end she does the job because it needs to be done.

The story doesn't drag at all, and I was hooked from the first page. The pace is good right through, and the end of each chapter I wanted to keep going despite the need for sleep. 

I am not a fan of excess romance in my fantasy books. Time and place. This book deals with the emotions of a women left to raise two children on her own when her husband dies in a car accident six months after the twins birth. There is a potential relationship, but Steph has to deal with her own life first. Losing a lot of her own memories of her husband in the same accident that cost his life, there is a lot to deal with. If you want romantasy, this is not the book for you.

The book ended with the crisis all wrapped up, Steph and her new and old friends relaxing on a beach, but there is definitely a thread for following books. I really want to continue reading this story and cannot wait.