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A review by book_whispers
Monster in My Closet by R.L. Naquin
4.0
When you read a certain genre, every once in a while you need a break. Because let's be honest no matter the genre, there are certain character molds that the leads just have to follow. So when you read a lot of Urban Fantasy you tend to get kickass females, with big mouths, witty one liners, anger issues, and trust issues. Enter Zoey. A nice change of pace from the standard UF heroine.
She's an Empath, someone who can pick up on other peoples emotions and even manipulate them, and she just found out. Not only did she find out she’s an Empath, but that other people can't feel emotions like she can! On the same day that her childhood monster in the closet comes back to live with her—his wife and him are going through a rough patch—an incubus decides that she is the perfect meal. Zoey soon finds out he can feed off of anyone that she's had contact with and left a mark on with her Empathic gifts. It's too much for a simple wedding planner to deal with!
From there this book is a pretty awesome ride of crazy. From Zoey's colorful and unique outfits—that hauntingly remind me of my own wardrobe—to all of the fun paranormal creatures that step out of the wood work. They're the Hidden, and Zoey's finds out her mother use to help them out. Now Zoey is running a kind of halfway house for them. The intriguing thing is that Zoey has no real memories of her mother and the magical things from the past, and this is a tasty mystery that is dangled like a carrot above the readers metaphorical brain-mouth.
Which is a good thing because I found the whole Incubus pot line . . . well dull. We know who's doing the killing, it's glaringly obvious that he would attack Zoey's closet friend--which doesn't even occur to her. Incubus makes dream appearances. Check. Kills people in contact with her. Check. Yet the police never wonder about the connection, supposing it's natural causes. (Young healthy woman suddenly dying, with one glaringly obvious connection. Really how can we think so little of the police?) There was an emotional lapse of how I felt Zoey should have reacted to her friend basically being raped by an incubus, good people dying, and the other horrors. It just felt underplayed.
What I did like was how Zoey decided that she would have to stand up to the incubus and save lives. There was a little "if I die then he has to go back" that was played around with, but it felt like too much after the lack of emotion from other events. There's teasing glimpses of the demon realm and it's rules, the laws of death and how it works, and a whole crazy world to pull out of Naquin's head.
The character interactions were wonderful! From Zoey's new family of "monsters" to how she suddenly starts interacting with the world once she realizes she is an Empath. It's very realistic. There's heat from her ex-fiancés of eight years, and I'm hoping he gets some serious smack down. A yummy reaper named Riley, that just riles me up. (So sue me I went there.) An overlaying giant mystery of what happened to Zoey's mother, and her missing memories. It's nice to have a strong leading lady, but one who isn't the stereotype of the genre. We all need a break, and with the awesome coo-coo-ness found here, why not give it a twirl.
Sexual Content: Nothing overly graphic, woman are dying from sex though. While it’s not the brutality of rape, it is nonconsensual none the less.
4/5- Great! Really enjoyed it
Originally reviewed at Book Whispers.
She's an Empath, someone who can pick up on other peoples emotions and even manipulate them, and she just found out. Not only did she find out she’s an Empath, but that other people can't feel emotions like she can! On the same day that her childhood monster in the closet comes back to live with her—his wife and him are going through a rough patch—an incubus decides that she is the perfect meal. Zoey soon finds out he can feed off of anyone that she's had contact with and left a mark on with her Empathic gifts. It's too much for a simple wedding planner to deal with!
From there this book is a pretty awesome ride of crazy. From Zoey's colorful and unique outfits—that hauntingly remind me of my own wardrobe—to all of the fun paranormal creatures that step out of the wood work. They're the Hidden, and Zoey's finds out her mother use to help them out. Now Zoey is running a kind of halfway house for them. The intriguing thing is that Zoey has no real memories of her mother and the magical things from the past, and this is a tasty mystery that is dangled like a carrot above the readers metaphorical brain-mouth.
Which is a good thing because I found the whole Incubus pot line . . . well dull. We know who's doing the killing, it's glaringly obvious that he would attack Zoey's closet friend--which doesn't even occur to her. Incubus makes dream appearances. Check. Kills people in contact with her. Check. Yet the police never wonder about the connection, supposing it's natural causes. (Young healthy woman suddenly dying, with one glaringly obvious connection. Really how can we think so little of the police?) There was an emotional lapse of how I felt Zoey should have reacted to her friend basically being raped by an incubus, good people dying, and the other horrors. It just felt underplayed.
What I did like was how Zoey decided that she would have to stand up to the incubus and save lives. There was a little "if I die then he has to go back" that was played around with, but it felt like too much after the lack of emotion from other events. There's teasing glimpses of the demon realm and it's rules, the laws of death and how it works, and a whole crazy world to pull out of Naquin's head.
The character interactions were wonderful! From Zoey's new family of "monsters" to how she suddenly starts interacting with the world once she realizes she is an Empath. It's very realistic. There's heat from her ex-fiancés of eight years, and I'm hoping he gets some serious smack down. A yummy reaper named Riley, that just riles me up. (So sue me I went there.) An overlaying giant mystery of what happened to Zoey's mother, and her missing memories. It's nice to have a strong leading lady, but one who isn't the stereotype of the genre. We all need a break, and with the awesome coo-coo-ness found here, why not give it a twirl.
Sexual Content: Nothing overly graphic, woman are dying from sex though. While it’s not the brutality of rape, it is nonconsensual none the less.
4/5- Great! Really enjoyed it
Originally reviewed at Book Whispers.