Wild Things Never Die by Sally Andrew

Description from Amazon:

Tannie Maria is wrestling with a fear of the dark and Henrietta has PTSD. But this doesn’t stop the intrepid agony aunt – and her hen – from going undercover with Maria’s fiancé, Detective Henk Kannemeyer, to the Karoo Wilderness Reserve. Their mission: save the vetplantjies! At the luxury game lodge, they spy on guests and support the Anti-Poaching Unit in a battle against dangerous gangsters. Jessie attends the Succulent Symposium, which is tackling the poaching problem internationally.

Then, there is a murder ...

Our favourite Ladismith sleuths engage with some colourful suspects, including a barefoot artist, a botanist cowboy, a singing gardener, and a sangoma. Between solving murders, writing agony-aunt letters, eating spectacular food, and having spiritual epiphanies, Maria and Henk get fashion tips from a couturier and his Baroness.

But fashion is forgotten when their own lives are at stake.

 

Having read the previous four books in the series, I was looking forward to the saga continuing. However, this was the least favourite in the series for me. It had all the elements of undercover intrigue and a mystery, but it felt different from the others. Maybe the Irish accent in the series on TV keeps that actress in my head as I read, but Maria seems to be using a lot more Afrikaans phrases too often. Almost as though the author is saying the book is set in South Africa so here are words people use.

What I like about the book is that all the characters are important and that they are not just in there to further the story. Even though in this book some of the characters who had bigger roles previously play much smaller ones.

I did appreciate all the knowledge that the author imparted regarding plant poaching and the sterling work that people do to protect plants and animals, but Maria also took every opportunity to use a Latin name for a plant, and that also became confusing. The inclusion of the recipes at the back is always a bonus.

Overall, it was a good read, and I’ll definitely read the next, but it didn’t blow me away. It felt rather drawn out and in some places hard to believe, and there was just too much about Henrietta.

But I’ll keep rooting for Maria and the advice she gives in the newspaper!

The Familiar by Diana R. Bascarau

Description from Amazon:

Beth Clarke came to Los Angeles to become an actress.

Instead, she became a vampire’s familiar, managing Elias von Martyrom’s life, cleaning up after his parties, and waiting six years to be turned.

Then, one day, Elias’s most important guest is found dead.

Murdering another vampire is one of the few crimes the vampire world takes seriously. Elias is arrested, locked beneath the Council chambers, and scheduled for execution in one month.

Beth knows he didn’t do it.

Unfortunately, knowing and proving are two very different things.

With a bizarre list of suspects, an aristocratic vampire council, and a charming historian who keeps asking dangerous questions, Beth has one month to solve a murder she has absolutely no idea how to investigate.

And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she begins to wonder whether saving Elias is really the same thing as saving herself.

 

This sounded like an interesting angle on a vampire story as you never really get to “find out” what a familiar actually does. And it turned into less of this and more of a traumatic bonded story.

The rules that Elias has Beth following are ridiculous and the fact that she accepted them as she did, showed the level of abuse (yes I’ll describe it like that) she was willing to endure all to be turned one day as well as to be accepted by Elias.

Once the murder has occurred and Beth moves through the investigation she does, the book has me divided. For one thing, I admire her tenacity, but personally, I didn’t enjoy the victim she became. I understand that this is what the author was trying to show about Beth’s character, but I couldn’t connect with her decisions, and this made the story less enjoyable for me. I also figured out Damian’s part very early on, and even though he was eventually trying to throw her a lifeline, I understood the direction she took with him.

However, the ending was rather unfulfilling. I think I expected something huge to happen that would change what had been occurring through the years, but it was almost like saying you can’t win no matter how hard you try. And I know some have agreed with Beth’s final decision, but I just want to shake her and say why? I suppose that’s what makes everyone different.

Due to the editing mistakes, and while I appreciate what the author was trying to show in a different way, it just didn’t work for me in the way I wanted it to, so I give this three stars.

Thanks to Voracious Readers Only and the author for the ARC.