I swiped a copy of Honey House, by Laura Harner from the KDP free list. As of the time of posting it was still free.
Description from Amazon:
Former con artist Katherine “KC” Carmichael inherits the Honey House, a Bed and Breakfast located in the tiny town of Juniper Springs, AZ, a hot bed of the paranormal tourism industry. It doesn’t take her long to discover that both the town and the House are keeping secrets. KC realizes something doesn’t add up when the local sheriff throws her in jail for breaking the town’s full moon curfew. She soon discovers werewolves and witches are real, and she wonders what other fairy tales might be waiting to come to life. With multiple murders and men to distract her, KC needs to discover her own hidden magick in order to survive.
Review:
I very much like Ms. Harner’s storytelling style and Honey House is no exception. I enjoyed the ebb and flow of the story. I liked those characters that I got to know well (KC, Owen, Gregory, the house even) and I liked the murder mystery.
Unfortunately I also thought that some other important characters, most notably Quinn, felt very hollow. Part of this is the result of the book being told from the first person perspective of KC. She doesn’t know much about Quinn, so neither does the reader. Fair enough. But he rarely speaks, has little facial expression, and his past (and any present not in the presence of KC, really) is left a mystery. This meant I developed very little feeling for him. Too bad too. He’s the love interest du jure and I really wanted to like him. I might have if I had gotten the chance to get to know him.
I also wondered at the inclusion of the secondary drama. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it felt very much like an excuse to expose KC’s very, very tragic past. A past that I could have done without knowing since it isn’t really explored beyond disclosure.
There are also a number of small questions left unanswered throughout the book. Someone from the Paranormal Romance Guild mentioned in a previous review that this is one of Ms. Harner’s trademarks. I haven’t read enough of her work to know if that’s true (Though I think I might like to), but I find it a little annoying. They aren’t things that effect the overall story arc, more like little side issues. For example, in one scene Owen asks Quinn why he didn’t bring KC to his house. Quinn responds, ‘you know why.’ Owen accepts this as an appropriate answer. The reader, however, doesn’t know why. I could hazard a guess or two, but they would be just guesses. I wouldn’t have any way of knowing if I was right or not. Or, the two rather large identity questions that KC decides to let go with a mental shrug and ‘what’s it matter’ attitude, at the end. The story concludes just fine without these details, but my basic curiosity answered her with, ‘um, quite a lot actually.’ I don’t like loose ends all that much.
Despite these small criticisms I very much enjoyed reading the book. Ms. Harner has a way of making her narratives comfortable. This would be a great book to read while doing something relaxing, like laying in a hammock or basking in the sun. I suppose I’m calling it a great Summer read.
As an aside, I’m a bit bothered that Quinn (that’s who I’m assuming the male on the cover is supposed to be) is blond in the book and has dark hair on the front of the book.