Tag Archives: paranormal women’s fiction

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Book Review: Suddenly Psychic, by Elizabeth Hunter

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I borrowed a copy of Elizabeth Hunter‘s Suddenly Psychic through Amazon Prime.

suddenly psychic elizabeth hunter

Every woman goes through changes in their forties.
Just not… these changes.

Robin Brannon was a normal wife, mom, and antique shop owner until a brush with death turned her day-to-day life upside down. Now she and her two best friends are seeing things that belong in a fantasy novel. Ghosts. Visions. Omens of doom. Nothing that belongs in the peaceful mountain town they call home.

Added to that, Robin’s marriage is on the rocks, her grandmother’s health is failing, her mother is driving away the customers at her shop, her teenage daughter refuses to get her drivers’ license, and her left knee aches every darn morning.

Robin doesn’t have the time, energy, or knees to unearth the secrets buried at the bottom of Glimmer Lake, but fate doesn’t seem to care. Some secrets are just dying to be exposed.

my review

Paranormal Women’s Fiction has become one of my favorite genres. But I fully admit that, of those I’ve read, some authors are more successful writing 40+ year old heroines than others. A lot of them feel 20 but the reader is told they’re 40 and that’s about that. But Hunter hit a home run here.

I related to so much of Robin’s character. She wasn’t overly cutesy in some warped attempt to be relevant. Her age-related struggles felt real, not just painted on or cliched. Aching knees or twitchy bladder alone does not a middle aged women make. Robin and her best friends feel like real women in their mid-40s. And I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that.

Similarly, her romantic struggles were a departure from the norm. I swear something like 85% of PWF books start with a divorce. (I made that number up, but it’s a lot.) That Robin is trying to save the marriage that is wounded but so clearly not dead was a breath of fresh air. Her husband was marvelous, but not a Gary Stu.

I also liked that the women’s sudden exposure to the psychic wasn’t over the top and was, therefore, a lot easier to swallow. I did think they discovered, discussed and accepted the situation a little too easily. But a story does need to move along. Lastly, with all the parents, siblings, spouses, ex-spouses, children and towns people, I did lose track of who was who on occasion.

Despite those few complaints I’m hoping to get my hands on book 2 and continue the series.

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Over the Faery Hill

Book Review: Over the Faery Hill, by Jennifer L. Hart

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I first came across Over the Faery Hill when it was promoed on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, when I later came across the author, Jennifer L. Hart, giving away Audible codes I snagged one for my own.

over the faery hill

A mountain of regrets. A bargain with a mischievous faery. Could tinkering with her past create a better future?

Joey Whitmore longs to escape her dead-end world. Facing a midlife crisis at age forty-two and still living with her mother, getting fired from yet another job is the proverbial last straw. So when a fae trickster in human guise offers a chance at changing her history, she figures there’s nothing left to lose.

Though skeptical of his magic, Joey accepts the sly prince’s enchanted hourglass and begins a reckless journey back in time. But as she tries to act as her own fairy godmother and reverse her mistakes, her blundering interference causes a chain of catastrophic consequences.

Will Joey’s attempts to alter her deadbeat destiny end up erasing her entire existence?

my review

I’ve only recently discovered the Paranormal Women’s Fiction genre, and as a 43yo woman, I’m really enjoying heroines my own age going on paranormal adventures. However, I am discovering that the tropes run strong in the genre as a whole. The books seem to be more similar than different, regardless of the author. Of those I’ve read, they all seem to start with a dissolved marriage and broke, despondent, sexually dissatisfied heroines, who all seem to be fairly similar in personality. Hell, I’ve just read two in a row where she drove a VW Bug.

I don’t think it’s so much that anyone is copying anyone else, but rather that those entering into the new genre step into an arena in which they feel there are very strong expectations from readers. No one yet seems to be brave enough to venture farther from the established and accepted characteristics. (I’m hoping this phase passes soon.)

I could have said all that on any of the reviews I’ve written for PWF books so far. But, as a reader, I had to get far enough into the genre to recognize the repetitions. And I can’t disparage any one book for it and not the others. But I also can’t ignore that these book are starting to feel very formulaic, including Over the Faery Hill (though I do think Hart tried to be a little different by including a trans ex instead of an evil  or cheating ex.)

Having said all that, I have found that some authors do better with the middle-aged heroine than others. Hart’s wasn’t the best. I liked Joey, but she didn’t feel 40+ at all. This is also the second PWF book in a row that I’ve read where the heroine being middle-aged felt like window dressing slapped on so that the book could fit in the PWF genre.

Joey spent the whole book trying to correct a mistake made her freshman year of high school. I’m sorry, but I don’t care if she’s over-weight, 40+ years old, and complains about saggy boobs. If an author gives me a heroine whose most important life events happened at 15 and reads as if she hasn’t had a further 25 years of life, I’m going to say she doesn’t actually feel middle-aged. Especially if she also doesn’t have any of the markers of middle life—no children, no career, no established hobbies, no favorite isle in the grocery store, whatever. If she still (or again) lives with her parents, in a life centered around her mom, dad, and grandma, and is more concerned with what happened at 15 years-old than 35, she can’t possibly really feel middle-aged. She feels mid-twenties, maybe. And thus, while the book might be a fine paranormal adventure, it’s not much of a Paranormal Women’s Fiction book.

But, as I said, I did like Joey. I enjoyed her snark and her love for her family. I liked Robin too, thought I can’t say I felt the romance develop in any true fashion. All in all, I’d be happy to read more of Hart’s book.

overly the faery hill

betwixt

Book Review: Betwixt, by Darynda Jones

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I borrowed a copy of Betwixt, by Darynda Jones from the local library. You guys, I actually went INTO the library and browsed the shelves. It was the first time I’d been able to do that in months!

betwixt

Divorced, desperate, and destitute, former restaurateur Defiance Dayne finds out she has been bequeathed a house by a complete stranger. She is surprised, to say the least, and her curiosity gets the better of her. She leaves her beloved Phoenix and heads to one of the most infamous towns in America: Salem, Massachusetts.

She’s only there to find out why a woman she’s never met would leave her a house. A veritable castle that has seen better days. She couldn’t possibly accept it, but the lawyer assigned to the case practically begs her to take it off her hands, mostly because she’s scared of it. The house. The inanimate structure that, as far as Dephne can tell, has never hurt a fly.

Though it does come with some baggage. A pesky neighbor who wants her gone. A scruffy cat who’s a bit of a jerk. And a handyman bathed ink who could moonlight as a supermodel for GQ.

She decides to give it three days, and not because of the model. She feels at home in Salem. Safe. But even that comes to a screeching halt when people begin knocking on her door day and night, begging for her help to locate their lost objects.

Come to find out, they think she’s a witch. And after a few mysterious mishaps, Dephne is beginning to wonder if they’re right.

my review

I generally liked this. It was fun and easily readable. I’ll say that up front. But I have complaints. For one, I halfway suspect it wasn’t initially written as a Paranormal Women’s Fiction book. Of course, I can’t know one way or another, and maybe it was and just isn’t steeped in the genre. (But I really do half think it was rewritten to fit the new fad.)

I’ll grant the heroine is 44 and there are paranormal elements…so, Paranormal Women’s Fiction. The book even starts with the seemingly requisite mid-life divorce. But beyond that I didn’t feel Defiance’s age at all. Any quip or memory she referenced was from high school or below, as if she hadn’t had an additional 2 decades of life experience to draw from. Her parents still play a large part in her life, as if she hasn’t aged past just leaving the nest. She still gets excited over band t-shirts and binge drinking. She just didn’t feel 44 and neither did anything else about the plot. So, I kinda feel like the book is Paranormal Women’s Fiction in name and window dressing only. At least the hotties were described as silver foxes, instead of young studs, I guess.

Beyond that, I did laugh a lot. But I also frequently felt like it was trying too hard to be quirky and funny. I liked the characters, but thought they all took to the previously unknown paranormal world far too easily. And I like the sexy hero, but there is so little progress in that department and so little interaction between him and Defiance that it was soundly disappointing. And the whole thing often felt unfocused and erratic.

Despite all that, as I said, I did enjoy it in general. I probably will continue the series (for Roane more than anything else). But I’m in no great hurry about it.

betwixt