Review: Light and fun, giving me a whole different perspective!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 8, 2013
First in the Monstrosity funny chicklit/urban fantasy series revolving around a group of monsters just trying to survive.My TakeAt last! Petersen gives us the monsters' side of things. And it's too funny. I love it! I love getting the perspective on the daily issues monsters face. I love how Petersen melds the concept of the AA meeting with our idea of monsters. They're just regular people concerned about their jobs, being mugged, and obsessing about their appearances.Using The Story as a grounding for the murders is enough to make me want to crack the books, just to see how the monsters! are destroyed. To steel myself for another death...eek! For Grimes' mention of how that classic story about the Invisible Man ends, is sounding prophetic. When another of their group is found, it freaks 'em all out."...authors of books and directors of movies got their lives so consistently wrong...Wait a minute, their support group is meeting in a church. And Dracula is one of their group???LOL, I do like Alec. Underneath that jokey exterior, beats a heart of gold. Even if he does leave clumps of hair in the sink!Club Monstrosity isn't deep nor is there a lot of tension. It's a fun and light read that distracts from regular life---sure made me rethink my whining about having to shave my legs!Petersen manages to make monsters all too human and show us that anyone can be a monster. It's all in the way you act and treat people.The StoryIt's a bad start for their meeting and for once they'll have to pull together. But it gets worse when Natalie gets to work and discovers who the first body of the night is. Then the second.Alec is worried enough...and desperate enough to scare Natalie's roommate off. Linda is doing her usual---crying her eyes out and whining. And Dracula comes with a possible out.The CharactersNatalie Gray, a a Frankenstein's monster, works at the morgue and attends her Monstofelldosis Anonymous meetings at Holy Heart church. Whitney is her barely tolerable roommate.Bob the Blob is the group's facilitator. Kai, the mummy; Linda, the swamp dweller, a whiny, crying thing; Drake, er, Dracula, who is too theatrical for everyone else's patience; Dr. Henry Jekyll---who keeps bringing that Mr. Edward Hyde with him---but is actually a nice guy; Ellis, the invisible man; and, Alec Dunham, the laid back alpha werewolf, are additional members of the group.Dr. Gretchen Grimes is the medical examiner who adores spending time in the courtroom.Rehu is Kai's former lover and a lot closer to the story that's told of him. The mercenary Van Helsings, of course, are much worse, going after every monster, at the forefront of every mob...working it with whoever is paying the most. Sam and Georgia Winslow have their own untold tale.The CoverThe cover has an Andy Warholish feel to it with its blocks of bright color showcasing four comic versions of the monsters in this story. I liked the strong bolt of lightning stitched to Natalie's block!The title covers so many interpretations, but all lead this group, this society, this Club Monstrosity.