Review: A Fresh New Kind of Urban Fantasy
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 30, 2012
4-1/2 starsWhat do you do when the closet monster from your childhood nightmares shows up in your kitchen one morning reading the paper and makes you breakfast? He's splitting from his wife, a gargoyle, and needs a closet to stay in. Naturally, you think you are hallucinating. Then there's the skunk-ape who lurks in the nearby forest, the hag who wants to have tea, the brownie family living in your Barbie dream house, the pygmy dragon, and the herbalist who can see auras who matter of factly tells Zoey what she never realized: Zoey is an empath. Zoey always helps people, always has. She's parlayed that into a wedding planning business with her best friend. When she walks into (literally) an incubus-demon who feeds off the emotions around him, Zoey knows she has problems...especially when brides start dying all around her.MONSTER IN MY CLOSET offers a new take on Urban Fantasy with a lighthearted story, a realistic heroine, and fresh worldbuilding. This isn't a gritty dark story trying to be edgy but a story that I could easily see play out in any neighborhood.Zoey isn't a kick-ass heroine with a weapons fetish, nor is she a clumsy, love-struck heroine who waits for others to do everything for her. She is an empath who has the unique ability to help those around them because she can feel what they feel and help them work through things. When Zoey realizes she's an empath, she's quite shocked to learn not everyone can do this. Her response: "But how can people communicate? If they don't know what the person next to them is feeling, how do they know what to say? It would be like driving at night with your headlights off."The world building felt very effortless and real. It almost felt like there wasn't any need to set up this world as this could be anybody leaving their house on any regular day. The integration of "The Hidden" and "Normal" was so seamless and effortless that it felt very real.The humor in the story was light and fun without the slap-stick, the snark, the sarcasm, or over-the-top craziness at the heroine's expense.The storyline with the demon was well done. The author didn't try to bog down the story with so many twists and red herrings that the story got lost, but told a clean story with the focus on Zoey and her adventures discovering her powers and the friends she makes along the way. The secondary characters were well fleshed out never feeling clichéd.I really loved this story and look forward to Zoey's continued adventures.Monster Haven SeriesMonster in My ClosetPooka in My Pantry - March 2013