Moonshine, Alaya Johnson (365 Books, Day 22)

[rushthatspeaks]

Copy sent me by rachelmanija, in exchange for reviewing it.

An interesting although occasionally slightly incoherent take on the sort of urban fantasy where vampires, werewolves, fairies etc. are a mainstream and acknowledged part of life: this time, it's the nineteen-twenties. The protagonist, Zephyr, is a suffragette (votes for vampires-- it's after female suffrage), tireless do-gooding crusader, and rather ashamed of her demon-hunting past. Cue a complex plot involving the familial politics of vampire bootleggers.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding very much. This is a diverse and interesting take on New York City and the Jazz Age, with only a few points where I looked at possible anachronisms with raised eyebrows. It's fun and energetic. I found the plot mildly confusing, and Zephyr's love interest is exactly the usual sort of character one gets in these roles in this sort of romance. So this was a book I liked much better on a scene-to-scene level than as a whole, especially as I thought some of the characterization varied scene-to-scene in ways that were mildly inconsistent, and therefore preferred to take each scene as something of a separate episode.

With those caveats, I did like this much better than oh the last seven things I read that could have been classified as paranormal romance. I might read another, when it comes out.

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