A Study In Shifters
Majanka Verstraete
(The Adventures of Marisol Holmes, #1)
Publication date: June 26th 2018
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Seventeen-year-old Marisol Holmes may be the great-great-great granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes, but it’s hard to live up to the family name when only one mistake can spell yourdownfall. After trusting the wrong guy in a case gone totally wrong, Marisol convinces the Conclave, an underground organization of detectives solving supernatural cases, to give her a last chance to prove her worth, and maybe even heal her broken heart
After all, as a half-blood jaguar shifter, Marisol is uniquely qualified to solve this murder—and every scrap of evidence points toward the culprit being a fellow jaguar shifter. But is one of her own people involved, or is this all a ploy to kick Marisol’s mother off the shifter throne?
Then Marisol discovers her best friend, Roan, is missing, and maybe the killer’s nexttarget. The stakes just got higher than political intrigue. Just when things couldn’t get worse, Marisol’s ex-boyfriend-turned-nemesis, Mannix, starts leaving sinister clues for her. Marisol fears this case might be far more personal than she could’ve imagined.
It’s time for Marisol to prove her worth, or her people could fall into chaos while her best friend loses his life.
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo
My Review:
3.5 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery, Royal-Court, Supernatural, Suspense, Teen, Werewolves--
Marisol's life imploded after what she likes to call the "Big Betrayal". She has been doing everything within her power to try and put the pieces back together, but some things are unforgivable- like her cousin's death. Her mom rarely interacts with her now, too busy with ruling the shifter clans and filled with disappointment with her daughter. But at least the Conclave gave her investigation privileges again so she can put her skills to good use- or so she thought. But now she has been assigned a test case to solve while her every move is being supervised, all on top of the very important shifter meeting. Things are looking even worse for Maisol.
This is not your typical Sherlock Holmes kids! Instead we get gender bending with Marisol being the great, great grand daughter of Sherlock Holmes with his same habit of getting into trouble as well as solving the way out. Oh and yeah, she is a Jaguar shifter (or at least half shifter) with an intricate world of feuding clans and power struggles between species. I really liked the mixing of genres here, where mystery and paranormal blended so well and the end result was something so new yet at the same time familiar.You get a short review this time because spoilers are terrible for mystery books and I refuse to ruin the unveiling.
I did have a hard time getting into the story and had to re-read some parts since I realized I had skimmed instead of reading without even meaning to. I think it took me longer to get invested since Marisol was a little bit unfeeling (I wonder if that was a play on the Sherlock character and his aloofness) at times and repeated a lot of the same information over and over- about her cousin, about her guilt, about her father, about her ancestry, about her relationship with her mother, about her dislike of "Balthy"...a lot of little details I picked up the first time I read them but they kept being used repeatedly to set the stage and explain Marisol's character, but it just made me disconnect. Once the real mystery of the book was introduced, the pacing really started to pick up and I finally became 100% enganged- which lasted all the way until the ending.
Oh my geez, the ending! Nope, nothing is wrapped up here, instead we are left with a doozy of a cliff hanger and what is now apparent as the start to an even bigger, twisty mystery instead of the end. I was super surprised (in a good way!) with the direction Majanka took the story in and now I need more. I have no idea what will happen next but I will most certainly be around to find out.
I am voluntarily reviewing an advance, complimentary copy of this book.
Author Bio:
Author Majanka Verstraete has written more than twenty unique works of fiction. A native of Belgium, Majanka’s novels explore the true nature of monsters: the good, the bad, and just about every species in between. Her young adult books include the acclaimed Mirrorland (YA Dark Fantasy) and Angel of Death (YA Paranormal) series ofnovels. At MHB, Majanka is currently developing a new YA shifter series with a fresh take on fierce female detectives called THE ADVENTURES OF MARISOL HOLMES.
When she’s not writing, Majanka is probably playing World of Warcraft or catching up with the dozens of TV series she’s addicted to.
Want the latest news about Majanka Verstraete? Sign up for our newsletter!
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Newsletter
GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment