Genre: Contemporary Fantasy, Mythology, Romance, Dark Comedy
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Linda, Paranormal Romance Guild
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About The Book
When the kindly old ferryman to the underworld injures his ankle, primordial gods come together to help guide the newly departed to their final journey. To make the task more interesting to the deathless, a quaint little shop hawking ephemera becomes the vehicle through which breadcrumbs to the underworld are scattered. All this is a temporary situation, meant to end when the broken ankle is healed.
It sounds easy and simple enough. Or so it seems.
The Nightshade family, headed by Barbara Nightshade, the most feared matriarch of an eternal bloodline, are dragged into the twenty-first century from their comfortable existence in Chaos. And it’s through this shop and their day-to-day dealings with mortals that the children—now young adults—learn something new about themselves.
Time moves differently in Chaos, and maturity drags for primordial gods. Now that Viktor and his twin, Narcisse, have turned twenty in immortal years, their physical forms scramble to catch up. Hormones are roused, hearts learn to feel, and minds struggle against prejudices learned through the centuries, and, boy, is it a pain.
The Review
Barbara Nightshade, the most feared matriarch of an eternal bloodline, is opening a retail store in the town of Muir called Nightshade Emporium. When Josef the ferryman was injured and unable to ferry souls until he was healed, she decided to open a store offering ephemera, which when a mortal died would lead them back to the store and to their resting place. Her three children, Viktor, Alma and Viktor’s twin Narcisse, are not happy about working in the mortal world and having to deal with mortals on a daily basis. When the store closes each night the family returns to their home in Chaos.
Viktor decides it’s the perfect time to run away, and winds up joining his brother and sister, who had the same idea. But all of them were stopped. As immortals, their boredom is a constant, and although their mother understands, she doesn’t give in to their demands.
Viktor is death. Alma goes on hunts to find those in need of restitution, and she collects trophies, various body parts that I won’t describe. Narcisse is the mortals’ favorite – he gives a sense of comfort.
The store becomes a huge success. Viktor leads the dead through a door to their final journey. As powerful immortals, the Nightshade family has little feeling for mortals, but now that they are dealing with them one on one, things begin to change. Narcisse delivers a note to Viktor from a man named Myles, who saw him through the window and wanted to meet him. Viktor ignores the note since there’s was no way he’s going to deal with Mortal emotions. Viktor is stuck at the age of twenty, so even though he is immortal and has lived for centuries, he still lacks maturity.
When the notes keep coming, Viktor finally meets the man, and is surprised to find himself wanting to see more of him. Myles is a potter, and his business picks up when Viktor buys half his inventory.
The characters are the author’s take on Greek mythology, but with different names. I enjoyed seeing how this immortal family interacted with mortals firsthand, and earned a new appreciation for what they go through in life and death.
Four stars.
The Reviewer
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