review to come

Living and working in the vacation town of the gods can be hard. The gods’ powers are stored while they are on vacation and someone has stollen them from Crow, who was in charge of watching them for a year. Ryder comes clean about what he did while away from town and then agrees to become a warden for Mithra [ a god of contracts that doesn’t like the idea of Ordnary] On top of this one of the vampires has been attacked as way to call out Rossi, who is in charge of all the vampires in the area. Lots going on and this a was another good multicast audio. ( )

Back to Ordinary, Oregon where the Gods go on vacation (after storing their powers safely). Except that the "safely" part kinda gets a bit complicated when the powers get stolen. When a vampire is found dead (in what appears to be an old ritual which should not have been possible anymore), Delaney has her hands full. Add to this Ryder (who has a secret - even if you had never read a novel of this genre before, you should have started guessing that Delaney's and Ryder's secrets are essentially parts of the same big secret - the existence of supernatural life. Thankfully Monk decided to cut the whole thing short so the two of them finally have their heart-to-heart conversation and get some misunderstandings cleared making it possible for Delaney to stop pining after him and for him to stop playing the tragic hero).

In the meantime, things escalate both in the case of the missing powers and in the vampire's death. Before the novel is over, a werewolf is almost dead, another vampire is missing and the powers are found - but that comes with a surprising twist for Ryder (because he just had to get tied to the town a bit more securely after all - the series demands it). And the resident Valkyrie manages to get everyone to do her bidding as usual.

It is still fluff and I occasionally want to hit a character (or three) and tell them to turn on their brains but it is still an enjoyable series and a nice palate cleaner between heavy books.

One note though: some of the actions in this novel makes it impossible for the prequel to actually work in the timeline. Yes, there are enough creatures who can change people's memories to make it vaguely possible but Delaney made a point multiple times that they do not do that to her so... I am not sure how it can fit. But that is a minor grumble. ( )

Devils and Details
(Ordinary Magic #2)
by Devon Monk
When the gods come to this town of Ordinary, they must leave their powers locked up with one of the gods in charge of this job for that year. Well, somehow, someone steals all the gods powers!
Meanwhile, someone kills a vampire. Delaney, oldest of the cop sisters, is working on her trust issues with her crush. There is also so much craziness happening it is almost non-stop!
Very exciting and entertaining!
I got my copy from chirp when it was on sale. ( )

Likely one the most similar series to Tanya Huff 'The Enchanted Emporium' series that I have read. ( )

The troubles in Ordinary ramp up; we get a little (very little) more info about the war foreshadowed at the end of the first book. One death and three assaults. And a heck of a lot of dancing around truth between Delaney and Ryder - we do find out (some of) what's up with him, and he finds out at least some of what goes on in Ordinary. And he jumps in, with not enough info, and puts himself, Delaney, and possibly the whole town in a rather awkward situation. I think Mithra was cheating from the start - from Piper's birth, at least, he lied to her mother and to her. It will be...interesting...if the author follows that track, since Ryder now has the ability to see if someone's cheating... I definitely want to read the next book(s). ( )