Another brilliant book in the Ana and Din Mystery series from Robert Jackson Bennett. If you liked the first one, you will love this one too - there is more character exposition, and another great mystery unravelled by the brilliant Ana, with meaningful help from Din. This book spent less time building up the world than the first one, as you might expect, but still added more details to make for a richer reading experience. 

I felt like I had figured out the mystery a bit early, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the work (because I wanted to see how it would all be revealed and way.) 

Din was a bit more romanticially inclined this round, with some potentially silly outcomes, that I thought were quite well executed. 

Robert Jackson Bennett is going to continue to be a regular must buy authour - if you like his other books, this one will likely appeal. Similar writing style, each with a completely different universe to explore. 

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC, my review is my own. I also bought myself a copy.

This book is a refreshing change from a well trodden archetype. There are tales where true love can tame a demon... but Wicked Flavors is a wickedly spicy exploration of what happens if the demon makes her worse (but also better.) and I delighted in all of it.

Lots of character growth and development from both our protagonists - where demonesque Ambrosious gets a little softer (begrudgingly) and Gwendolyn grows as a person, becomes more herself after shrinking from a world that told her she was always Too Much. 

Wicked Flavors is a book that manages to balance greusome and wholesome in a really effective and fun way, making it a satisfying read. I'm looking forward to the other books in the series. Heed the content warnings the authour provides at the beginning of the book. This is not a soft bubble gum story - there is explicit sex and violence throughout. 

I requested and received an ARC from the authour.

I absolutely loved Lessons in Magic and Disaster. It has complex, lovable characters that are frustrating, and feel very alive. There are so many interesting and intereconnected layers and create this immersive atmosphere of being a fly on the wall, watching the events transpire, caring about these fictional people and the situations they get themselves into. It's full of love, and grief and imperfect people trying to do the right things and the wrong things with the best of intentions. 

I also enjoyed the exploration of 18th century women writers. Oddly enough, delightfully enough, this ultra queer, ultra modern book, has me adding books from Jane Collier & Sarah Fielding to my TBR, even if some of the aspects mentioned in this book are fictionalized. As well as many of the books mentioned in the authour's historical note, so if you're anything like me, you'll end up with more books to read as a result for this one. 

There are so many *amazing* lines in Lessons in Magic and Disaster that it made me use the highlights feature on Netgalley for the first time ever. 

It really spoke to me, as a queer, as a person, as a parent, and as an academia dabbler. It has some challenging topics in it - as you might expect when characters are dealing with the death of a parent/partner, and the resonant grief around that, reactionary/queerphobic/transphobic activists, and just generally how well written, complicated parent-child relationships can be - but it's also deeply full of love and growth. 

I was able to read Lessons in Magic and Disaster courtesy of Netgalley, and the publisher, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Pretty superficial, very west is good,  ultimately somewhat ambivalent about this book - I might check out some of the books she mentions.