Alex, you gotta fend for yourself

This was a quick bit of fun but I’m not sure I feel the need to read more. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood at the time. Maybe I’ll try it again later. WHO KNOWS WHAT I’LL DECIDE, I NEVER DO.

Alexia Tarabotti has quite a few problems, the least of which being that she is old (well, “old”) and unmarried and looks to remain that way for quite some time. This is due to her being Italian, which is bad because of Old Times and also means she has a big nose and is too curvy to be fashionable even though everyone knows men heart boobs, especially big ones.

She is also preternatural, meaning she doesn’t have a soul. This doesn’t mean she has no feelings or morals or anything, it just means she has the cool ability to take away supernatural powers just by touching the supernatural being. This comes in handy, as there are werewolves and vampires running all about London.

One of these werewolves is Lord Maccon, Alpha of the London werewolves and leader of the Bureau of Unnatural Registry. He finds Alexia both maddening and charming, which he finds annoying because, like all leading men, he doesn’t want to fall in love. Because love is messy and annoying. He can’t fight his feelings for long, however, and when he confronts them, he and Alexia find that they’re almost the last to know that those feelings were there. Because, duh, Alexia is in love with him, too. That’s not a spoiler, that’s just obvious going in to this.

There are lots of crazy bits with wax-work men and vampire hives and werewolf lore and spinster comedy. It reminded me a lot of one of the lighter episodes of Doctor Who. The fun is there, I just didn’t feel much of the pull of it. This could be for a couple of reasons. A) This just isn’t for me or B) I’m in a bit of a book rut at the moment so nothing is really catching me. I think it’s a bit of both, really, and, while this series may not be for me, I can see why others like it. What’s not to like, really? There’s supernatural goings-on, a hot headed male lead, and a strong, intelligent, goes-her-own way heroine. Maybe I’ll pick this up again at another time, one in which I’m rut-less.