Very entertaining, took me a while to finish it though as I really could not get on with the narrator. But that's just a personal preference. Great plot, very well written with a great cast of characters.

I liked this so much more than I had anticipated. The story takes place in Vancouver, Canada in an alternate reality where some have magic. It is packed with interesting elements and enjoyable secondary characters.
The story moves at a break-necking speed. With that the world building isn’t very well explained. We get a lot of different things thrown at us and it can be a lot to take in.
Anyways! Looking forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the review copy of this audiobook!

I loved the magic system in the book and this book has a great main character. She was snarking and I loved it! The plot and story was done great. I loved also that our main character loved Sherlock Holmes. This made my Sherlock Holmes fan heart VERY happy!

I highly recommend this read!

The NetGalley app wouldn't allow the listening so I uninstalled it. The star rating is not for the book, though. The feedback wouldn't go thorugh without it.

Hello Gemmies! I have an exciting book review to share with you today. Please note: I received an audiobook ARC of this book (via NetGalley) from its publisher in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Blood & Ash by Deborah Wilde is fun and delightful read. The first book in the Jezebel Files series, this book is part gritty crime noir, part paranormal drama, and part romantic comedy. Blood & Ash really has it all! With influences from Jewish religion and mythology the story felt very fresh and new. Blood & Ash was a different take on magic and monsters. It was so much more than I expected.

Blood & Ash is full of twists, turns, action, magic, and sexy characters. Set in contemporary Vancouver, the world building felt realistic. I found myself quickly immersed in it. The plot was also well done. There are mysteries to be solved, magic, golems, mob bosses, and enough sexy hijinx to keep you reading all night long. Trigger warning: this is an adult book as such there is adult language and at least two sexually explicit scenes.

Blood & Ash is also a well written character driven story with a diverse cast of characters that I found to be fun, dynamic, and complex. Ashira Cohen is the best protagonist. She's sarcastic, snarky, bold, smart, headstrong, and just plain old awesome. I also loved Levi and Pria's characters. The tension between Ashira and Levi felt a little over the top at times but not enough to detract from the story. And the relationship between Ashira and Pria was BFF perfection.

Blood & Ash is narrated by one person Hollie Jackson. Hollie does a fantastic job of voicing each character. She is able to provide each with a distinct voice and personality. This is especially true with Ashira who needed a super sarcastic tone to make her character's quirky humor come through. Each person felt authentic, and through Hollie's narration I experienced several laugh out loud moments. The narration is done at a great pace, it never feels too slow or too fast. This was a joy to listen to and I cant' wait to read more stories in this series!

If you are a fan of snarky heroine's, noir thrillers, sexy scenes, and magic, then go read this book! This gem published by Te Da Media is available for purchase from all major booksellers. I give Blood & Ash 4 out of 5 gems. Happy Reading!

Blood and Ash initially shows a lot of promise. However, by the end, the clear lack of world-building and believable plot makes this entry a bit of a joke, but not in a good way.

Thank You Netgalley & Te Da Media for the audiobook of Blood & Ash (The Jezebel Files) by Deborah Wilde in return for my honest review. This was my first book by Wilde and I’m torn.

Blood & Ash led by “snarky” MC Ashira Cohen, who is PI in a magical world. It is mentioned MANY times that she’s a Holmes fan. The need to repeat it so much was one of many things that made me feel like this was written by someone who doesn’t trust readers to pick up on blatant details. I wish less time had been spent on Holmes, Watson, & Moriarty. Anyway, we have supernaturals living amongst humans. There’s magic and houses, family drama, kidnapping, murder, and a lot of confusion.

The good:
Diversity, for the most part. Jewish MC and love interest. Jewish mythology which was a fun change of pace. And an Indian BFF. That was great.

BFF, the two ladies had some moments I enjoyed.

Queen of Hearts - loved!!!

What didn’t work for me:
The snarkiness of the MC came off as childish more often than not. I love strong, sarcastic women, but it was too much, to the point of being distracting.

The romance felt forced. Enemies to lovers, I guess, but I didn’t buy into either relationship. They were odd enemies (like little boys pulling a little girls hair because he likes her sort of feel). I would almost describe it as bully/bullied to lust-ish. Like I said, didn’t work for me.

The world building and character development was lacking. The magic and rules were never clearly defined or explained. There was so much going on that I felt overwhelmed. I normally enjoy fast-paced books with a lot of action, but that only works if you take the down-time to explore the world and explain the rules. Then you have the characters, which felt like caricatures of every UF book I’ve ever read. This is obviously set up to be more than one book, so leaving questions open is important, however so is answering them. There was so much left unanswered that it became frustrating.

Unfortunately for me I had the audiobook, I was not a fan of Hollie Jackson’s take on the MC, and that More than anything else took me out of the story. I can’t help but wonder if some of my opinions would change if I had read it myself. But who knows.

I thoroughly enjoyed the parts I listened to. Who doesn't love a strong female with a snarky attitude? I also liked where the story was going but unfortunately, I didn't get very far.

The NetGalley app was not functioning properly. It wouldn't start where I'd left off and the controls were unusable so I could not move from where it was set. I was really disappointed as I was looking forward to getting into this story more.

I was enjoying this audio book until I found problems with the software and in particular the inability to return to where I finished listening when I returned to take up my listening (I was mainly listening in the car so could not spend time fiddling trying to get back to where I left off.

The story and plot hat I heard did seem interesting but unfortunately I did not get far enough in to fully appreciate both. I am unlikely to download more audiobooks until the software becomes more user friendly!

Do you like snarky, smart mouth, bad ass heroines? Yup. Me to. Ash covers all those bases. In a world of magic, Ash is supposedly non magic, yeah that doesn’t last long. A smack to the head and her magic starts to make an appearance. While on the hunt to find a missing girl she must figure out why her magic was hidden, how did Levi become such a hotty (there’s some serious sexual tension going on). It’s full to the brine with who dunnit! And I particularly adored the narrator, she managed to portray Ash’s character with her voice. It’s definitely worth a read and I can’t wait to read the next instalment to see what happens. Do Levi and Ash get together or will it be a guessing game through the series? To Be Continued....

**Thanks to the author and netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to NetGalley and Te Da Media for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bottom line: I really enjoyed this paranormal mystery with a dash of romance. Ashira Cohen is a fun, take no prisoners character whose sarcasm and antisocial tendencies spoke to me in a way I should perhaps be concerned about. I loved her snark, perhaps because it was balanced with a character who knew when she was wrong. Then there’s the mystery. It was compelling enough that I urgently wanted to finish and find myself making time to listen when I should be doing other things, and there were threads left loose that make me want to keep reading. Character growth, sarcasm, friendship, mystery, and magic were ingredients for a good read (or listen in this case). And like I mentioned, there is certainly some romance in the mix, but it isn’t the driving force and I for one appreciated that. It was just the right balance for me and I’m definitely glad it isn’t a standalone.

**4.5 stars**

This book was the entry door to the Jezebel Files series and now I am (a tiny bit) obsessed. All is narrated from Ash’s point of view, a Private Investigator in the non magic side of society in Canada, that doesn’t seem to have boring days in her life.

As a heroine, Ash is smart and has a surprising ability to handle risky situations. She also masters the use of irony and has a best friend that I totally envy.

Quite importantly, Ash also has an archenemy. His name is NOT Mycroft but it could almost be, considering all the Sherlock references on this book. The only point? There are NOT brotherly feelings towards him. These two have a long history and their banter have reached professional level of proficiency. No additional tension required (it’s all already there).

This book was diverse, action packed, full of pop culture references and made me laugh more than once (don’t get me wrong, certain parts could also be frustrating). The book also touches the daily complications of public opinion in a society that has forward (and less forward) thinking in regards to the acceptance of differences (i.e. humans with magic). The story grabbed me by the arm and didn’t let go until I finished this book and the following two. The fourth and final is about to get published… reading time is already booked on my calendar.

-Overall story: 4.5 stars
-Audio: 4.5 stars (the narrator was great, but the beginning of the book was a bit accelerated until she found the “rhythm”)

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an audio of this book though Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love audio books and this was a book i enjoyed to the end. My first book with this author but i will look out for more

So, let me just say that any book that self describes the main character as SNARKY wins a top of the stack read from me. It's so descriptive. It's the person that I want to be. :) And Ashira is all that. The story starts a little slow but I'm a believer that often books, and especially the beginning of a series, need to take those baby steps. Once the cast of characters has arrived and taken form the book really takes off. I am already looking for the next one in the series. Very, very good.

Sadly this is a DNF for me at chapter 8.

I was given this audio book via #netgalley and I have to say I really didn't like the Narrator Hollie Jackson. I found her voice was not distinct enough to differentiate between characters and so my mind began to wander and before I knew it another chapter had gone and I've know idea what the heck just happened.

I will read the book at a later date and update my review accordingly as I feel its unfair to the author to leave the review solely based on the audio.

I finished this, but honestly could have DNF’d the story at several points because I felt no attachment to the protagonist or any of the characters. I felt like this book was trying to be a savvy urban fantasy, but it fell flat or ran off into the too bizarre zone to hit the sweet spot of the genre. I received an audible version of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What I liked:
1) The stuff that probably should have been cut out by an editor but I think was left in to buffer the overfast pace of the narrative. I liked the things like the karaoke night bar scene.
2) The overpowered moody hero Levi. He’s the only character I liked.
3) I listened to the audible version of this and I enjoyed the narrator.

What I didn’t like:
1) The protagonist, Ashira. Her inner thoughts and snarky tween attitude towards everything and anyone were irritating. She’s rude to her mother, her boss, even her best friend. She really lost me with her abundance of crass. She openly talked to her mother about about preferring to have her vagina tattooed with the Star of David since that could use more of the divine. The sudden combination of offense and physical cringing, horrified by needles and tattoo ink anywhere near there, was new for me. Talk about getting jolted out of the read. One quip with her best friend about sex toys can be funny, but in this book the humor turned crude with the frequent talk and thoughts about toys and vibrators. A dildo being one of the first things Ashira manifests with her powers is just bizarre and reinforces her crude and crass persona. Speaking of her powers, how annoying that Ashira’s a chosen one troupe with super special powers no one in her world has seen in modern times. Ashira’s chosen one power is tied to her Jewish heritage, yet her Jewish belief system is barely secular. Her secular beliefs are then a contradiction when she recognizes a Gollum on sight and can read Hebrew. Then there’s Ashira and Levi’s contrived “summer camp” kid hostile history. A childish stab at an enemy to lovers’ romance. If the authors goal was for Ashira to join the ranks of lovable snarky characters like Mercy Thompson, Stephanie Plum, or Sookie Stackhouse, then Ashira needed to be nice on occasion. Meaning, nicer inner thoughts and a dose of kindness now and then for the people she loves the most, or unknown people she meets. One of the hallmarks of a lovable snarky character is how much of their humor is self-depreciating or originates with their ability to know and embrace their shortfalls. Ashira comes off as conceited, shallow, self-centered, spiteful, angry, and petty.
2) The plot. It went in several directions; the pacing was fast and at times choppy. After a while I stopped caring about where the plot was going because each investigative lead Ashira followed seemed to resolve in nothing or end in some kind of bizarre dues ex machina moment. There’s political intrigue but it’s difficult to appreciate through Ashira’s snarky and jaded point of view. In the end, the stakes were raised so high, there was only one path to a satisfying ending which made the last few chapters really boring and skim worthy.
3) The magic system. It was all over the place and the boundaries and rules of it seemed to change or alter at whim which enhanced the whole duex ex machina pattern of events. Ashira is also some kind of magic savant. After never using magic in her life, she achieves master level control of her new powers in under three days.

Wilde's UF series features a snarky heroine, a powerful and aloof male lead, and forbidden/unknown magic. It's a fairly common recipe in the UF genre and Blood & Ash has definite echoes of Ilona Andrews throughout. But despite that, it's a fun and quick read that has some laughs, some steamy bits, and enough nerd-centric nods to make me smile. It was a pleasant distraction just when I needed one.

4 Stars

I really enjoyed this audiobook! It's been a while since I enjoyed an out and out Urban Fantasy. Ashira was kick ass, funny and full of heart. The side characters were well developed and a fantasy world which made me want to explore it more. Levi was mysterious and delicious and I can't wait to find how their relationship develops over the next few books.

Audiobook ARC provided by NetGalley.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3564343886

Thank you Netgalley and The Publisher for the allowing me to review this

DNF

I liked the diversity of this book, but the Plot wasn't grabbing me, and the romance.missed the mark.

Also, I was listing to this on audio, and I was not enjoying this narrator. They weren't giving off any emotion at all. It was an extremely flat performance.

** spoiler alert ** A new take on a detective/PI novel, filled with handsome men, a witty sidekick and a kickass female lead, not to mention there's magic involved.

Ash has been a mundane her entire life, but when she gets injured her whole world changes. Suddenly she is thrust into the centre of a major conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. She will have to work with her nemesis, Levi, to discover the truth and save all the children that have gone missing. Can Ash figure out a way to work with Levi without killing him, or worse kissing him? Oh, and let's not forget she has blood magic and no idea how to use it.


A fun and quick read with the right amount of action, romance and motherly conflict. Recommended for fans who enjoy no-nonsense female leads and Sherlock Holmes.