Wow what an action packed journey. Not what I expected going in. I was expecting a light cozy fantasy. Instead I was plunged in to a small town filled with magical creatures trying really hard to live a mundane life. But life is never easy is it. A quick fun read for fantasy lovers.

I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. I didn't think it was right to review a book that I didn't finish.

I struggled to get into the book. I could not figure out why some characters acted the way they did and the plot was a little chaotic for me.
The writing style too just wasn't really my thing. I guess I was thinking that it would be different, but this book just isn't really something for me.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t. I struggled a lot trying to read this and understand everything that was written but I couldn’t. I’ve just found out this was a spin-off from another series so it clearly means everything I did not understand, the characters’s past, issues with others and any other references to the other books, was related to the books I have not read.

If I have to be completely honest, this book was not good. Maybe I am biased because I did not understand a thing due to being oblivious that this is a spin-off, but I am just explaining my experience.

I didn’t understand so many things, and this is why my reading experience with this book has been low. Like really bad. I don’t think I could ever continue reading the series after having struggled so much with this one.

It should really be more specified that this is a spin-off so, in order to fully comprehend and understand and be able to enjoy this book, you need to have read before the others.

The writing style was simple. And it was understandable, for someone who’s not a native English speaker but there were so many things that were associated with what happened in the previous books. The book description says you needn’t have to read the other series but it is clear as the day that you must, because if not, this book practically makes no sense.

This is a unique story with all kinds of supernatural in it. This is the first time I came across some trolls in a story like this. I loved the magic and the characters
This was one great story.

Thrift Store Trolls kicks off a new urban fantasy series, which is a spin-off from the Coveted series by Shawntelle Madison. It starts roughly six months after the conclusion of the third Coveted book, Compelled. The new series continues to share the tales of the South Toms River werewolf pack from the perspective of its Alpha Female, Nat.

As the start of the new series, Thrift Store Trolls can be read without having enjoyed the original series. It’s been a few years since the last book was released, and the author does a good job of adding information to help both new and returning readers understand the key events and details that happened prior to the start of the book.

Nat is not your typical urban fantasy heroine, and I love this about her. In fact, she struggles with severe OCD and is prone to panic attacks. She’s not the biggest and best fighter in her pack, but she’s carved her place as the Alpha Female because of love. While she is more confident in her place now than she was during the original series, she still has doubts, thankfully one of them is not Thorn’s love. I found myself annoyed on a couple occasions because I don’t want to see Nat have to prove herself to the pack over and over, but luckily, it doesn’t happen too often. And when she makes the tough calls, Thorn backs her up one hundred percent.

This time around, someone or something is leaving trunks filled with dangerous basilisks at Nat’s work, The Bend of the River Flea Market aka. The Bends. Moreover, these creatures know where she lives and seem to be coming after her. When the threat bubbles over into human areas and threatens someone close to Nat, she must work with her friends outside the Pack, and she must unify her Pack to follow her lead.

Overall, I enjoyed returning to South Toms River. There is something about the stories and characters that resonates with me. Nat has grown a lot, yet still remains a work-in-progress. She’s learning to trust others, even those who tormented her in the past. She’s on her way to becoming her true self. While there are a few problematic and/or confusing scenes, the fun of the book outweighs my mild annoyance. And I am super happy to see a follow up book is coming in 2021.

My Rating: B Liked It -- Recommend

I haven’t read the previous series so a few parts I didn’t have a whole lot of background information. I still enjoyed the story and am interested in finding out e backstory with the authors previous series. I love Natalya’s character and how she is flawed, but still the heroin.

This was certainly a unique read, and set in my own state! I 100% did not realize this world was already established before reading this book, but the author does a nice job catching you up throughout the story.

Nat is a werewolf, works at a flea market (that caters to supernaturals), and is trying to find her footing in the pack as she has newly become the alpha's mate officially. Pack dynamics aside, she's also got a little bit of a problem with smelly trunks showing up and barfing up magical baddies. Gross. There's a bad guy lurking around doing bad things to supernaturals in her neck of the woods, so she jumps in to defend her "territory" even when it gets her gooey and gross.

Overall, these characters were fun to meet for the first time and felt pretty natural in this world. I even enjoyed the ornery new neighbors to the flea market. As a paranormal book it was a really interesting world to dive in to. I wish there was a little more romance to meet my usual reading preferences, but it was still super enjoyable.

ARC from NetGalley

I hadn't read any of the previous books in this series, but I don't know that it was necessary. The book is advertised as the first book in a new series, but it didn't read that way. That said, most history and references were clarified as they pertained to the plot. Unfortunately, this book was boring and in desperate need of another round of edits (ARC though, so plausible). You would think that a book about werewolves, wizards, witches, et al being hunted by a big ol' baddy would be exciting, but it felt like nothing important happened. No one important died. No new romance. I mean.. we end up pretty much in the same spot at the end as we were in the beginning. And I have to say, Nat is the most wimpy bitch alpha I have ever come across. I want my time back.

I thought the writing was well done. However, there were so many magical creatures crammed into one story I kept getting lost in the creature specific rules. I like my magical stories a little more focused.

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy of this title.

It has been a while since I, with regret, farewelled the Coveted world when the last book came out. Imagine my excitement to see that the author had returned to that world to begin a fun second series for Nat and her friends.

Thrift Store Trolls opens with Nat sending her werewolf alpha mate, Thorne off for a meeting out of town, and heading into work. Naturally, trouble finds her in the form of a mysterious trunk that isn't full of goods to be sold on the variety store shelves, but a killing monster that seems intent on getting Nat. When more mysterious trunks and more of what is inside them start going after the werewolves, Nat's authority as alpha mate, hard-earned as it was, is put to the test. Her rivals are waiting for the OCD Nat to fail, but she must rise above her tendencies and fears to do her job and protect the pack and then find out what has the fairies afraid about the woods and who is sending the mystery trunks.

Thrift Store Trolls jumped right back into Nat's life. It had a 'what happens after the happily ever after' vibe that I enjoyed. I appreciated that Nat won the challenge to be Thorne's mate, but that didn't suddenly make all her issues go away. She still gets challenged and her OCD is still there, but over the course of her previous adventures, she is no longer the cringing werewolf who can't get past her fears and anxieties. She sees her own worth and powers through her struggles. I also enjoyed several of the familiar faces like Nat's quirky Russian family, her besties from her therapy group, her boss Bill the Troll, and of course time spent with Thorne who backs her play all the way.

I was primed to love this one from page one and I did to a certain extent, but I also felt somewhat disconnected from the characters and the story even when things got exciting. I felt like I was waiting for more even when it was delivering on the action and characters. I don't remember struggling with this before when I was reading the original series so perhaps it is a mood.

I also want to point out that, though this seems to be the start of a new series and it is, I think readers would get way more out of it if they treat it like a spin-off series or even a season two. There are several references to the past that might drive a new reader nuts to know more plus some references assume the reader knows who the character is or what the situation was before and then there is not appreciating Nat's growth since a lot of it took place in the earlier books.

In summary, I am tickled that Nat and her gang of friends are back and there is a new threat to the wolves, the other supernaturals, and the humans needing to be vanquished over the course of the series. This is lighter, but action-packed and character-driven urban fantasy that I can encourage fans of the genre to give a try starting with Covet.

A great start to a new series. Book #1 in a series must always introduce us to the characters and community that will be home for the volumes to follow. The characters give us a little background but expect growth and maturity to come as the series grows. That being said.....

THRIFT STORE TROLLS is set in a community of magic that is located in an urban center. The main character, Natalya, works at a flea market/ thrift store/ magic store selling knick knacks and magic items. She is also the alpha of one of the local werewolf packs, a pretty unique job itself. Her interactions with the local community, magical and non, set a fun background to the series beginning.

I'm looking forward to the next volume so I can see where Natalya ends up next.

This book is a spin-off of another series that I have not read. I was completely lost. There is no introduction to the main character no background. There are events mentioned that must have happened in previous books. Not knowing anything about the characters and universe completely turned me off reading this book. If the author wishes to draw in new readers there needs to be a better introduction to this series. The blurb states the previous series does not need to be read but it truly does if you stand a hope if enjoying this book.
While I did not enjoy this book its writing style pace and interesting plotline will definitely appeal to someone who has read the original series. I would have loved to have a deeper knowledge of the characters to actually enjoy this book.

This is a fun urban fantasy book. This is the first of Madison's books that I have read, and finding out that this is a spin-off of another series actually made me feel reassured and keen to read her other series. The story revolves around Natalya who sells trinkets in a thrift store, interwoven with the magical community right in the middle of suburbia. While there are a lot of references to previous events and previous relationships that are not fully explored (these have been explored in other novels - thank you to Madison fans for the clarification!) this is a story that can be enjoyed without having read the other series if you are prepared to accept you will not know the full details of the backstories without reading the others. Natalya is a flawed Alpha female which makes her very likable, and the entire magical community is fascinating.

this was a great start to a series, the characters were great and I really enjoyed reading this book. It made me excited to read the sequel.

Thrift Store Trolls is the first book in the Flea Market Magic series by Shawntelle Madison. While this is the first book in this series, it is part of the Coveted series world. I had read some of the first series set in that world, and enjoyed them, but have not read any in awhile. I was able to catch up reasonably quickly, but there is a definite disadvantage to new or lapsed Madison readers.

Selling haunted trinkets and witches' wands is just another normal day for the delightfully neurotic werewolf Natalya Stravinsky. From one day to another, as the new South Toms River Pack alpha female, she tries to keep finicky supernatural customers placated while managing her underhanded goblin boss and eccentric supernatural co-workers. Her life is complicated further when competition rolls in: a peculiar troll-owned mart with subpar haunted knick-knacks and deadly antiques appears.A powerful fairy path veers off course, heading towards South Toms River, attracting the attention of a deadly, shadowed force. Mysterious steamer trunks from the 1920s pop up all over town, unleashing horrific beasts. Natalya must find the inner strength to bring her pack together to uncover the culprit before her enemies threaten everyone she holds dear.

Thrift Store Trolls is a good urban fantasy, and I enjoyed relearning the characters and world that Madison has created. I think this is a book that will be much more appreciated by fans of the previous series (Coveted) which I now want to go back and reread and finish, but once I got into the groove of the story I was engaged in trying to figure out what everyone was up to and how Nat was going to solve this mess.The tension was high, and there was a good balance of danger, clue following, and actual conversations. I liked the way the friend and family dynamics were equally important as the life or death stakes of the story. I also liked the way magic and reality are woven together in a way that makes me look a little closer at strip malls and antique store that I might drive by. The story was engaging, with character and story development that left me feeling content that a great deal was covered and solved, but that so much more could be coming along in the future. I love a series where each book has a satisfying ending but still leaves me eager to open up the next book- not because I was left hanging but because I care enough about the characters and world to see what happens next.

Thrift Store Trolls is a good read for new or lapsed readers of Madison, but I suspect it is a great read for those have have been better at keeping up with their work.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I loved the blurb and the premise for this book, and I read a lot of series, so I’m used to continuing stories, however, when the book jumped straight into the story without introducing characters etc. At this point, I began to suspect that this was a new series following on from a previous series and I was correct. The Flea Market Magic series follows the Coveted series, the Goodreads blurb does mentions this though. For me a short intro of a few pages to recap the major points of the previous series would be an improvement from grasping at snippets of information as the storyline develops.

Other than the slight blip of being somewhat confused by assumed background knowledge initially, I enjoyed the story, the characters and the world.

A strong 3.5 stars.

Thrift Store Trolls by Shawntelle Madison, an enjoyable read. A werewolf who works in a thrift store, when weird things start to happen around town aimed at her!

I really struggled to get into this book. I did not know it was a spin off of another series. There are many references to past relationships, conflicts and events that affect things here that are talked about but never reviewed. I felt lost, didn’t understand why these characters had issues with others, and there was a lot of history spoken of. Forbidden things, they knew about but I had no memory of where mentioned. I really struggled, I wanted to enjoy this.
The writing style had too many similes. Weird ones, that just made me stop and say, what ? There was a lot of jumping around in the story. Told in first person with the MC’s thoughts everywhere at once. From this one book I will not be continuing on with this series. Perhaps my experience would have been better if I’d read the previous books,
I can not recommend this book unless you’ve read the previous series.
I received this book from the publisher for an honest review

Thank you for allowing me to preview this book. I tried a few different times to read this and just couldn't get into it. Maybe I would have if I had read the series it was spinning off from. Best wishes and thanks again for the preview