I really like the idea of this book, a PI that deals with supernaturals on the regular and has general back luck. This series gave me Mercy Thompson or Kitty Norville urban fantasy vibes, but John Smith is just too wacky for me. On some pages I enjoy his banter, but I also feel that he is too much of a one note character and I needed more from him to truly enjoy this book and continue the series.

Had not realized that it was so deep into a series, so a rocky start, but still made me chortle and once almost snort my drink.

This is a completely goofy and lighthearted read. I found it to really be an enjoyable escape from the mundane and if your looking for something entertaining and fun this is an excellent choice.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was a great sequel in the Many Travails of John Smith series. The characters were great and I enjoyed the storyline.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for my advance copy.

I can honestly say this book is entertaining!
If you need a light hearted goofy read please pick this up!
Some of us may relate to John smith still at home with parents and a very unsuccessful job but this book is also filled with odd characters to cheer you up and it’s definitely worth a read!

John Smith is living in his parents’ basement, his dating life is in the dumps and he is San Diego’s least successful P.I. The one place where he is doing ok is being San Diego’s supernatural mediator. Of course, that job isn’t something you can tell your parents, prospective dates, or even put any money you might get on your income tax, but it is dangerous and oh, did I mention, dangerous.

An urban fantasy with humor. You feel that John Smith is just an ordinary guy caught up in an extraordinary situation (he even gets bumps and bruises and needs people to rescue him). That is very appealing vs. all the superpowers in many urban fantasies. Some of the characters are very odd too, but also appealing. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill urban fantasy but that is all the more reason to read it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I like stories about private investigators and I can read stories about vampires. The language or characters were not bad, it wasn't an easy read for me, but the dialogue and descriptions were ok.

John Smith, private eye and mediator to the supernatural world, finds himself drawn into the politics of two werewolf clans following what appeared at first to be a suspected cheating wife.
The attitude, the jokes and the sexy vampires are all here as Chris Tullbane begins to expand on his world as well as lay some groundwork to the mystery of how John can subvert Lucia's will and what keeps Jee-Sun's cape flapping in a none existent wind?
A fantastic follow up to the first book.

This humorous book grabs you from the first and continues tickling you all the way until the end. John is definitely human but has to deal with everything that isn't. Plenty of twists and turns that make a well written plot. Paranormal can be funny as all get out!

What fun Chris Tullbane has made the fantasy world! It is the first time I have read a fantasy / paranormal series with humour and it hits the spot with his wit and sarcasm. The main character is human but every other character (predominantly) is not and this provides this private detective character with many interesting cases and important things to learn in order to survive and navigate this new world, albeit in San Diego! I enjoyed that this was set in a normal place on earth and that we were learning about these paranormal characters and lives right along with the main character, it didn’t as intense as most supernatural based novels.

I loved this book. First time reading this author and will be following, can't wait for next book. Well written with a fun plot. Found myself laughing out loud and explaining why to my husband. John's humor is awesome. I'd like to thank the publisher Ghost Falls Press for the advanced copy.

Blood is Thicker Than Lots of Stuff is book two in The Many Travails of John Smith, following Investigation, Mediation, Vindication. We pick up in John's life after his first mediation for the paranormal community went...well, he survived anyway, mostly unscathed. He's back in the PI business and even has a date! He did anyway until the vampires had to show up and ruin it for him. Truth be told, they didn't need to show up for it to be ruined; he's entirely capable of doing that himself. Something about still living in your parent's basement at 25 doesn't exactly lend itself to having a phenomenal dating life. He still has his PI business going for him and it's thriving—until werewolves start trying to kill him.

John has truly made some interesting life choices along the way. He always manages to end up right in the middle of the mess. Not that he's trying, mind you. It's truly a matter of happenstance and some drunken advertising that has landed him where he is. This time he's been hired by a husband to find out if the wife is cheating. (She's not, but she is a werewolf, which in turn, gets him mediating a divorce dispute for the local werewolf pack.) He's still out there giving it everything he's got and it turns out he's actually a pretty decent mediator despite getting in way over his head all the time.

Humor is still a big draw in this series. We've continued with the truly fun chapter titles "In Which ___". For example: Chapter 12, "In Which People Are Strange When You're a Stranger". The vegetable demigod Bill, who is so strangely charming, is absent but he has tasked John with the care of his ward, Jee Sun aka Tiny Flower, who manages to be both adorable and a diminutive terror. John's inner voice is still as quirky as ever and his outside voice is still spewing things that would much be better kept inside. Tullbane's casual writing style hasn't changed but Blood is Thicker Than Lots of Stuff gets darker than the previous book. John is still the average guy trying to feel his way through but the action kicks up a bit more leaning more towards typical UF fare while still avoiding second book syndrome.

I judge a lot of UF by whether you could pick up a book in the middle of a series and still understand what the heck is going on. The Many Travails of John Smith #2 passes muster. A good chunk of the opening is reintroducing characters and bringing the reader up to speed. That being said, the reader would get more enjoyment out of knowing the characters a bit more intimately and immersing in the worldbuilding gradually. This is a series that is going to go the distance so do yourself a favor and start from the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ghost Falls Press for the opportunity to read a copy of this book!

This book is a silly urban fantasy, as I had guessed and hoped from the title and description. I really felt like I would have needed to read the first book to really know what was happening, and I got tired of the "schlubby regular guy surrounded by supernaturally hot women" shtick. But this goes along pretty easily, and the "In Which _____" chapter titles are fun.

What a discovery! A gripping, funny and highly entertaining story that I loved.
I loved the excellent world building, the characters and well written plot.
It's the first I read in this series and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Why did it take me so long to find this author? I judge a "funny" book's success on how many lines I read aloud to others in the room. This book got frequent read-alouds. (The chapter sub-titles deserve an award on their own). Tullbane does an excellent job of keeping the book moving along rapidly while still keeping plenty of surprises to spring on the reader. Perfect book to read on the beach with a beverage in hand. I eagerly look forward to the publication of the next book in the series.

This was such a fun read! Not often that I find reading as entertaining as with this.

I even liked the humour! I often find humour in books to not be very funny, but really loved John's comments in this one.

I didn't read the first book in this series, but that wasn't necessary for me to understand what wss going on. Everything is easy to understand.

Let me start with I read Blood is Thicker Than Lots of Stuff, which is book 2 in the The Many Travails of John Smith series first. I saw it on NetGalley, found the title and blurb interesting and thought why not. OhEmGee! I freaking loved it.

Looking at the blurb, our main character is a PI and a supernatural mediator. A what? The mediator portion is fairly self-explanatory but why supernaturals? There is almost enough backstory to help me sort out what it is, but I still am a lost about the why. Note to self: read the first book. Anyhoo… We meet John as he is doing PI work, shadowing a woman to see if she is having an affair. Should be straight forward, right? Wrong! One thing leads to another and now he is mediating a separation between a werewolf pack's married leaders. How do we go from possible cheating wife to a completely different couple and situation you may ask? 0.o Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

Not having read the first book caused me to fumble through some of the characters. Vampires, which seem to be friends, a demigod that is a vegetable and his ward, and then there is of course John himself. I adore the fact that he is less than perfect. Not exactly clumsy, more like out of shape. Smart but not your typical MC genius. You know, your garden variety average Joe. Or more like John Smith. I’m sure there is quite a story on how he ended up as a mediator. First chance I get, I’m grabbing that first book to sort the why out.

The story itself I found to be completely unexpected and delightful. Nothing played out how I expected, and the situations John got into had me laughing. The story is fast-paced and never a dull moment. The secondary characters I found to be a source of great entertainment. Two thumbs up and highly recommendable, easily this is the best, and absolute favorite, new to me series this year. I can’t wait to read more by author Chris Tullbane.


Stars: 5

I received this book from Netgalley. I was not compensated for the book other than the entertainment it provided. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Okay. Not as good as the first book. But still better than the vast majority produced by writers of the supernatural. Frankly, the werewolves needed a lot more detail considering that they were supposed to be the book’s focus.

Still, I continue to love the hero and his vampire friends. The main character’s ability to find humour in any situation is something that I wish could be found in more books of this type.

I will be buying the book when it’s published.

Blood is Thicker Than Lots of Stuff carries Tullbane's original urban fantasy to new heights - unfortunately for his protagonist, who would much rather maintain (mostly) the position he's found himself in. With Tullbane's trademark wit and ability to design scenes and dialogue, there are no slow points without purpose, and the characters presented in the first in this series (Investigation, Mediation, Vindication) are fleshed out further. The action scenes remain crisp and authentic - it's very refreshing having a vanilla human dumped into the middle of supernatural combat, as opposed to the traditional urban fantasy tropes. All in all, Tullbane is still one of my favorite emerging authors - each of his books expounds on the others and continues to show his growth as a writer.

I hadn't read the first book, but had no problem starting in midstream, probably because the first 25% of the book spent more time reintroducing the cast of characters than barreling into this book's main story. Since I hadn't read the first book, that was fine, not sure how readers continuing on from book 1 may feel. It did not feel like an info. dump though, it felt pretty "organic". (It did not explain a certain someone's obsession with the Wild West? Mexico? though.)

I didn't find the book laugh out loud funny, more smile inducing which was a nice change from my usual darker UF reads. The character of John, at least in this book, isn't a slacker, but someone trying his best after finding out the world isn't exactly what he thought it was.

I liked the realism about some of the events, like how a man reacted after he found out what happened to his wife, but would have preferred a more action packed story. There is action and bad guy fighting, just not as much as I'm used to in UF.

I have put the first book on my wishlist and am looking forward to the third book.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.