M.F Adele has written a beautiful story that I've loved finding myself lost in. The character building and world building were exquisite and well thought out, and the story continued to be thought provoking and kept me pulled in for the long haul. I couldn't put it down.

Multiple POVs are seen throughout this read, and we get glimpses of what might come later. All in all, this was a great read. 4.8 stars for me, rounded up to 5 stars easily. I highly recommend this read!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

Not going to lie I was a bit confused in the beginning because it took me a little while to understand that Ada was in the human world and then there was going to be a transition into the fantasy world. (This very much so could've been a human error sort of thing)

I thought the story premise was interesting but I guess I was sort of waiting for more world-building? I feel like we abruptly transitioned from reality to Ada's new reality with a hint of foreshadowing. I know there are more books in the series so I am assuming it is a matter of just reading the rest for it to really develop.

I thought at times the writing and the characters came across as juvenile. I get that this very well could be an intentional choice by the author- but at times it made it hard to really root for any of the characters.

I did think the prospect of more than one love story was interesting- but it was again something that this book was clearly setting the foundation for and it would come to be more in the next couple of books. I will say there are definitely love stories that I am rooting more so than others.

Overall I would say that this was pretty middle of the road for me. There were parts I liked and parts that I didn't really care for. But I will be reading more from this author and more from this series because I definitely could see myself connecting more to the story the more it and the characters develop.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

What an interesting story! For the Strange and Surprising: Where the Mongrels Are follows the lead character Ada as she gets swept into a waterspout during a storm and transported to another dimension/world. The dimension consists of a "magical" island with tribes affiliated with different elements. Ada finds herself with the Mongrels who all have some kind of power over water. The story follows Ada's journey as she tries to come to grips with being in a different dimension, fighting her attraction for four Mongrel men, and her struggle with deciding if she really wants to return home or not.

I enjoyed this story. I appreciated the author including possible trigger warnings in the beginning of the book as I've hardly come across that before. This book is reverse harem with Ada having four love interests so it may not be for everyone. I found the plot to be clever and it kept my interest. I have to say though that I know it's the first book of a series but I did feel like not much happened in this book. I kept waiting for something big to occur and I feel like I never really got that with this and because of that it felt somewhat incomplete. Overall, I did enjoy it and I am interested in continuing the series to see what happens next!

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Special thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review

For the Strange and Surprising is the first book in the trilogy, Where the Mongrels Are. This is the beginning of the series, Where They Are, which follows four female characters. The Where They Are series is set in a fantasy world and contains paranormal themes such as elemental powers and mythical creatures.
What an oddly delightful tale. It was a quick read that kept you interested. I enjoyed reading the story. Ada as a character could use a bit more developing which i hope comes in later stories.

What is good? It's a very cozy, cute, and whimsical tale to me. Adelaide gets stuck in a storm on a little boat and ends up in another world. One with magic, and queens that have lived for thousands of years. The blurb felt very misleading to me, one speaking of danger and great powers. But all Adelaide really does is relax, enjoy herself and sees some new sights. It's very short, and while there are a so-called war between two tribes on the island. You hear about attacks, help heal wounds, but no deaths are really mentioned.

The blurb + the excessive trigger warnings in the beginning of the book had me not only expecting to be changing POVs between 4 girls (that doesn't happen), but also experiencing a darker tale. The very worst things in the books is a potential stalker (but could also be a spy), and the mention that "bad things happen to women in both worlds", which was alluding to rape. But rape doesn't happen, the word is never even mentioned, other than vague hand motions in the air that it might have happened to someone in the past. I don't know if that changes in the next few books tho.

I greatly enjoyed Adelaide, I greatly enjoyed the idea that the island was alive and powerful. And actually trying to manipulate people, but in an.. friendly sort of way? It kind of covers the whole "female lead acts very differently around different guys" aspects. I loved who whimsical and magical the land felt. And out of the four guys, I enjoyed 3 of them. I wasn't a big fan of Ecaeris, because out of the four men he was the only one who felt like a cookie-cutter trope. FMC and MMC instantly gets on eachother nerves and bicker and fight constantly while being insanly attracted to eachother? Yeah.. not very original. It's very common in reverse harems tho that each male fits a very specific personality trope AND a kink trope to "cover all the bases", and I didn't get that vibe from the other guys. Tho, this being a clean book, I can't really testify for the kink trope part.

My biggest worry really, my biggest complaints, is really just fears over what's to come. This book only covered Adelaine, there were no romance other than a little light flirting. I want to read how this blossoms, how their relationship develops and see her fall into someones arms once or twice. How am I going to get to see that if they're this short AND there are 3 other girls I'm supposed to be introduced to?

Going into this book I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect. I thought the title and the synopsis sounded very promising. This was a very quick read. This was a very slow burn book. I wish it hadn’t been as short as it was. I felt like the info dumping was a little rushed. I was still pleasantly surprised and didn’t feel the need to put the book down. I was interested the entire time.
Thank you to netgalley for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Strange and surprising is the best way to describe this book.
Slow burn, high tension, mysterious beasts, water element, it has it all.

Though we didn't start to see any action until over the half way mark, it still kept me entertained and hanging for the next installment.


Special thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review

Ada is 22 and has lost everyone that means anything to her. As she goes fishing to be close to those she lost a storm moves in fast and she is sucked into a waterspout. On the other side she finds that she is no longer on Earth and is now on a new planet with tribes. She has four protectors as she navigates this new world and new magic. I really enjoyed the story and characters. The writing style started off a bit rough for me but I soon got into it and I actually like the many different POV chapters. I will definitely be waiting to read the next two books in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for an honest review.

For the Strange and Surprising:
Where the Mongrels Are
by M.F. Adele

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story doesn't match up to the blurb! The blurb is a much better story. And I'm wondering if the blurb is describing the series as a whole, and not just this book because they really don't match, it’s more as if the book is brushing over the blurb.
Don't get me wrong, the book has potential, but for the 201 pages, it only vaguely introduces the world, characters, issues, and if another 100-200 pages were interwoven into this one, it would be a complete story, not the outline this is.
There were a few funnies, and I did towards the end start to like the characters, but it was hard to tell the difference between them. First-person point of view is ok, but when there are 4 different 1st person points within the story, they start blurring together unless the characters are very well developed, and these weren’t, but at least they were separated by chapters. And unlike the blurb stated, it was 3 male 1 female, not 4 female characters.

I cannot give this book any more than 2 stars.


And now for the 'trigger' warnings.
If you need these warnings, you shouldn't be reading in the first place. Lock yourself in a little room and hide from the world.... Stop ruining life for those who want to live. 
Authors, please don't ruin the story by giving away the plot and events by announcing these ‘triggers’. I have passed on books because the 'trigger warnings' were spoilers, so I had no reason to read the book!

I really enjoyed that this was a more pf a lighter and enjoyable reverse harem. Ada gets the Wizard of Oz treatment when a storm pulls her into a new world. She struggles to understand the new world she is trapped in and the rules of survival.

I like that each male character has a different relationship with Ada, from slighty antagonistic to flirtatious to calm and relaxing. I love the different dynamics. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the trilogy. Hopefully, we will learn more about the rules of this fantastical new world.

A strong three and a half
I find this hard to rate because honestly it’s good, interesting even but just at times the characters felt juvenile. For example Ada is confronting the Queen who is human and supposedly over a thousand years old but there are just no explanations given to Ada. Ada just keeps stumbling around and I wanted her to demand answers but everyone was just too nice . Ok yes there’s someone sinister lurking about and yes there’s a personality clash along the way which is clearly meant to indicate chemistry but I wanted to gnash my teeth. This is the first book in this series and well pretty tame although I think perhaps as Ada is sexually attracted to several guys that might soon change. An interesting idea that for this reader just needed less mystery and more upfront information.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair