I LOVE all things creatures and animals so I am always on the hunt for more books that include them. When I came across this one I had high hopes. Unicorns, pegasus, yalking animals?! Count me in. In the end, however, it was a bit of a letdown.

The story and characters fell flat and were just really boring to me. I honestly got a little bored a quarter of the way through and ended up skimming the rest. The romance was also just not very good. The writing came across as incredibly juvenile and the dialogue seemed so weird and unnatural at times.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited about the premise of this book. Mythical creatures and the like are very up my alley and it did not disappoint. This is a fantastic cosy fantasy that includes all your favourite mythical beasts, tied in nicely into modern day lives.

The pacing of the book was nice, we got a little background on Jon and the reason for his move to the new practice. Characters and relationships were introduced that really brought life to the small community. Gertrude the Goose was a favourite of mine.

I really loved Jon as a character and the way he interacted with the others, especially with Mr Bingley the flat coated retriever. They made such a perfect pair.

The only thing I feel this book lacked was a bit more suspense. I would have liked a little more action and trepidation regarding the Basilisk. I feel like there could have been more there to help the story feel a little deeper and beef it up some more. What we have is good, I just would have liked to see more action and mishaps maybe.

Overall, this was a nice, easy read and if cosy fantasy is your thing, you’re going to really love what this has to offer.

"The Beast Keepers" is a standalone contemporary fantasy written by Julie Fudge Smith.

The story follows young veterinarian Jonathan F. St. Roche, who after graduation followed his passion for horses, taking care of them. Until the smug and haughty attitude of the animals' owners eventually discourages and wearies him, prompting him to seek employment elsewhere. In his search he comes across an ad to run the veterinary practice of a retiring veterinarian in the rural town of Carrollton, Ohio. An announcement that requires "an open mind "and "diverse skills." Soon Jonathan realizes that all is not as it seems and the small town is more peculiar than it appears on the surface. In fact, in addition to the care of local pets and livestock, the facility has a more peculiar group of patients: unicorns, talking dogs, flying monkeys, pegasus, gryphons, centaurs, and more. Mythical and gentle creatures, well-integrated into the community, which guards and protects them. The tranquility, however, is shattered when the latest arrival in Carrollton, a basilisk, threatens to expose the secret of the town and the inhabitants themselves.

The enchanting premises of this book intrigued me so much! A small town full of mythological creatures and a veterinarian who takes care of them?! I jumped right in! Not quite sure what to expect, I tried not to get my expectations too high, hoping not to be disappointed. In the end, I found it an enjoyable and very cozy read, although it didn't excite and convince me completely.

The writing is an element that I appreciated quite a bit. I found it evocative, suggestive and lyrical, full of vivid descriptions. The prose is highly researched, careful in word choices and loaded with detail. I enjoyed it a lot, but I admit that at times it seemed far too dense, with excessive and unnecessary detail. Too much information, too many digressions, which risked giving me a sense of heaviness and slowness.

The setting is another element that I enjoyed. I found the town of Carrollton lovely, well illustrated and very characteristic. The feeling of unity among the inhabitants, their solidarity, is something beautiful. And what about the mythical creatures that secretly live among them, protected and guarded? Between pegasus, flying monkeys, unicorns, centaurs, fauns and more, I kind of melted over the sweetness. I found them all wonderful and adorable and would have loved to read them much more!

The plot proceeds placidly and quietly, almost sleepily, with no big jolts. In my opinion, there is no real danger, no real threat, which is why the pace may not be compelling or rapid. In general it is the story of Jon and the other characters, who take care of the various mythical creatures while dealing with their personal situations. As far as I am concerned, I found it a pleasant, comfortable narration that gave me the feeling of a warm embrace. In short, very cozy!

The characters, main and secondary, unfortunately are the big negative point for me. I found them all superficial and flat, with little depth. I could not connect with them, they conveyed nothing to me. I felt them cold in their attitude, as well as being annoyingly contradictory at times. The presence of several povs unfortunately brought no benefit, leaving me completely indifferent to their fates and the romance present. The dialogues then seemed to me absurd, frequently forced. I am sorry, because the prose in general is great, the mythical creatures are wonderful, however, the characters just seemed to me to be a jarring note.

All in all, I found it a pleasantly cozy read, which unfortunately disappointed a lot on the characters side!

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

After coming to terms with the reality of the equine world of veterinary medicine, or at least getting to know the clientele. Jonathan F. St. Roche D.V.M. has hit a rough patch in his budding veterinary career. Luckily he finds an ad for a veterinary positions
“Vet retiring and looking for clever, open-minded individual with diverse skills to join rural Ohio practice. Not much money, but a stimulating and varied clientele, with an opportunity for growth.”
Jonathan travels to Ohio, back to the familiar Midwest, to apply for the position.
The veterinary practice seems like your basic rural clinic, with average patients and humble clients. So, Jonathan happily accepts the position. But not long after he finds that rural does not always mean basic. His patients are much more “exotic” than he originally thought and the “diverse skills” needed for this position were definitely not taught in vet school.
I was thrilled to receive an eARC of this book from NetGalley! As the daughter of a midwestern veterinarian, who basically grew up in a vet clinic, this book called to me. And it was very much worth the read. I will be recommending to all of our veterinary staff and anyone who is a lover of animals, and fantasy.
If you like a bit of magic mixed into everyday life mixed with a helping of rural coziness, give this book a read!

I DNF this book at 13%. As a fantasy lover I really wanted to like this book. They made the cover look super intriguing, and then you read the first chapter and are completely turned off. That is what happened to me. So much happened in the first chapter, and there was SO little writing done. The writing style of the dialogue between characters seemed super underdeveloped and made them feel like as if they were written by a writer who hasn't written dialogue before. I think that this story line had a lot of potential, but it was ruined by the lack of actual story telling and fluffing up the conversations and background details.

The beginning of this book was very slow, and it took me a while to get hooked into reading and get comfortable with the story's rhythm. I give this book 3.5 stars for being delightfully cozy and I look forward to reading other books like this. I liked the cozy feel of the book.

The beast keepers is a quirky and witty read. It’s full of mythological beasts in a modern day setting. This book is great for any vets out there wanting to read a bit of a fanciful take on the role.
The star of the show is a dog called Mr. Bingley, as a fan of Pride and Prejudice I loved this. There’s plump unicorns among dangerous beasts, making for a fun read.
The time shifts made the reading flow disjointed, I think this added to the quirkiness of the read.
I enjoyed the playful use of language, for example good use of onomatopoeia and animal noises like buzz and honk are well utilised.
The ending is sweet.
Thank you to NetGalley and Boyle & Dalton for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

The Beast Keepers is about Jonathan St. Roche, a veterinarian who decides to take a position as a vet in rural Ohio. It turns out that the practice also serves some more unconventional animals that the area has successfully kept hidden for years. There, he treats patients, finds out more about their world, and starts feeling a connection with DeeDee, the hot human doctor in the area. I LOVE animals of myth and thought this seemed like a fun premise for a book!

This book definitely has a fun premise and some interesting background characters. I'm also from close to the area where the book takes place (which is not often represented in any kind of media) and liked getting to recognize some of the landmarks that are mentioned. I liked seeing animals of different myths represented in the modern world and it was fun thinking about how someone would treat them for health problems. I came out of this desperately wishing that I had a chonky unicorn that I could feed toffees to!

My problem is that the main characters are the WORST! Jonathan in particular was insufferable to me. He has a meet cute with DeeDee, decides she's the love of his life, and then realizes she's dating someone else. No matter, Jonathan decides to pivot to the annoying blonde lady who shows some interest in him because hey, she's cute, right? The rest of the book is him pining after DeeDee and being super judgmental when her boyfriend does anything. At one point, Jonathan seethes that he would never look at another woman if he was dating the wonderful DeeDee. And THEN, he has a moment on the balcony with her when he's supposed to be with his actual girlfriend! One of the characters even points this out and Jonathan has no self-reflection on how he might have contributed to the situation. Ugh. I want to root for you, Jonathan, but I can't when you're being a jerk!

The rest of the book is felt pretty episodic to me without much of a plot outside of wanting to date DeeDee and not being able to. Everyone likes Jonathan immediately (for some reason, even though he's rude and judgmental to most people in his life) and a big tension is whether he will stay in the area. I found myself wanting him to leave so someone more interesting could take the practice and I could learn about them! Anita (Jonathan's actual girlfriend) is also a main POV character and she's super annoying. I wish that the women could both be awesome instead of one being depicted as the much worse option. Let's lift everyone up as much as possible!

Overall, I think this book had a great idea but fell short for me in practice. 2 stars from me. Thank you to NetGalley and Boyle & Dalton for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I was really drawn to the premise of this. Love a book with mystical creatures. They were the best bit about this and I wish it was real so I could go and spend time with them!

However; I just really struggled with the writing style. One of those books I felt like I had to force myself to read. I really wanted it to be the kind of fantasy escapism I love to read, but it didn’t really grab me.

The Beast Keepers, by Julie Fudge Smith, is a new favorite book. It has characters with integrity, loyalty, and intelligence.
Jonathan St. Roche is a veterinarian who is searching for a new job. He is tired of dealing with the owners of the horses
he treats. He responds to an ad for a rural practice in Ohio. The practice has a secret group of patients, including flying
monkeys, a pregnant Pegasus, a goose that lays Bavarian eggs, centaurs and a faun. A dangerous creature is discovered
hiding in an old barn, and Jonathan has to determine the best course of action for everyone.

The author has written a charming and yet powerful novel about the consequences of choices made with the best intentions. I plan to purchase a copy for the local library.

*3,75*

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Publishing for sending me an arc of this.

“The beast keepers” is about Jonathan St. Roche, a vet that decides to move into rural Ohio to run a clinic. However he soon realises that his clients are not as common as they may seem. From unicorns to talking dogs there is an array of lovely and very unique animals in this story. Routine gets disrupted when a basilisk threatens not only to unveil the secret of the town but also all the inhabitants.

I loved reading about the town’s daily life, it was so relaxing but interesting at the same time. The animals were everything in this. Obviously Mr. Bingley was my favorite, he was truly a wonderful companion to Jonathan and gave great advice. All the other animals as well were so cute and charismatic in their own way.

I didn’t love all the choices that Jonathan took during the story, but I still enjoyed following his time at the vet clinic. Also the basilisk was a great way to pick up the pace in the second half of the book without changing the overall vibe of the novel.

If you love cozy magical realism, animals and small town stories this is the perfect book for you.

The problem for me is that Jonathan didn’t feel like character, let alone a person. I also found the way it was written instead of endearing. Just not the book for me.

BOOK REVIEW 📚 of The Beast Keepers by Julie Fudge Smith

My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc for review.

Jonathan F. St Roche has found himself at a crossroads in life. Having completed his veterinary degree, he had planned to follow his passion for equine health to the East Coast horse shows. But with the elitist attitude of the upper-crust horsey set discouraging Jon, he turns towards finding something a bit closer to his MidWest roots. Answering an ad to take over the practice of a retiring vet in Carrollton, Ohio, Jon makes the journey to meet Doctor Pratt and discuss the changeover. However, Carrollton is not all it seems, and Jon quickly discovers why the job ad requested an ‘open minded’ candidate with ‘diverse skills’- some of Jonathan’s patients will be mythical creatures. Living free, but secretly, amongst the population with human caretakers, Jon will treat the maladies of gryphons, a Pegasus, flying monkeys and more. But not all magical creatures are as benign and human friendly, and when Carrollton’s newest arrival is a basilisk, Jon and the residents must not only contain the threat but keep it under wraps from the reporter sniffing around town.

I was really excited to read this tale- I love fantasy books and part of that is the presence of imaginary creatures. I enjoyed this story for what it was, and appreciate the unique plot line. I loved that it included mythical animals in a contemporary setting and the idea of them living amongst humans freely was fantastic. I also found Gertrude and her egg laying and the lovely descriptions of the animals positives.
I believe this book could benefit from some editing and role play work- there were a lot of unnecessary descriptions of addresses, history, clothing etc that felt like filler, and it impeded the flow of the narrative. I felt that my main draw to the story was the animals and yet interactions with them were so minimal. I also found that the dialogue between characters was stilted/unrealistic at times, and the beginning felt a little rushed, with the timeline spanning years within the first 20% of the book. I would have loved more build, perhaps from Xavier’s POV, at the beginning to really set this story up and become invested in the main character.
I think with more emotional connection to the MC, more story focussed on the animals themselves and some pacing/editing work, this book could rival House on the Cerulean Sea with such a great premise.
The cover art is stunning 😍
This review has been posted to Goodreads 11/8/23

This was a super cute, cosy read featuring a newly qualified veterinarian who finds himself treating mythical creatures at his new practice. It was a light, easy read with a sweet, humorous tone. If you’re looking for something undemanding and engaging, with cosy vibes, this is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Personally, I am a bit disappointed with this book. The premise seemed really interesting, and I love a cast of mythical characters, but the story fell flat. There was a lot of information in this book— it’s clear the author did her research— but unfortunately that information tended to edge out any sort of plot this novel could have had. I felt at times like I was in a vet class, rather than reading a fantasy novel.

The pacing was very off as well. It never felt like there was a sense of urgency with anything that was going on (partially because there was often so MUCH going on). Without that sense of urgency drawing the plot forward I found myself getting easily distracted from the novel. It felt more like I was getting a journal of Jon’s life rather than a story about him protecting and helping mythical beasts. Even the “antagonist” of the basilisk didn’t provide any sense of urgency— the characters just kept figuring out ways to deal with the creature, until suddenly they didn’t. I was never worried for any of the characters, or even that the secret of the mythical creatures would be revealed, because it didn’t feel as though there were any stakes to these things. Everything came really easy to these characters, and then suddenly something drastic would happen, but some other character always had an easy answer.

The characters themselves, as well, fell flat. None of them were particularly fleshed out as to feel like real people. There were also so many different people to keep track of that I’d find myself getting lost and confused while reading— because often characters were introduced once in passing and you were expected to remember exactly who they are and how they fit into the town. I felt a bit like I was at a social gathering being introduced to fifty people I’d never met, and then later there was a quiz on all of their names.

Overall, I was never really engaged with this novel. Nothing about it kept me in the story after the description drew me in. Without a plot it was just the story of a vet with an unusual clientele and his day to day life— just one day after another.

I was initially intrigued to read this book because I am local to the setting. Living in rural Ohio, that doesn't happen very often. I also happen to love fantasy.

This cozy fantasy is low stakes and delightfully charming. It's quick pacing kept me reading long after I meant to stop. The author spent a lot of time rooting this story in the real town of Carrollton. As a local, it was fun reading about places I've been and figuring out what places were renamed. Someone not from the area may not appreciate that as much and the story may feel weighted down by the extra exposition.

I was given the opportunity to read this for free by the generosity of the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me.
I gave it until 50% until I decided to give up on it. I could not finish it.
There was unneeded description.
Example: Why do I need to know where this random land came from? It's not even the place that the main character is staying at or where our so called monster is? It's just unnecessary information that I did not see a pay off for.
I did not vibe with this book at all.
I felt like I was back in high school doing required reading.
I'm more of a fantasy romance reader than a cozy fantasy reader I have found out from this book. I am sure that a cozy romance reader would love this book much more than I have. I feel like that may be the target audience which I am not.
I do not think this book is bad at all. I just do not think it is something for me. I was hoping it would grow on me but it did not. I would recommend it to my friends who are cozy readers.

A cute little story about a young veterinarian fresh out of veterinary school who happens to get to work in a practice where mythical creatures are treated. It had a nice little world building going on and a nice comedic tone to the writing itself. The text flowed very nicely.

The story itself was alright, maybe a bit too okay-ish but the comedic tone of the text was something I very much enjoyed even though the story was a bit bland.

This review will be posted to my Goodreads account on August 8th 2023.

When Jonathan St Roche heads to Carrollton in Ohio to take up his new job as the town veterinarian, he is expecting the fairly standard challenges of caring for domestic animals like dogs, cats and livestock. What he finds is beyond his wildest dreams.

Carrollton is home to a collection of mythical creatures who also require Jonathan's care - including a centaur, a faun, and a unicorn, just to name a few!

As the new vet settles into his assignment, taking care of his more unusual clients becomes a journey of discovery for him, bring both challenges and delight.

However, when the town is threatened by a basilisk, Jonathan finds himself questioning what his role should be. There is no question that the beast is dangerous. But does he not also have a duty of care with regard to the basilisk? And if so, then how on earth will he administer that care to such a deadly creature?

This is a delightful story that will appeal to animal lovers as well as those who like adventures involving mythical creatures. The story telling is witty and warm, and draws the reader in, so that the characters and creatures begin to feel far from mythical and made up - and real enough to care about all their fates.

A wonderfully charming, action packed and witty tale for lovers of mythical beasts.

Starting a new job is always daunting at first but when veterinarian Jonathan starts his latest position he gets the feeling that things are not quite what they seem. Alongside caring for the local pets and livestock, Jon is stunned to discover that he is also responsible for caring for the communities best kept secret: a menagerie of mythical creatures. While navigating the challenges of caring for each of his new patients, Jon discovers an unusual creature that threatens the safety of everyone in the community and he must decide where his duty of care lies.

Packed full of endearing and loveable characters (an amorous centaur who likes mead, a cockney flying monkey and a hairdressing faun to name a few) this story is unique and enchanting and I suspect readers will want a Mr Bingley of their own.

I spotted a few spelling errors which I reported via Kindle.

SPOILERS BELOW:
There were a few pitfalls with the plot or characters that I noted down:
Gremsboc is from East London, England, so he would say ‘arse’, not ‘ass’.

There are a lot of characters in the book, and at times it was tricky remember who was who. Some of the humans are identified using either their first names or surnames or sometimes both in the same chapter, which became confusing.

Jonathan comes across as a man of honesty and integrity so it seemed a bit strange that he was willing to be publicly affectionate with Deedee at the ball, when he was already in a relationship with Anita. He was very quick to point out that there was a spark between Anita and Deedees’s boyfriend at the same event and seemed abit shocked. His relationship with Anita didn’t seem to add much purpose to the story, other than to provide him with a temporary dating option and point out how incompatible they were, compared to Deedee.

It seemed strange that Jonathan was still mentally considering leaving at the end of his contract, despite a specific tragedy that would have resulted in there being no other vet to take over the clinic.

There were points in the story where large chunks of time seemed to pass between sentences - for example at one point Jonathan is on his way to meet Lucretius, in the next sentence he is finishing Lucretius’ examination.

Connolly Davis’ involvement didn’t add much to the overall story, other than to highlight that the town has a secret and not everyone is part of the inner circle. This could have formed a much larger part of the threat-to-the-secret side of the story.