Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff

A funny, creepy but cozy small town sapphic romance with eldritch horrors.

As a direct descendant of the town founders, Cassie is one of the Four chosen to protect the town and the agreement with the Dark. But when a stranger sacrifices himself and disappears into the Dark, the agreement begins to fray.

I enjoyed the story. I liked the main characters and I loved the small town Canadian setting. The dialogue was great and the secondary characters were all interesting- in fact, I would have liked a lot more of their stories. There isn’t a lot of explanation- the reader is just dropped into the action, so the beginning was a bit confusing, but the story is definitely worth continuing. I wasn’t a fan of the insta-love, although it was both sweet and clearly necessary to the plot. My favorite character was the “animal” companion that shows up midway through the book.

Definitely a fun read and I’d love to see more in this world.

This book is described as a cozy horror novel, which sounds exactly up my alley. There is a dark force in Lake Argen that helps the town to keep outsiders away and keep the town safe. The Prewitt family work for the dark force as part of a bargain set up generations ago. Again, this all sounds like something that I would love. However, I am sadly going to DNF this book. I am sure that many people would enjoy the writing style, but I could tell pretty quickly that it's not for me. It is supposed to be comedic, but it never really hit for me and I found it more annoying than funny. For example, in the first chapter, we learn that the family does not like to say the word "sacrifice", but it is relevant to the plot so they say "s-word" (both in the dialogue and narration) many many times and it really bothered me. My biggest complaint is the lack of introduction to the magic system and characters, especially in the first few chapters. I completely understand that some of these things need to be developed throughout the story and I do not need everything handed to me on a silver platter. However, the first chapter alone introduced a ton of characters with very little explanation as to who they are (Alice is mentioned a minimum of three times in the first chapter as if we should know who this is, but there is no detail), and the magic system is presented with very little context. Again, I completely understand that it takes time to meet all the characters and get the world-building to a certain level, but I feel like the ball was dropped in this case. I do think that this novel will find its audience, but I think it's being mis-advertised as a hit for fans of T. Kingfisher, etc. because the style and vibes are completely different.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

First of all...loved the premise of this book. The entire nature of what was going on, once you get the reality of it, is really interesting and the mystery does definitely fit well into it. Also loved the various characters in the story - there's definitely that cozy small-town vibe next to the horror and I definitely enjoyed that quite a bit. The romance part never fully clicked for me, but that might have been because of the whole insta-love thing that isn't always my vibe - it is tough to pull off well and while the author really tried...it just didn't click with me. Which is sad because I liked both of the lead characters quite a bit, particularly Cassie. In many ways, I feel this would have been better off with a friendship rather than a romance...might have bumped it up a bit for me.

The big issue I had is that while I did love the premise...it takes forever to get there. You are dropped in the middle of something and you really have no idea what's going on. Now, that can be a great thing...but to string the payoff for that out as long as it was...that left me feeling underwhelmed. I just couldn't completely get on board when deep into the book, I really didn't know what was going on.

YMMV on this one - I can see where some folks are REALLY going to resonate with this. For me...it was a bit of a miss. A well-intentioned miss, but a miss nonetheless. 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own and are uncompensated. Direct Descendant is out April 1st and you can preorder it online now!

I started Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff but didn’t finish. The premise—an isolated town with a dark secret—was interesting, but the slow pacing made it hard to stay engaged. The mix of cozy horror and romance might appeal to some, but it wasn’t for me. If you enjoy atmospheric, slow-burn stories, it could be worth a try.

This supremely cozy horror story is directly up my alley - I was so surprised to see how split some reviews have been! Up in Northern Ontario, there is a town where everyone is happy, healthy, and has enough money to only pursue the jobs they enjoy as a hobby... yes, it might have come about as a result of black magic, but that was ages ago! Sure, the kids have training to kill Shadows that might infiltrate, but it gets them outdoors, right? The blasé acceptance of the dark entity on the other side of the silver mine is delightful to me, I adored this book.

I would definitely think the perfect read-alongs would be The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by CM Waggoner and Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper.

I did quite enjoy this book but felt that I was missing out on the ' in the know' / cultural references jokes and references. Being old, British and straight is probably why I didn't understand . I did not even know what a U haul was. Definately more for the US / Canadian market but I did enjoy the folks, relationships and strange circumstances they found themselves in.

Direct Descendant had all the ingredients for the perfect cozy horror story—a small Canadian town with a mysterious secret, a group of people who were the conduits for an indescribable darkness, and a mystery waiting to be solved. There were many details I appreciated, but, unfortunately, one too many that dropped my rating.

The two narrators had compelling traits and backstories, but toward the end, Cassie overshadowed Melanie in a lot of ways (which is fair, considering this is all happening in her town). I wished I could empathize with Melanie more, considering how she challenged Cassie's privilege at times, and showed us glimpses of the real world. And, although I'm pretty neutral about insta-love tropes, its occurrence in this book was still a bit too sudden for me. I wished I could have seen more of their relationship build up authentically, but their conversations and overall dynamic felt extremely rushed and sometimes muddled up the rest of the plot.

I liked reading about the other conduits, supporting characters, and the history of the town. But the pacing of it all felt very off, so I found myself getting distracted or confused when trying to figure out what was happening. Sometimes, there was a lot of dialogue, but not enough action. The twist and its resolution also felt slightly abrupt.

With that said, I still enjoyed the prose and writing for this book. I would still read another one of the author's works; this was just a miss for me.

I got about 15% of the way through the book and still had no idea what was going on in the slightest bit. DNF.

Loved this, started reading it whilst in the emergency room and could not put it down. Finished the whole thing in less than 36 hours, and that's with me too drugged to read for most of that time! The cozy eldritch horror vibes were perfect, the characters mostly acted like adults and used their words, and T'Geyer is the cutest little eldritch horror pet ever, and should have a stuffy.

Pros: I think the supernatural elements of the story had a lot of promise and I liked the atmosphere.

Cons: Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me - it definitely leaned much more into the "rom-com" style of storytelling, with dual first-person POVs and a very simplistic writing style. It wasn't as whimsical as I think it needed to be to pull off the comedy-horror balance it was going for.

I was more than ready to devour a small town cozy romance with horror in it - honestly it sounded like it was written for me!- but struggled to get into this. The instant attraction with our main heroes as well as the lack of real stakes and a somewhat banal ending left me wanting more!

Overall rating: 3⭐️


Tropes:

🪶 Insta-Love
🪶 Cozy Horror
🪶 Queer romance
🪶 Paranormal Mystery
🪶 Small Town


The story is set in a small town in Canada, plagued by Lovecraftian evil. The setting alone is what made me go “ooh I want to read this”. All the pieces were there, all the things I look for in a story - it just didn’t really work for me.

The romance was a bit off. The FMC objectifies the love interest, a woman named Cassie, in a very…masculine sort of way. I don’t normally enjoy insta-love, and this was no exception. Two dates in and they’re planning their future 👀

All in all, it was ok but it wasn’t for me. If you enjoy comedic horror and authors like Grady Hendrix, T. Kingfisher, and AJ Martinez, then you may enjoy this book.


Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for a chance to read and review this eARC and give my honest review.

Although well written, this book was just not fast paced enough for me.
I can and do enjoy loads of slow paced books, but for some reason this seemed to drag on and on.

And the little to no world building for two thirds of the book ensured that I was mightily confused from page 1.

The concept of a cosy horror was good, and the idea of the eldritch type deity was interesting but it lacked execution.

I don’t know, it just didn’t agree with me, I had no interest in the story or characters.

Thanks to DAW and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like this could be a niche thing… listen, it had me at sapphic haha so I’m not too harsh and I can’t say that it was bad. But something felt missing?

I wasn’t a huge fan of mixing insta love with (wht felt to me) a bit of a dragging plot line . It tried to have all the elements of a cozy fantasy that are buzzing but in said attempt it almost felt a little too much for it to flow nicely (imo)

However- I can see how this could do well with people that truly enjoy mysteries for the most part

It's not often (if ever before) that you see the combination "cozy horror" in the description of a book but it does actually sort of fit this one - is that suitably vague do you think?

I really enjoyed Direct Descendant by Tanka Huff - for me it was one of the books that draw you into the story. You get so involved that you stay up reading WAY too late, just to see how it all turns out.

It's really hard to say much more about this book than the back cover description already gives away - I just say read it and find out.

My thanks to NetGalley for facilitating this ARC copy of Ms Huff's new book in exchange for my honest review.

This wasn't for me, I fear. I was so confused for so long. I don't care that it starts to make sense at the end, why would I want to be confused for the first two-thirds? The stream-of-consciousness writing style did NOT help. It wasn't the cozy eldritch horror I was looking for, it was just weird. Insta-love is also unfortunately never going to be my vibe.

I really loved this novel. I have not laughed out loud at a book in a very long time and I am so glad that this was my first read of 2025. Generations ago, the founders of the idyllic town of Lake Argen made a deal with a dark force. In exchange for their service, the town will stay prosperous and successful, and keep outsiders out. And for generations, it’s worked out great. Until a visitor goes missing, and his wealthy family sends a private investigator to find him, and everything abruptly goes sideways.

Cassidy, the Mouth for the Dark, and Melanie, the out-of-towner English teacher and accidental PI, were fun characters to follow and I enjoyed being in both of their heads, although I will say I truly adored Cassidy's attitude and level of snark. Queer, cozy, and with a touch of eldritch horror mixed in just for fun is such a great tagline for this story. The eldritch creatures, particularly Alice and T'geyer, and Melanie's mother were my two favorite parts of the book, aside from the leads. And while I do love reading standalones, I would happily return to this world to follow more of Cassidy's crazy adventures.

My only complaint, and it truly is a small one, is that I wish we got a little more information about the history of the town a little bit faster. It's not that I couldn't follow what was happening. Huff does an excellent job of dropping you into the middle of a crazy situation and pulling you along for the ride, but understanding the full story of the Four, how the Agreement works, and what happened to the previous Mouth added so much to my enjoyment of the world and the locals that I wish it had just come along a little sooner.

Thank you so much Tanya Huff, DAW books, and NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cosy Canadian sapphic romance with bonus eldritch horrors (at least one of which is really cute!). I really liked Cassie and her approach to life and her vocation, and I liked Melanie, with her thing about wealth, and the Big Secret is handled well. Gentle humor and storytelling and I think the most fun I've had with a Huff book since "Summon the Keeper". Stands alone but I'd be very happy to read more in this town.

Direct Descendant was an intriguing read that kept me invested until all secrets were out in the open. While there are hints and trickles of information that keep you guessing, there's a lot of mysterious things going on, and it all ends up making sense pretty late in the story (about 70% in). This is definitely a cozy mystery, so expect quaint small towns, baked goods, cute main characters and a closed door romance that will have you rooting for them right away.

If you're a fan of cozy mysteries, eldritch horrors and small town romance, this might be the book for you!

✨ Disclaimer ✨ I received a free copy of this book and this is my honest review.

Cozy fantasy, but this time the flavor is set in a Canadian small town, and they made a deal with a dark and sinster force to try and keep their town safe. The Random Capitalizations and PG rating (the s word!) grated a bit on me personally, but it was a solidly plotted book with a cute lesbian as our lead.