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.

A cozy horror, while being something I never even knew existed I found myself drawn to it.
It wasn’t too horror-y and had a lot of comedic relief mixed with the supernatural elements and I was a happy girl!
I really enjoyed how the author managed the world building and let’s be honest as a fantasy girly usually that bit is long so for me to enjoy it was a nice experience aha!
I also really enjoyed the romance aspect of this book and think of you enjoy getting lost in a cozy, sapphic romance especially that has humour and horror you’ll enjoy this.

For anyone who has wondered how a tiny town can support so many small businesses, Huff has an answer: a pact with the Dark. That's what keeps Lake Argen running on an endless silver mine.

This is COZY cozy. An unexpected blend of cozy mystery, romance novel and, yes, horror elements.

Thank you for the ARC provided through NetGalley.

3.5/5, leaning towards 3

Direct Descendant is a fun, colorful story that is unfortunately struggling with a fumbled marketing campaign.

The book has a great premise. A woman with magic abilities rushes to an ancient ritual site only to find a man who is not supposed to be there standing (nearly) naked. He stabs himself in the foot with a dagger, is sucked underground, and the town's magical council of sorts has to figure how to handle the ramifications of his disappearance.

The pacing unravels in fits and starts. The fact that our narrator (the first of two) is not a fish out of water means we need to quickly piece together a lot for ourselves in the beginning. Cassie was born and raised in a strange environment and doesn't need complicated situations explained to her, but I wish she would've helped me out.

The humor was clever and worked well. There was even a U-Haul lesbian joke, which got a big laugh out of me. Cassie and Melanie's romance was very sweet, too. Yes, it's insta-love, but I didn't mind. That is a very sapphic experience, thus the U-Haul joke. There are many amusing situational jokes too, like with the school kids going around stabbing demonic shadows on a kind of scout field trip.

Now, to the marketing. Cozy fiction, quirky characters, cute gay romances? These are all having a moment, thank God, but in the rush to capitalize on the cozy trend, they've pressed this book (which has much more in common with the beloved Welcome to Nightvale than Legends and Lattes) into a mold it simply does not fit.

I would not classify this as "cozy" because this implies familiarity, warmth, comfort, and wholesomeness. Many of the relationships between the cast are either contentious or snarky. I was entertained by the small town mystical antics but I wouldn't want to live there.

I would recommend if you're in the mood for a breezy story that has clever dark humor, an interesting magic system, and a sapphic love story.

Direct Descendant was my first ARC of 2025, and what a lovely cozy fantasy with eldritch horrors to kick off the year! Huff's tale grows in intensity throughout the book, so I found myself zipping through the last 10%. I also really enjoyed the queer romance; Melanie and Cassie were really cute. Overall, this was a fun read for a cold winter day.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW Books for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

This felt like Nancy Drew (the tv series) meets Buffy meets Sabrina. The mythology was a bit tough to understand bc I'm still not entirely sure what some of the ppl are. But it was cozy enough, and the FMCs were perfectly likeable. Several predicted outcomes but a quick read overall.

Free ARC provided by DAW Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date 18 March 2025.

I've liked some of Huff's books in the past, especially her military SF Confederation books, so I was willing to give this Canadian cozy horror a try, even if I didn't get along with Huff's most recent release. In Direct Descendant, Cassie is one of four descendants set to protect a small Canadian town under the sway of an ancient dark pact. But a strange man sacrificing himself on Midsummer's Day sets off a string of events that might endanger the pact--as well as sending English teacher Melanie into town to investigate...

I've had mixed experiences with books marketed as cozy, so I'm glad to report that this book pulled it off. Yes, there's a cute little town where everybody knows each other, and the Dark One benevolently answers the petitions of ten year olds (albeit with a melodramatic taste for the macabre). However, Huff manages to dodge being twee through a streak of genuine darkness that counterbalances the sweet and cozy elements. All dead bodies are sacrificed to the lake monster, not buried, due to the zombie risk. There's a small chance you might be selected to transform into a terrible eldritch monster. And the town has a remarkably high death rate, which the townsfolk take into stride with an aplomb more suited to villagers of a cute British hamlet with an elderly amateur sleuth.

I would be remiss to review this book without also mentioning the sapphic romance. The developing relationship between Cassie and Melanie is very instalove. However! I have a much higher tolerance for characters who are immediately convinced that they will have a summer wedding on sight, versus the thing where they're instantly attracted but spend the whole time having ugly little squabbles. Huff also takes the opportunity to lampshade the incredibly fast relationship development by making uhaul jokes.

However, while I enjoyed the characters and worldbuilding of Direct Descendant, I did have major issues with the plot and pacing (similar to the problems I had with Into the Broken Lands, alas). While the plot starts out with a bang during an unexpected human sacrifice, very little happens over the majority of the book. We just get vague hints that something might be amiss, and endless circuitous discussions about what might be happening, until something does happen in the very last fifth of the book. If you're entertained enough by the setting and the romance, this plotting might work for you, but I found it a bit disjointed.

If you're looking for a cozy fantasy novel that never slips into the twee, this book might be a good fit for you.

This is a fun, very light book, taking Lovecraft lore on a spin to care-bear country.
Not much to say, it's light and fluffy, insta-love lgbtq+ story in Canada, totally cozy (you probably will find all the tropes here) with a splash of monster and a hint of rich vs poor talk (though that doesn't go anywhere). Perfect for your beach bag and other holiday quiet time.
I've read a couple of Tanya Huff's books years ago when I was at school, and they were very much like that old school detective tv shows "Murder, She Wrote" but with werewolves and vampires. It's fun to see her styled moved with the time, but the feel is totally the same as it used to be.

The concept of a cozy horror set in a small northern Ontario town sounded like a wonderful concept to me. The location and setting of this book was so fun to read. I loved the Canadian references and all the little northern Ontario references.

However, the execution of the plot and world building of this book was lacking for me. I found the plot really under developed and rather slow and nothing happened until the last 10% of the book. The magic and fantastical elements were often referenced but never fully developed or realized. These elements sounded so cool but their lack of development just left me wanting more.

The main character Cassie was a great character to ground the story. She had a strong personality and was well developed and fun to read about. However, the second POV from Melanie just seemed unnecessary and she contributed very little to the plot or story. I also found their romance too instantaneous and therefore unbelievable. I think this book would have really benefited from being more focused on the horror plot and developing the world and much less focused on the romance.

Welp, my first hate read of 2025 and no one is more surprised than me because this seemed right up my alley. I also can't stand leaving reviews like this, especially on an ARC, because I know how hard authors work on their books and I really do believe there is a right book for every reader; there are no bad books per se. My opinion comes loaded with all my baggage and preferences and it's just one opinion.

I pretty much scoop up any cozy horror book I see these days but my patience may have worn thin on the cozy genre. I feel like a lot of authors are now just capitalizing on its popularity and the books are starting to feel cookie-cutter and trope-heavy with boring stories. This book felt very much like that. But I thought cozy horror! eldritch monsters! cute cover! rom com! And Tanya Huff! What could go wrong? This was my first exposure to Tanya Huff but I couldn't have picked a worse book to start with because I really loathed this book. I kept reading in the hopes that it would get better and it was banking everything on its clever schtick and quirky charm, which just completely got lost on me.

The combination of cozy horror and rom com did not work for me, like, at all. Rom coms are supposed to be funny, or at least cringe, and this was trying so hard to be funny that it came across as a flippant, overly irreverent tone that was completely at odds with topics like murderous tentatcled ancient gods and charming townspeople willy-nilly carting around corpses in public. The whimsy was just lost on me. It takes strong writing to pull off that juxtaposition and this just felt like it was phoning it in and relying on witty banter to carry the meat of it.

This is set in a small, quirky town in Canada - it was very Canadian and I will give it props for that - where four town denizens are guardians who watch over The Dark, a mysterious evil force inspired (a bit too on the nose at that) by cosmic Lovecraftian horror.

Until a stranger stabs himself in the foot and disappears behind the barrier, and his grandmother hires a woman, Melanie, an unemployed teacher and completely incompetent detective, to investigate what happened to him.

She doesn't do much investigating though. She meets one of the guardians, Cassie, and both of them have a love at first sight obsession with each other. I wasn't necessarily against instalove in this scenario, even though I loathe the lesbian U-Haul at first sight stereotype, because it was plausible in this weird small town scenario. But it was the way it was handled that bugged me. Cassie first notices Melanie's sexy body and the way her breasts push up against her shirt - that same observation written by a cishet man would be decried as misognyst and gross. It's not better when a queer woman does it. But okay, instalust happens, people drool over sexy people. But then they're instantly in love and planning their future at their first two dinner dates. I didn't see any chemistry between them other than they liked their boobs, and I could have cared less about their romance.

But then the mystery falls off and it's all about queer puppy love and colorful small town characters talking about murder, tentacles and mayhem like it's the price of eggs. This was going for Deadloch and Welcome to Nightvale meets Lovecraft vibes but it took cozy horror, turned it cuddly, cute and sappy, and made me want to gag.

There were also continuity errors, like okay we get it, Mel is good with the ugly dogs who don't like anyone, and annoying formatting on text messages (I hereby hate the ::text message:: format)

So, this may charm some people but it just annoyed the hell out of me from start to finish and I feel almost sorry for this terrible review. We won't love everything we try.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is unfortunately going to be a DNF for me, which is highly disappointing, because the synopsis sounded right up my alley! However, the writing itself was not clicking with me, and I could not find myself pushing through it to finish the book. Again, I wish I had enjoy this more!

TL;DR: A lovely, short urban fantasy romance featuring a lesbian couple, instalove, a quirky small town, and eldritch horrors. Not a horror novel, but cozy, funny, and sweet in all the right ways.

Let’s start with the most important thing: this is NOT a horror novel. If you’re picking this up hoping for spine-chilling scares, you’ll be disappointed. Instead, this is an urban fantasy with a heavy dose of romance and some delightfully cuddly eldritch horror. Yes, cuddly.

Goodreads states that it is for fans of T. Kingfisher, Grady Hendrix, and Darcy Coates and I would say that this story is maaaaybe a bit like T Kingfisher's Swordheart or Saints of Steel series but nothing like Twisted Ones or Hollow Places. Definitely not Grady Hendrix and Darcy Coates.

It took me about 20% of the book to really get into the story. I initially struggled with the writing, though this might be improved in the final version. Regardless, I’m hooked enough to purchase a finished copy and dive into the next book in the series when it’s out (It says it's a standalone but it has a perfect setup for a companion novel).

The vibes were absolutely everything for me. I’m a sucker for stories set in small towns with eldritch horror elements that everyone just casually accepts as part of daily life. This book nails that atmosphere perfectly.

The characters weren’t the most deeply fleshed out, but they weren’t flat either. Each had a distinct personality, though most were defined by a single defining trait—like Aunt Jean, who’s perpetually grumpy (and little else). For a book that’s only 250 pages long, though, this worked well enough. I never had trouble keeping track of who was who, and that’s a win in itself.

The story includes queer characters and touches on modern societal issues, though it handles these themes with less subtlety than I’d hoped. From what I’ve gathered on Goodreads, this might be Tanya Huff’s first foray into queerness, so kudos to her for stepping into that space. I expect the next book will handle these elements with more nuance.

Ultimately, this was a cozy, heartwarming, and often hilarious read—perfect for bedtime. The romance element felt like a fated-mates trope but without explicitly saying so. I would have preferred a slower, more gradual development of the relationship, but it worked within the book’s tone, even if I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes a few times.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the free eARC!

Before I started this, I read some reviews, and I went in not expecting much. Some reviews say that nothing makes sense and everything is extremely confusing, but you eventually find out exactly what’s happening. I feel like knowing that all of the confusion is deliberate makes this way more enjoyable!

The story revolves around a town in Canada called Lake Argen. Back in the day, inhabitants of this town made a deal with some dark entity that kept the town lucrative and kept outsiders out. That truce starts to break down after an outsider gets in and disappears.

Cassidy is one of the four people who are directly involved with that entity. In fact, she speaks for it. When she’s not doing that, she’s a baker.

Melanie is hired by the disappeared outsider’s family to try to find out what happened to him. Her and Cassidy cross paths and start falling for each other, but strange things are happening and Cassidy needs to try to stop them.

This was a very cute book. There were some really funny parts that had me laughing out loud. I loved the mix of eldritch horror and romance. Neither outweighed the other, or got stale.

Definitely recommend checking this out!

Tanya Huff’s Direct Descendant is a balance of action and humor. While not perfect, its strengths far outweigh its flaws. Overall, it is a light-hearted and easy read that will appeal to fans of urban fantasy and supernatural mysteries.

I loved this! The tone is most similar to Huff’s Summon the Keeper, but with a charming sapphic relationship.

Fantastically Canadian!

I chose to DNF this book at 14% due to how chaotic the writing was.

I was really excited to read Direct Descendant. It sounded along the lines of a cosier version of Supernatural, which I have been looking for for months!

I was so confused by the first few chapters as the start of the book jumps right into action with the ONLY explanations being towards the end of the book (so ive heard). Which just left me really, REALLY confused while trying to keep up with what's going on. This made it impossible for me to love or even back anyone or, hate

I found the characters' inability to talk about the sacrifice of a stranger on their property, just childish! It wasnt explained why they were all acting stupid-The characters are in their 20s and refer to the sacrifice as the “s-word” and as this was the main point t of the story so far, but if the characters can’t even bring themselves to say the word then seriously why have the job of protecting/guarding a sacrifice spot? It feels like it’s mocking, and I didn’t find it funny or cute, just childish and stupid.

there were moments that felt random or completely out of the blue. Since this is a standalone book, random descriptions of what the characters were thinking or doing often felt irrelevant to the plot, which not only slowed the pace but also made it hard to stay immersed.

The writing wasn’t what I’d expected from a cosy fantasy-horror blend and often felt juvenile. It felt like it was trying too hard to be witty, and while some moments were charming, many felt forced. Additionally, the constant addition of random details made it harder for me to focus on the core story. this style of writing made the book especially challenging to read. The clutter of unnecessary descriptions and word choices made my head feel heavy and broke my immersion in the story.

Final Thoughts:
I really wanted to love Direct Descendant, but no, it fell far short of basic readablility. I just couldnt keep up with all the jumps from one thought to the next or from one thing over to something randomly different.
So the combination of slow pacing, basic characters, and a huge amount of random points and details made it hard to just read the story. While the concept had great potential, the execution didn’t quite deliver the cosy, magical, and horror elements I was hoping for.

There were a couple of elements I enjoyed. The inclusion of a cute monster added a fun and lighthearted touch, and there were moments when the story picked up the pace and became more engaging.

But unfortunately, this was a 2-star read for me. It was also my first book by Tanya Huff, and seeing as the writing style in this book didn’t work for me, I’m not sure if I’ll be picking up another of her books in the future.

here was much of a mystery going on, as the characters all guessed exactly what was going on within a few chapters

I will not be finishing this book.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARCDirect Descendant by Tanya Huff

It's simple: if something is described as "cozy horror" it has my undivided attention. Add a cute cover and a book should be perfect for me. Unfortunately, that was not the case with "Direct Descendant". Don't get me wrong, there was so much potential here: long ago the residents of Lake Argen made a deal with a dark force so the town will prosper and stay safe. The members of the founding families inherit some abilities of the Dark, offer sacrifices from time to time and protect the town. And while it was nice to read about the residents living alongside an eldritch being and casually talking to a lake monster, it was also the only part of this book that I liked.

First of all, the ever comedic but never really funny writing style was quite unbearable for me. I guess the "cozy" part refers to the low stakes, but everything was so unserious, there was basically no point in following the story. The characters weren't great either. Cassie is a member of a founding family and lived with the Dark for her entire life, and Melanie is an outsider who comes to town to look for a missing person and has no knowledge of the supernatural. They fall in love instantly, of course. (And honest to God, but Melanie was first described by her breasts and her ass, and I almost couldn't do it anymore at that point.) There are also like a million other people living in the town, whose names are thrown around constantly and if you think I could remember who anybody is you are wrong.

The plot was confusing at first, but when things were explained they were repeated over and over again. The whole pacing was off, because one character tried to figure out what happened to the missing person while the other already knew about that. I'm also sad to report that this book was not cozy at all. At least I don't think that a small-town setting and the existence of a bakery are enough to call a book cozy, if no such vibes are transported whatsoever.

I feel awful for rating an unreleased book so low, but it was truly not an enjoyable reading experience for me.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and DAW Books for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I didn’t feel an emotional connection to the story, probably cause the writing failed to pull me in fully

First of all, I loved it! Direct Descendent was a blend of cozy mystery, horror, and romance that just hit the spot. The small town was small towning, the mystery was mysterying, and I was giggling the whole way through. I love a sapphic romance, and Cassidy and Melanie fit the bill. Cassidy is a baker who also happens to watch over "The Dark," a magical force that requires sacrifices in order to keep the town in business. When someone decides to sacrifice themselves, Cassidy and Melanie set to work figuring out why and how to fix the situation.

The cute romance that blossoms between the two brings heart to an otherwise darkly funny tale. The town is a character in itself, and it reminded me of other fictional small towns that loom large in the lives of the characters. I loved the humor, which reminded me of my favorite funny horror movies (some even mentioned in this book!) The antics ensue, and those who love DAW science fiction and cozy mysteries will totally fall in love with this one. This book definitely has to be taken for what it is, but if you do, you'll have an awesome ride. The love story was a little quick, and I would've liked a bit more character development as it developed, but the plot and setting are the stronger elements of this story. Would definitely recommend to anyone who likes Neil Gaiman, Bruce Campbell movies, Rocky Horror Picture Show, etc. Campy & super fun!

Themes & Tropes!
- small town
- love & belonging
- good v. evil (or is it more gray area?)
- found family
- queer/sapphic love story
- dark humor
- cosmic horror
- new in town
- monsters/paranormal characters/witchy vibes
- magical committees/organizations

A huge thanks goes to the author, the legendary Tanya Huff, DAW Publishing, and NetGalley for the privilege of being able to read Direct Descendant. I will share my review to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Goodreads upon release.

Direct Descendent is a combination of witty humor and eldritch horror that makes for an entertaining tale. The synopsis of the book compares Direct Descendent to the works of Grady Hendrix, T. Kingfisher and Darcy Coates, but I have to disagree. I found this was much more comparable to “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett or “A Dirty Job” by Christopher Moore, both of which leaned much more into the comical aspects vs. true horror.

The story is centered in the fictional town of Lake Argen which reminded me of a Canadian version of Stars Hallow in Gilmore Girls, if Stars Hallow was run by quirky demon worshippers and instead of annual bon fires they had annual ritual sacrifices. In Lake Argen, everyone knows everyone and nearly the whole town is related in some way (to the degree that when someone passes they have to figure out who has the closest familial relationship in order to properly express their condolences to the right person).

The cast of characters in Lake Argen includes:

*Alice, the cantankerous, grammatically correct lake monster who acts as an early detector system for potential problems with the dark force.
*Uncle Stu with his hellhound sidekicks Dexter and Daffodil (who of course wears a pink collar).
*The Darks version of Girl/Boy Scouts called the Flock, who hunt shadows in order to get their next badge.
*T’geyer, a cuddly eldritch horror that everyone adores.

At the beginning of the story, a stranger named Travis comes to town and sacrifices himself on the sacred Dead Ground (an unscheduled s-word as the town repeatedly refers to it). This causes a chain of events that weakens the agreement between the town and the entity known as The Dark and strange things start occurring. At the center of this all is Cassie, a local town baker, and Melanie, an outsider that was hired by Travis’ grandmother to investigate his sudden disappearance.

While at times laugh out loud funny, there were too many vague references to things occurring or unanswered questions that made it difficult to follow the plot for the first half of the book. For example, they continuously refer to “the Four” but fail to explain what that means or how they came to be until 60% in. Additionally I struggled with the romance in the book, as our two main characters basically instantly fall in love. It felt like that took away from the main story in a way that wasn’t necessary - I would have much preferred a bit of slow burn build up to their relationship leading up to the big ending.

Overall I gave this book 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4. I really did love the humor and quirky cast - any book that can reference both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Bruce Campbell’s Army of Darkness gets bonus points in book.

I received an ARC of Direct Descendent through NetGalley for an honest review.