Quite a different normal young woman (but maybe not so normal as she thinks) finds a place for herself among monsters. What's different about this is that the light hand is not because the monsters aren't as monstrous as they're made out to be. Well, for their own survival they obey, mostly, rules and restrictions, but these aren't Illona Andrews Werewolves (well, no werewolves in this one). The humor is in the monsters having the same issues as humans in navigating the big city and needing a guide book and that sort of thing as we learn to navigate the world of coterie - don't call them monsters, with our heroine Zoë. ( )

On the one hand I'm not sure how to review this book. I expected something along the lines of tongue-in-cheek humor and writing (kind of like The Princess Bride) in which Lafferty subverts the supernatural genre while still somehow adhering to it.

We have Zoe, who made some really bad decisions as part of her last job in publishing and is now desperate to put it all behind her. So desperate that she ignores the iota of self-preservation she seems to have, follows a shady, kind of flirty man into a condemned looking building on the off chance he may actually work with the OTHER shady guy she had met earlier at an even SHADIER bookstore who was posting up a job notice. Both of whom told her to run away, several times, because she wasn't suited for the job.

But Zoe prides herself on fitting in! She's a little shaky on if they turn out to be skinheads or a cult, but any other type of people she can totally fit right into and she is OUTRAGED that these people are telling her otherwise. Who are they to know if she's able to fit in? She's adaptable! She's qualified! Affirmative Action!

And so begins her adventures in the Coterie (read: MONSTER, Boogedy-Boogedys, Supernatural, Paranormal, Freaky) World.

Here's the thing, the book goes on at length to explain that Zoe is very qualified (from a publishing perspective) for the job of Managing Editor, but how is that exactly? She's literally learning from a point of no knowledge about the Coterie World at all. Call me odd, but wouldn't it make more sense to have someone supervising (and writing! She was writing part of the books!) who understood that you shouldn't look this type of Coterie in the eye and you shouldn't allow this type to touch you?

In the span of the book I'm fairly sure she breaks every rule the others tell her about. It was kind of like telling a three year old. "Now Zoe, don't touch the incubus!" Let me just go ahead and MAKE OUT with the Incubus because that can't POSSIBLY go badly right?

This is her logic.

To be fair while I was reading the book I did find myself interested in the world of the Coterie and how they've managed to live side by side with humans. There's also some interesting creepy-crawlies that pop around that you don't find in most paranormal/supernatural books. And I probably would have been more interested in what makes Zoe so unique if by the time its revealed I wasn't ripping my hair out trying to figure out how she hasn't died twenty times.

And how she got a job in publishing to begin with since every time she's busy doing her editor's job it fades to black, gets interrupted or we see the final product (in between the chapters there are excerpts from the actual "book" she's editing), but we never see her doing any of her job. Brief bit about interviewing, even briefer bit about handing out assignments and...that's all.

In the end I was disappointed by the book. The few moments of honest humor didn't make up for the fact the book was all over the place in terms of what it wanted to be. ( )

If you loved BTVS or Lost Girl, you'll love this book! ( )

Mur Lafferty is brilliant and funny. ( )

These days Vampires are in all types of media i.e. film, tv, and books. This is yet another vampire book, but it also contains all kinds of different and lesser known monsters. And while the book does contain some pretty gory scenes including zombies eating brains and the heroine being completely swallowed by a demon snake. It is for the most part, a really fun, and very amusing comedy ! ( )