Harrietta Lee's demons have come back to haunt her. Two demons, to be exact: one who tried to buy her ex-girlfriend's soul, and another who invaded her dreams for six months. To make matters worse, Harry's falling in love.
Stephanie Ahn is a debut author and college student who tends to write about young-ish adults just trying to get by in life. Wonder where she got that idea?
Unfortunately I think this was the weakest book so far. Despite liking the world and concept of the story a lot I didn't like what the novel chose to focus on content or style wise. I pushed through to finish this one (mostly because as said I enjoy the world and some characters which is also why I still rolled this up to a 3 despite not enjoying it much) but I don't think I will be continuing the series.
(to elaborate a bit on the above: even though the stakes are higher than ever we get multiple chapters concerned with Harry dating a completely normie human girl, like a full chapter of awkward date banter, later just them hanging out and I think two sex scenes which I skipped because I was so annoyed at that point, this is not a very long book and focusing on this just seems like the wrong priority to me. Also the love interest of the previous book Lilith simply is more interesting on grounds of being already established and not just. a non-magical human. I think this series has a weakness in introducing a new cast of characters in every book so far and by this point it should already have a well established cast (Lilith and Bautista who both make an appearance in this are excellent characters for example). Likely her new love interest in this book is going to become more interesting later but this book suffers for it.)
This series is just keep getting better with every book, the mc is lovely, the side characters are awesome. The tone is perfect, it's full of dark stuff but overall it's still very comfy and hearthwarming to read thanks to the mc and the supporting characters. Also it's pretty funny. Clifford!!!!:D And the chaotic rides with the kid drivers are just a joy to read, i loved those so much. Who the hell are these people and why they conduct themselves in such amusing manner??? This was a very very very fun read, i can't wait for the next one. Also Lilith is the best, she was already the best in book one and two, but she's even better here.
So, author decides to flush down the drain the budding romance of Harry/Lilith for some random chick... and that's... yeah... not cool? Like, what was the point of all the buildup in the previous book?..
These books continue to absolutely blow me away. While the first two are more standard supernatural PI fare, Flytrap is a deeply intimate, wrenching story. We see Harrietta at her weakest, we see her trauma, her abuse. We see her pain threaten to unravel her, and we root for her as we never have before. Stephanie's conversational, punchy style continues to delight, and works incredibly well here to make the reader empathize with her tortured, lovable protagonist. I cannot get enough of these books. I eagerly await the fourth, and the ways the characters continue to develop, including Kate, who I adore already.
There are a lot of content warnings in the beginning of the book for a reason. This is pretty gory, intense, and emotional. It may be Harry’s worst experience to date in the series. She engages in quite a bit of introspection, remembering the horrible, abusive things she’s experienced in her life as well as her own sometimes violent actions. It’s emotional and wrenching in places, and we really get to know more about how Harry’s mind works, her feelings and her regrets. Lilith makes a couple of appearances, as well as a possible new love interest. It definitely kept my attention because it was pretty nonstop.
Another excellent addition to the series! I loved the new characters introduced. I love the glimpse back into Harry’s past. And I love the action! These really are some perfectly paced stories. I’m never bored or just waiting for the next interesting thing to happen. Demons and lesbians and magic! Love it~
In the third book of this series, we learn more about the MC's history. The author is adept at creating memorable characters. She also builds a believeable, coherent world.
If you are squeamish about explicit sex scenes, skip them. The payoff is worth it.
This book was a bit of a different format than the first two because Harry doesn't really have a "case" and the stakes are mostly personal. Because of this I found it got a bit unfocused in places since she's both the detective and the client. I'm really enjoying a few of the recurring characters and I love the way the problem was finally solved. Overall great book.
I really appreciate the care that was taken by the author by providing trigger warnings in the beginning with the chapters in which the content was showing up. Wish more authors did that.
I like how Ahn deals with Harriettas trauma and the reactions to it and doesn't sugarcoat it or makes it magically disappear by the love of a good woman and a hard dicking. It affects Harri and she's aware of it but also still does it. My recollection of the first two books is very spotty so I can't remember if we knew about anything but the failed demon blood ritual but the whole demon arc came pretty out of nothing for me and it took a bit to get used to it.