This article contains Amazon Affiliate Links. Thank you for supporting The Game of Nerds.

If you missed my last KU review on Inevitable, you can find it here.

Hi everyone, I’m back with another KU read. Today’s oblation is A Dead and Stormy Night by Steffanie Holmes. This a wonderful premise that, as a writer myself, I am jealous I didn’t think of it first. This is a ten-book series so far, and I am not sure if it is done yet. Her website doesn’t say if her series is complete.

We meet Mina, Wilhelmina Wilde if she is in trouble, as she is on her way to inquire about a job at Nevermore Bookshop that was advertised. Mina has come home to Argleton, England, from New York, USA, after she lost her fashion job. She found out that she has a medical condition that is going to cause her to lose her sight, and it has already diminished a lot. Her former best friend, Ashley, blabbed to their boss so she could get the job that Mina was going to get. Both Ashley and her former boss, Marcus, made sure she could no longer work in the world of fashion. Needless to say, Mina went home to regroup and see what she should do next. In the meantime, she needed to find a job so she could help her mom pay bills, hence going to Nevermore Bookshop.

There, she meets Mr. Earnshaw, who took over the bookshop Mina loves so much, from the former owner, Mr. Simson. She also meets his pet raven, who hates people quoting Poe, and his cat. The place is dim, making it hard for Mina to see, but she pushes ahead. While talking to Mr. Earnshaw, she hears another voice but can’t see anyone who would be speaking. Earnshaw ends up hiring her. On her first day, she meets Morrie, short for James Moriarty, as in Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis. The cat’s name is Grimalkin, and the raven is Quoth. The four of them have an interesting dynamic.

Right away, things go awry. Turns out Ashley is in town and goes into the shop she would normally not go into. When she realizes that Mina works there, she tries to reconnect with Mina, but Mina wants none of it, and I can’t say I blame her. When Mina and Morrie work together to build a website for the bookshop, Ashley goes and gets herself killed in the bookshop, and Mina becomes the chief suspect. She also finds out that there is more to the whole bookshop than the safe harbor it was to her when she was a kid in there. As in, the place is cursed. There is also a whole lot more to Morrie, Mr. Earnshaw (whose whole name is Heathcliff Earnshaw), and Quoth than meets the eye.

Source Barnes and Noble

I love this. I love that Mina is learning to live with a disability. Learning to live with my own disabilities has been a struggle, and I still feel impotent at times dealing with them. I am enjoying that authors are making their main characters “flawed.” I mean, I don’t think they are flawed, whether it is a weight thing, scars, blindness, mental illness, or what have you, but there are people who do.

Mina is a beautiful FMC. I don’t just mean her looks. She is well developed, even if she is easily swayed by hormones with these sexy men. I love how well the emotions and motivations surrounding losing her eyesight are portrayed for Mina. You can feel her struggle. Heathcliff, Morrie, and Quoth are well-fleshed-out characters, too. All three are very different, from the way they dress to how they speak, even to how they relate to Mina. It isn’t always that way with multiple love interests in books, and they can easily blend together. Grimalkin is even given her own traits besides just being a decoration.

There are a number of wrong words in there. For example, the word was supposed to be expected, but the word was exempt. That will throw you off. Suffice it to say that Ms. Holmes could benefit from better editing. That’s a lot of the “problems” I see in KU: the authors need better editing.

Also, there is not much spice. That’s my only wish for this book—that it was spicier. Maybe as we go through the series, it will get hotter. Last thing, despite this being a murder mystery, there isn’t much violence. A few scuffles, maybe, but nothing like a mafia romance.

I do love the whole story and I think I will make my way through the whole series so be on the lookout for more Nevermore Bookshop reviews. Have you read A Dead And Stormy Night or anything else by Steffanie Holmes? She has a lot of books published. Have I enticed you to read this? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!