Rating: 4.75🌈
“I, Detective Octavius Evander, continues! To start off on a positive note, prepare to be amazed my precious human, Turney,”
The adventures and romantic journey of the ancient vampire Octavius Evander and his human companion, the wonderfully named Turney Pimms, continues in Keep It Together.
This series starts with Octavius deciding to open a paranormal detective agency, with nothing but money, whimsy and time behind it. As the first book progresses past a strangely endearing flyer, The Undead Detective Agency begins to accumulate its unique employees and accept cases. Among its employees are Turney Pimms, Cormac the werewolf ,Scarlett the zombie , and Min-ji the powerful witch. Each finds their way to working for Octavius in an most unlikely scenario.
But it’s Octavius himself who’s the paranormal puzzle at the heart here. He’s ancient, incredibly intelligent, lost more knowledge than anyone around while accumulating more powers, and yet he’s still not the figure you’d expect.
And this is where Shelby Rhodes does the hardest work narratively and the best that’s threaded through out the series to date. It’s in creating a character so lovable and endearing that we pay little attention to the darker aspects of his story the author’s hinting at.
Honestly I’d pay just for the fabulous sketches of the character of Octavius at the beginning of each chapter. He’s just that winning a personality, especially in his costumed fruit bat form.
So as Octavius runs around chasing his favorite types of glitter, or between cases, has sexy romps with his Turney, the author starts to smack the reader with a clue. Then it’s back to silliness. Then a harder smack to make us pay attention, then notice something about Octavius, then everything isn’t quite so simple or silly anymore.
That perhaps it’s deep trauma and a shattering experience that’s brought about a need to shy away from looking at things too hard and instead concentrate on glitter and scrapbooking. Suddenly the character of Octavius takes on another troubling aspect and damaged perspective of someone who’s been abused.
The ending is both something the author is preparing the reader for and is still unexpected. It’s a cliffhanger.
I have such a deeper appreciation for the layers the author is writing into the story and characters here that I wasn’t aware of in the first book. I’ll be rereading it again soon to see what I missed.
I’m highly impressed by the story and plots . I’m recommending it. There’s a character death. That’s not a spoiler as it’s mentioned in the description.
Part of me thinks that there should be a trigger warning for trauma but I can’t think of how I’d word it at the moment. It’s that sort of story.
The Undead Detective Agency:
✓ Get It Together #1
✓ Keep It Together #2
◦ In Death Together #3 TBD 2023
◦ Forever Together #4 TBD 2024
Buy Link:
Keep It Together (The Undead Detective Agency Book 2)
Description:
Back again, I see. Well, you are in luck, for the story of, I, Detective Octavius Evander, continues! To start off on a positive note, prepare to be amazed as my precious human, Turney, falls into my hands!
Okay, technically, I already had my hands on him—all of him—but that didn’t make him mine, mine. But now it is time to show how I captured his heart with my lovable personality! No doubt my adorable and sparkly new hobby had something to do with it as well!
But enough about the gooey emotions. On to the cases! There will be a new adventure or two with my team to entertain. Though the adventures this time, well, not all end as pleasantly as one might hope. While I would say to prepare for the return of old faces, none of you have seen them before. Just know that their reappearance in my life leads to an unfortunate event. But in the paranormal world, fun and death go hand and hand, does it not?
CONTENT WARNING: This is a M/M paranormal romance book that ends on a cliffhanger. There will be violence and a main character death—a temporary death.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 