I had this book on my TBR for a long time because it sounded like it would work for Foodies Read. I didn’t get a copy though because I was cheap. I couldn’t find it at the library or on Kindle Unlimited. I did recently realize that I could get the audiobook on Audible without using any credits so I gave it a listen.
The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar
by Seana KellySetting: California
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Urban
Narrator: Samantha Desz
Published on October 13, 2020
Pages: 321
Format: Audiobook Source: Audible
Welcome to The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar. I'm Sam Quinn, the werewolf book nerd in charge. I run my business by one simple rule: Everyone needs a good book and a stiff drink, be they vampire, wicche, demon, or fae. No wolves, though. Ever. I have my reasons.
I serve the supernatural community of San Francisco. We've been having some problems lately. Okay, I'm the one with the problems. The broken body of a female werewolf washed up on my doorstep. What makes sweat pool at the base of my spine, though, is realizing the scars she bears are identical to the ones I conceal. After hiding for years, I've been found.
A protection I've been relying on is gone. While my wolf traits are strengthening steadily, the loss also left my mind vulnerable to attack. Someone is ensnaring me in horrifying visions intended to kill. Clive, the sexy vampire Master of the City, has figured out how to pull me out, designating himself my personal bodyguard. He's grumpy about it, but that kiss is telling a different story. A change is taking place. It has to. The bookish bartender must become the fledgling badass.
I'm a survivor. I'll fight fang and claw to protect myself and the ones I love. And let's face it, they have it coming.
I have a feeling that if I hadn’t been wanting to read this one for a long time that I would have DNFed it. This is a book that starts out really slowly. The bar and bookstore is pretty cool. It is magical so the entrance is hidden. It is in a cliff overlooking San Francisco Bay. There is a huge window that is partially underwater. Water fae can swim in to the bar. The story doesn’t really spend a lot of time at the bar or with foodie stuff though.
In the first book there is a lot of trauma survival issues. Sam was abducted and tortured seven years ago. Her mother was murdered. She’s been on her own ever since. Now some magical protection (that she didn’t realize she had) has failed and everyone is out to get her again.
That’s one of the major flaws of this book. Literally everyone is attacking her. She gets jumped like three or four times a day and doesn’t know why. You’d think she’d just die at some point. I mean there’s suspension of disbelief for a werewolf book and then there’s this level of, “Come on, really?”
It does get better. Towards the end she starts to figure out what is going on and moves into having some agency and power. It just takes a while to get there. Obviously it didn’t bother me all that much because I kept listening.
Each book is named after a bar but none of them actually spend much time there. I do love the secondary characters that the author has created for the series. (There is a dragon-shifter veterinarian who works with large carnivores at a zoo because they are all intimated by him and behave for their exams.)
When I get to the end of book 5 I’m going to have to make some decisions. There is a secondary series that will be starting. The timeline says that I should start reading/listening to those books in-between these ones. Also I’d have to start using credits to listen to any of the newer books. That’s just rude to start getting people hooked then make them have to start paying. Like drug dealers, aren’t ya, Audible? I’ve fully decided yet if I want to keep going once I have to start handing over money. Maybe I’ll move to reading them since it would be less money but I really love the narrator.
Samantha Desz is the narrator and she is amazing. She goes between male and female voices and multiple accents seamlessly. I’ve been very impressed with her. I hate to leave her to read them on my own. Decisions, decisions.
