Audiobook Review – Midlife Fairy Hunter (Forty Proof Series, Book 2) by Shannon Mayer, Narrated by Lauren Fortgang (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 8 hours and 50 minutes
Publisher: Hjinks Ink LTD
Release Date: May 22, 2020
ASIN : B088XV8LRV
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Forty Proof series
Source: Audiobook from Audible
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Over the hill, all outta ducks to give, and suddenly life is looking up…even if you’re living with a ghost and fighting off werewolves.
Moving back to Savannah changed my life in all the best ways. New job. New friends. As far from my ex-husband as possible.
I didn’t count on the Shadow World intensifying its hold on my life.
Color me surprised, when a new job lands in my lap watching over a fairy ring. Worth ten times what I’d make anywhere else, it seems too good to be true. I take it anyway.
And that’s when things get weird.
Spells are cast on my friends that seem to make them lose their marbles.
I’ve got a Bigfoot baking in my kitchen.
And a skeleton is quickly becoming my go-to guy. Which is silly because the eye candy strutting around in front of me is drool worthy. (I’m looking at you, Crash. Really looking 0_0).
Nothing in Savannah is what it seems, and the magic and undercurrents of this city are pulling me onto a dangerous path.
But with a Fae Queen begging my help, and the darkness closing in, I can only do one thing.
Pop a couple Advil, and kick some serious ducking butt.”
Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Forty Proof series. I got this as an audiobook from Audible.com.
Audiobook Quality (4/5): The narration for this audiobook is really well done and it’s a lot of fun to listen to. I would definitely recommend listening to this series on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.
Story (4/5): This was a fun addition to this series. This continues the storyline started in the first book as well as adding in a new shorter storyline. Breena is hired secretly by a Fae Queen to retrieve an important artifact, however this ends up tying into the dark magic ritual that Breena stopped in the first novel. Of course through all of this Breena is trying to get back her gma’s house and be a productive member of the Hollows group. It’s a fast-paced well done story with a lot of interwoven plotlines that come together nicely. There’s a good mix of mystery, action, romance, and fun paranormal creatures.
Characters (5/5): This is a primarily character driven story and the characterization in here is amazing. Breena is fun to read about but some of the side characters are even more entertaining and I pretty much love them all. I love Eric the gardening/baking Bigfoot, Crash the super gruff, yet sexy Fae blacksmith, and Breena’s gram too. We meet a lot of new characters that are all just as awesome in this book. I love how Mayer is building Breena a kind of pseudo-family full of quirky characters. Breena grows a lot in this book and is learning to let go of some bitterness too.
Setting (4/5): The Savannah, Georgia setting works well for this story and I really enjoy all the different types of paranormal/supernatural creatures in here. It’s a lot of fun and well done.
Writing/Drawing Style (4/5): I like all the different types of paranormal/supernatural creatures in here, enjoy the witty dialogue and humor, and really love a lot of the characters. This was a quick and entertaining read that was just flat out a ton of fun. I do get a bit sick of all the man-bashing, but I also feel like our heroine is growing some and becoming a bit less bitter. I enjoy reading a series that features an older heroine but again do think that some of the “old” jokes are a bit over the top. Despite these issues I enjoy this enough to keep reading it.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this is a very solid addition to this series and I had a ton of fun reading it. I love the format of a contained mystery with a solid broader storyline that goes across multiple books. There is a lot of action, a fun mystery, and some very cool magic and creatures. However, the high point of this series are the absolutely amazing characters…they are quirky, fun, engaging and just so much fun to read about. I definitely plan on continuing this series and would recommend it to those who enjoy a good fun light-hearted urban fantasy series. I will mention the downside to this series is the man-bashing and a bit too much complaining about age; however that wasn’t as prevalent in this book as it was in the first…this series is definitely targeted at middle aged women.