Clarissa Carmichael is one of a dying breed. She’s a mother of two, a middle aged woman rediscovering how to walk alone after a nasty divorce, and she’s good with a Tanto knife. Which is convenient, because the library hosting her Suddenly Single Support Group meetings has inexplicably become a door that swings both ways. Creatures that have inspired horror legends for centuries are reappearing to restake their claim on the world of Mortals, and the Hunters and Slayers of this era have either retired or passed on during the peaceful years following the Purge.
Except Clarissa and her ex-husband Kaine, who aren’t on speaking terms.
And since Kaine is suffering from the demi-immortal version of PTSD, he’s not going to be much help. So one week after her forty-ninth birthday Clarissa finds herself on the hunt for a flexible babysitter and a really good cup of coffee, because it looks like it’s going to be up to her to ward off the coming Immortal Uprising.
It might be fun if she wasn’t so out of practice.
Throw two likewise recently uncoupled suitors into the mix, add a handful of monsters ranging from peaceful over-the-hill werewolves to reincarnated saints with nasty habits to constantly provoked FaeGhouls, and stir with a spicy little librarian assistant who knows exactly what goes on in the Genealogy section after 9 PM - and be sure to listen for the echos in the coffee shop, because those are important even though Clarissa can’t figure out why.
Who is the Immortal in the newspaper lounge really? Which of the support group hopefuls will finally catch Clarissa’s attention - the young stoner dad with unrealized supernatural potential who thinks his “alternative vision” is just the result of smoking too much, or the handsome but somewhat insufferable accountant that Clarissa believes could be one of the Other Kind due to his uncanny ability to keep a preternaturally straight face in any circumstance? Can Kaine get over himself long enough to come out of retirement and survive the bullseye on his back and maybe lend a hand? Who the hell IS that Immortal reading the damn entertainment section all day?? And now there’s that weird book in the library’s archive with her name stamped on the sealed cover and a date that’s getting unnervingly close on the calendar.
Things are about to go critical.
And it’s been far too long since our heroine got laid.
Damn apocalypse, always crimping a girl’s style.
A slightly supernatural comedy/mystery/thriller/romance for anyone who’s ever found themselves starting over and wondering what the the hell they’re supposed to be doing while the world goes up in flames around them.
Lexa Kline
