Mistress of Fear by Lauretta Hignett

Mistress of Fear is the first book in the NEW Legacy of Vengeance & Magic urban fantasy series by Lauretta Hignett.

This series immediately follows the conclusion of the Eternity College Chronicles series, which immediately follows the Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth series... which... well, you get the idea. Let's just say, if you haven't discovered Lauretta Hignett until now, you have a most fabulous future of binge-reading before you.

As always, we have a wonderful new cast of characters. From the author who brought you, Dwayne, and Mavka, and Countess Ebadorathea, she now brings us … tada! Dora! What can I say about Dora? I looove her but she scares the bejeez out of me at the same time. There's definitely a deer-in-the-headlights aspect to her, and you just can't wait to see what she's going to do or say next. Ms. Hignett makes the most wonderfully unhinged characters, gotta love it!

Mrs. Chen, the Chinese lady who owns (?) the building... which, btw, is beautifully described! I could almost see it in my mind's eye! ... is quietly effective, and you just LIKE her. The other residents are all quirky, as one would expect from Ms. Hignett, and even not knowing the entire story behind their presence there, it's both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, and you can't help but want to know more.

And, well. Can I just say: sentient house! I love love love me a sentient house! Especially ones who sulk when the residence don’t dress up for dinner is efficiently for its liking, and takes petty yet subtle revenge.

The conflict between Rose and Sasha is... well... definitely cringe-worthy from a romantic standpoint, simply because of the entangled history of Sasha and Rose's family. Each has a solid, valid reason to legitimately despise and hate the other, with no room for forgiveness on either side (and rightly so). I can't imagine how they can overcome the histories between them. But I have EVERY confidence in Ms. Hignett to find them a way through to the other side. As an additional twist to that, it turns out that Sasha... oh. Oh, wait. I can't say, because SPOILERS! mwaaahahahaaaaa! You'll just have to read it to find out!

Scattered throughout the scenes in the first half of the book, Rose is deluged with increasingly unhinged texts from her ex-fiancee and her ex-best friend. We see them clearly deteriorate as time goes by with no response from Rose, and honestly, they felt ... quite disturbing. I got the creepy-crawlies up my spine every time I read them (and yes, I've read the whole book 3 times by the time of this writing LOL). Which, let me tell you, is some damned good writing! I'm going to predict that we haven't heard the last from these two.