Deadline by Jennifer Blackstream [Book Review]

Books that take typical tropes and turn them on their heads are favorites of mine, and Deadline by Jennifer Blackstream is absolutely no different. Shade Renaut is a “village witch,” who works in the small town of Dresden.

Speaking of Dresden, I saw completely the inspiration Jennifer got from authors like Jim Butcher, simply from the town name.

I understood the inspiration, but I never felt like she stole anything from those authors. She took the “witch for hire” trope and completely made it her own. Deadline is part of a series of books, and I’m telling you, I can’t wait to grab the rest of them, and enjoy this world more!

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Shade Renaut has been training for years in her witchly duties. Her training has been preparation for being a “village witch” in the town of Dresden. She works with the townspeople on things such as comforting a small kitten, or making healing potions. Her mentor has never encouraged Shade to be anything other than a witch, but “Mother Renaut” wants badly to be a private investigator. So when she receives a visitor to her home late one night, she takes the case, despite misgivings about the potential client.

Characters

Shade

Shade is the main character, and she’s constantly struggling to get people to call her by her name. Something unique about this book, is that even people who don’t know that magic exists, call Shade “mother renaut” out of respect. I get the feeling that Shade isn’t much older than me, if not quite a bit younger. She’s not old enough, anyway, to really appreciate the title “Mother,” so she tells people all the time to call her Shade. I didn’t find her relatable, but I did enjoy her character. Most of what I enjoyed about this book was Shade’s interaction with her familiar.

Peasblossom

Peasblossom is Shade’s familiar, and she’s a pixie. This author was FANTASTIC at describing Peasblossom, and giving her a unique personality. She was such a fun character, that I honestly wish I had one. I could even deal with the constant honey obsession.

Anton

Vampires are always a good choice for a character. I have a hard time turning down a good vampire character, and Anton is no different. He hires Shade for an investigative job, but he’s pretty scary as a boss, lemme tell ya. I’d not want to work for him in any form. I did think his wife was pretty cool, and his son was hilarious.

The World of Deadline

Jennifer has created a unique story setting, even though Deadline is set in the modern world. She takes her readers from small towns like Dresden, into Cleveland and back, but also has a couple places that one can only get to through a “transport gargoyle.” Those are additions to my list of things I wish I had.

Deadline has a couple scenes where Shade is stuck in traffic, and it’s written so well I actually feel frustrated for her. The author has also created a number of interesting characters to occupy that world, that make it richer and more complete than it would be otherwise. Vampires, Wizards, Witches, Pixies, etc….are super fun additions to this book that I completely fell in love with.

Excerpt

My instincts flared as I pulled into the my driveway. The sun had set and it was dark, but the automatic light on my garage didn’t come on. I frowned.

“Did you disconnect the automatic light?”

Peasblossom curled against my neck, her wet dress adding a sudden chill in the air inside the car. “No.”

Unease rolled down my spine. I murmured a spell, drawing a few circles in the air. “Lumen.” Three glowing balls of reddish light bloomed to life and hovered before me. I kept one over my head and sent the other two forward, illuminating my path to the front door. I didn’t open the garage door and pull in, but got out while I was still in the driveway, already preparing another spell as I climbed out of the driver’s seat.

“Revelare.” My power flowed in a wash of silver toward the house, probing for any foreign magic. Nothing.

“Stay here,” I told Peasblossom. “If I don’t call for you, go to Mother Hazel and tell her everything that happened today.”

“But I won’t have anything to tell her unless I stay to see what happens.” Peasblossom hissed. “I’m not leaving you.”

“This might be nothing.” I kept my voice as low as possible. “The bulb may have burned out. Don’t be silly.”

“I’m not silly and I’m not stupid. You think there’s something bad inside. And a witch never ignores her gut.”

A lump rose in my throat, and I fought to swallow around it. “Please stay out here. I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you.”

Peasblossom gave my ear a ferocious hug. “I’ll stay out here, but only as backup. I will never leave you.”

I waited for her to fly up and off my shoulder before straightening my spine. This was my house. My village. Whatever was here, whatever had violated my home, would be sorry. Power rose in my throat, feeding the spell I’d readied.

“Shade, look out!”

I whirled around and spat behind me. The spell hurtled through the air, and I had a split second to see a dark figure separate itself from the maple tree beside my driveway. The spell landed in the grass, the viscous blue fluid of the entanglement spell pooling in the tree’s shadow.

“Such attacks will not be necessary.”

A man spoke from beside me, smooth and masculine, voice heavy with an accent I hadn’t heard in a long time.

A very, very long time.

I turned, knowing I’d never call up another spell fast enough. I raised my hand anyway, needing to try, to go down fighting. A hand closed around my wrist, tight enough that I swore I heard my bones creak. I gritted my teeth and stared into the face of my visitor.

He was dressed in a suit that probably cost more than my car. Long, white-blond hair brushed his shoulders and framed a pale face with sharp, graceful features. I couldn’t see what colors his eyes were in this light, but it didn’t matter. I remembered his face.

He went by the name Anton Winters, majority shareholder of the Winters Group, a company that made the Forbes 500 list look like a gathering of struggling start-ups. There were whispers he had criminal connections, that he was former KGB. I knew the truth. And it was scarier.

Anton Winters had once been known by a different name.

Prince Kirill of Dacia.

A vampire.

So there you have it. My first review of a book written by Jennifer Blackstream. I gotta tell ya, not only will I finish this series, I’ll be checking out her other series as well! I hope you get a chance to check out Deadline by Jennifer Blackstream, and I hope you’ll take the time to let me know below what you thought! If you’re interested in purchasing this book, please click the link below. It is an affiliate link, so I’ll get a small commission from your purchase.

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