Diving down the wonky rabbit hole again

Today Murphy's Law just seriously took me to the cleaners. What I look forward to for the night is some time with a good book (The Young Dread releases today) and good cuddle with my poodles. So, I'll complete some catharsis and write up a review on a very special book.

The Contrary Tale of the Butterfly Girl by Ishbelle Bee

The second in the Peculiar Adventures of John Loveheart, Esq. series. If you recall, I could not rave enough about the first novel (review here) this summer. The second in the series did not disappoint. These novels are seriously fantastic in their disturbing glory. I somehow end up at the last sentence wondering about my sanity. Should I really find these novels so good? Am I disturbed? The answers are yes and no. Sometimes you just need a good dark fairytale to shake the doldrums from your day.

This go around John Loveheart falls in love. What do you get when a completely mad man falls in love with a brutalized, desensitized woman? The most wonderful of Mad Hatter level love stories. They are trying to fall in love while a cannibalistic cult is running through the bodies on some crazy munchies bender. These books just keep the creep factor coming.

Boo Boo is a girl who gets adopted by the world's worst foster father with a predilection for butterflies. She has a very interesting imaginary (or not?) friend. There is absolutely no hope for her to come out normal. Perfect for the completely deranged John Loveheart.

We get to work with Detective White and Constable Walnut again. A very special pair of law enforcers to appreciate the Christmas presents of John Loveheart. I was actually surprised how much I appreciated these characters. They are a good balance to the smorgasbord of weird.

The beautiful typography continues in this novel. It actually jumps off from the first page, the only hiccup in the book from me. The crazy seems to start too soon as if there is no transition period to adjust to that level but that sensation didn't last for more than a couple of chapters.

I cannot wait for the next book!!!

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