The City Between, Book #1

Meet Pet. She’s our unnamed human protagonist, just wanting to live her life and one day own the house she secretly lives in, when two fae and a vampire move in to investigate the house across the street. But at least they let her keep living with them—as their…pet.

This book was so fun. It’s weird, but fun.

I don’t read much urban fantasy, and I’m not always a fan of “fae are inscrutable and don’t have normal human emotions and stuff” type books, but this one was thoroughly enjoyable. The fae aren’t quite human, but they have enough human characteristics to make them interesting as characters. And as we progress through the series, the curtain is lifted a smidge to see why they are the way they are—and whether or not fae inevitably lack empathy.

The first book is a romp of a murder mystery (sort of), but as the series progresses, we learn more about the different layers of reality—Between and Behind. We see a wide variety of creatures, some politics, rebellious factions, and more!

This series is highly binge-able (I listened to 9 of the 10 books within a week), and a fun ride all the way through. I will say that the last few books were my least favorite of the series. They were still enjoyable, but the stakes were higher and the tone more serious, which didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the series for me. While dark things happen in the surrounding world throughout the series, the last two books felt much darker and grimmer. The last book got downright gruesome at times.
Still, I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys portal-style and/or fae fantasy worlds!

Audio Performance
I listened to the audio books for this series, and I mostly enjoyed it. My only complaint is that the volume varies significantly at points. There is one character in particular who’s voice is read at almost a whisper, and it makes it difficult to hear everything at a comfortable volume without constantly adjusting the volume on my headphones / speakers.

Content (for Series as a Whole)
Language: PG. No swear words that I remember.
Sexual: PG-13. There are some kisses further in the series. Book one I’d say is PG in this department.
Violence: PG-13, maybe a low R. For most of the series, I’d give it a PG-13. But each book has a handful of violent, gory scenes, and this is ratcheted up in the last two or three books.

Learn more here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39791122-between-jobs