Dive into a unique take on the paranormal with Vrooms, Brooms & Heirlooms by Maddy Savanna. With its quirky and unusual main protagonist, and its expanding reach into the world of otherworldly beings, this story provides plenty of humour, mishaps and a little bit of mayhem!
Any book told in first person narrative is always a win for me as I feel as if I’m actually walking beside the character in question. Furthermore, our heroine, Victoria Fox, is an extremely likeable and relatable individual; her natural tendency to doubt herself and the feistiness when faced with any barriers, makes her just like your or I. Her career of choice as a car mechanic is also different to any other novel I’ve read before and as such, I felt she was quite an inspiring leading lady. The secondary characters in the book, Boxy, the astute co-owner of her business, and Travis, her intriguing business rival, are also just as well-written and much like the rest of the book, will draw you in and win you over. I even slowly warmed up to her familiar (I must say, I’m still not quite convinced by his name: despite being unusual and in keeping with the story, it just didn’t seem to quite work for me although I can see others loving it) as the novel wore on!
Interestingly, the author chooses to launch a variety of paranormal beings at us as we work our way through the chapters but rather than this being confusing, it actually hints at what is to come over the course of the series which is certainly a plus in my books: I was definitely left wanting to read the subsequent novels to find out about ninjas and vampires. I also like how Maddy subtly referenced these other paranormal individuals and how ordinary humans were party aware of their comings and goings.
Initially, the book cover didn’t quite appeal to me and I wasn’t quite hooked by the first few chapters but as the novel wore on, I found my first perceptions to be proven quite wrong. To begin with, the quirkiness is a little overbearing but it soon grows on you and it really does fit the style of the author and the characters themselves. Billed as a cozy mystery, the story does quickly reach the ‘whodunnit’ plot line as promised and whilst there was certainly plenty of clues and red herrings littered throughout the story, I felt that some of the suspects weren’t investigated quite as much as they could have been. Having said that, I was still left guessing until the end. Victoria as a main character doesn’t take herself too seriously, allowing for lots of slight mishaps that will leave you with a smile on your face.
The Book Dragon has had the opportunity to review this book on behalf of the author and was pleasantly surprised to find that despite a slightly bumpy start, Maddy Savanna really has produced an excellent little light read. With this in mind, we award the novel 4 stars.
Not Available to Buy at The Book Dragon
