Goldilox and the Three Weres: Review: Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard

Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances
(Dragons and Blades #2)
Aliette de Bodard
Release: June 28, 2022
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From the author of the critically acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen trilogy comes a sparkling new romantic adventure full of kissing, sarcasm and stabbing.

It was supposed to be a holiday, with nothing more challenging than babysitting, navigating familial politics and arguing about the proper way to brew tea.

But when dragon prince Thuan and his ruthless husband Asmodeus find a corpse in a ruined shrine and a hungry ghost who is the only witness to the crime, their holiday goes from restful to high-pressure. Someone is trying to silence the ghost and everyone involved. Asmodeus wants revenge for the murder; Thuan would like everyone, including Asmodeus, to stay alive.

Chased by bloodthirsty paper charms and struggling to protect their family, Thuan and Asmodeus are going to need all the allies they can—and, as the cracks in their relationship widen, they'll have to face the scariest challenge of all: how to bring together their two vastly different ideas of their future...

A heartwarming standalone book set in a world of dark intrigue.

Review:
One of my favorite books from 2020 was Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and I didn’t know until a week ago that it was going to become a series with a second book coming out this month. Y’all! My favorite dragon prince and his murder husband are back to solve another murder mystery! I loved Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances even more than the first book and it will definitely be on my favorites list of 2022.

This novella was everything! It starts off with Thuan (the soft bookish dragon husband) and Asmodeus (the stabby overprotective fallen angel husband with lots of knives) babysitting while visiting Thuan’s family. They soon find a ghost and uncover a murder that leads them into all sorts of troubles ranging from being attacked while babysitting to an ex-lover making an appearance. It’s mixed together with a hefty dash of emotional struggle, knives, and romance. I don’t think that these two will ever get to have a normal vacation ever.

Aliette de Bodard has built such an intriguing gothic fantasy world that instantly sucks me in. Her writing is beautiful and I adored the Vietnamese mythology mixed with the lore on fallen angels. The plot was intriguing and was a good mix of action, romance, and comedy. The babysitting scenes alone had me grinning like a loon. My heart didn’t know it needed the scenes with Asmodeus and Thuan being uncles to Camille and Ai Nhi but it did. It's now a huge pile of goo because of all the stabbiness and cuteness!

My favorite part though was the romance. Thuan and Asmodeus have come a long way since the first book but their marriage isn’t without its struggles and issues. The fight between them kept me on the edge of my seat and made me more than a little snippity to my family when my reading was interrupted. I just had to know if everything would work out and they would be fine.

Full disclaimer, I still haven’t read the original trilogy this series is a spin-off of despite having plans to do so in 2020. We all know how that year went. In this novella, we got a look at the start of Thuan and Asmodeus’s relationship and I’m dying to know more! The Dominion of the Fallen series is one I will definitely be continuing and finishing this year!

This series is so masterfully written and I can’t recommend it enough! It’s also a perfect Pride read with both bisexual and gay rep. I’m going to cross my fingers and hope with everything I have that we get even more novellas about my favorite murder husbands! I really can’t get enough of them or this world.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.