We will review the Dreamspinner Press advent calendar one review a day. At the end of the month THREE winners will be picked to receive some great prizes!
First prize is 10 books from your Dreamspinner wishlist .
Second prize is 5 books from your Dreamspinner wishlist.
Third prize is 3 books from your Dreamspinner wishlist.
December 7th
Day 7
Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Pixies and Paperwork
SERIES: 2016 Dreamspinner Advent Calendar – Bah Humbug
AUTHOR: Cassia Rose
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 55 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2016
BLURB:
Micheal Donovan’s family has kept the peace between mortal and magical realms for generations, but Micheal skipped out on glory for other plans. He finished school, got a nine-to-five, and tried to fit in. When his cousin meets an unfortunate end on All Hallows, Micheal abruptly inherits the position of Riftkeeper, along with all the prestige and responsibility he didn’t want. Estranged from his family, Micheal never learned the details of the job. All the grumpy, ancestral spirit now possessing his goldfish can tell him is that a mistake could be catastrophic. Micheal isn’t feeling the holiday cheer, and coworkers’ attempts to encourage him only add to a headache of magical proportions.
To make matters worse, Ryan Nickles, Micheal’s colleague and cubicle neighbor, has assembled enough Christmas decorations to attract more pixies than Micheal can hide. When Micheal’s attempts to find the Winter Court on the week of the solstice leave him with nothing but a bad cold, he fears he’ll be the first Riftkeeper to break ancient contracts. He’s too stressed to handle Ryan’s attempts to get him into the holiday spirit, but Ryan might know more about the magic of the season than Micheal realizes.
REVIEW:
I enjoyed this story quite a bit; there’s just something about the mix of paranormal and the magic of Christmas that I find really appealing. Micheal is kind of your typical bah humbug grouch but, in this particular instance he has an excuse. The end of the year is always busy with his job, his normal, no magic included everyday job but when you add in an unexpected death in the family and Micheal getting said relative’s job as Riftkeeper, well, he’s under a bit of stress. Micheal seems to be getting the silent treatment from the rest of his family, as well, and since he has no idea what he’s doing or how to go about preventing a localized version of the apocalypse, this is looking to be the worst Christmas in history. And Micheal pretty much hates Christmas just on principle anyway.
The magical/paranormal elements were fairly understated from what I was expecting but were used quite effectively. It was kind of obvious who the contact for the Winter Court is but I wasn’t really disappointed by that; I liked how Micheal was sort of smacked in the face with the realization though. 😀
This was a pretty sweet, kind of fluffy (even with Micheal so prickly) start to a romance that used magic and paranormal elements quite successfully. It was an enjoyable read and I’m really glad I chose it! If you enjoy a more literal ‘magic of Christmas’ type of story, you should enjoy this one.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
The Riftkeeper sounds intriguing!
Thanks for the review! I like stories with some magic/paranormal thrown (or sprinkled) in. And the cover is cute.
This story sounds really intriguing. Thanks for the review! I will definitely add it to my wishlist.
Sounds like a cute story. I love those in Christmas. Thank you for the review, Sarina
Mix of paranormal/magic in a holiday story brings a lot of of goodness. Thanks for the review.
The book sounds really cute and fun to read.
I’m not normally a paranormal fan but from your comments, it should be OK for me
This one sounds intriguing. Thank you for the review!
Thanks for the review, i don’t know if this one is for me but it does sound interesting.
I think the mix of the two is appealing too. Thank you for the review!
To my TBR!!! than you for your review.