Magical, Heartwarming, Humorous

Our MC is an archaeologist-entomologist post-doc and staying at the family home with their mother while waiting for their work to resume. Their mother is giving off some strange energy, seems to be living in the past, and some of her core personality traits have changed, leading our MC to wonder if she’s not well or if something more nefarious is going on. 
🇺🇸 Set in an older suburban development in North Carolina, USA

🐺🐕 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags: 

I loved this story and the characters. The writing style has the MC speaking directly to the reader and she is witty without being overdone or cheesy. She's a relatably passionate academic with all the "nerdy" social awkwardness that comes from spending most of your time in the minutiae of any niche field you love. If she were real, I would wanna spend time with her. 

Educationally entertaining. Have Google nearby to learn about fascinating flora and fauna IRL. 

The characters are very realistic. They're not all good or all bad. It's hard to define them because they vary in their core beliefs and values, magical abilities (or lack thereof), and relationship to others both human and otherwise, but none of them are the "villain" or throw-away people. 

Our MC is a "bigger" woman, and she is not defined by that any more than someone is defined by being short or tall or having brown eyes vs blue. It's her body and she doesn't nag herself for it, but she also recognizes her limitations and remains grounded even when others feel entitled to advise and judge. 

Mood Reading Match Up 🪶🐞🌹: 

-Grown up Goosebumps (eerie family dynamics, magical familiars, bizarre creature feature) 

-Educationally entertaining magical realism 

-Witchy, wizard, fae energy with a tiny sprinkling of take-it-slow romance
-Scary grandparents and symbolism around generational trauma

Content Heads-Up: Death of a parent/grandparent. Generational trauma. Light discussion of dementia. Great rep about body image and being "big" (there are body shaming comments from characters). 

Format: Library Digital via Libby