You know those covers that just make you go, “oh I need to read that”? That was me and the Aunt Tigress cover. This book flew by and those teeth? Say less. Keep reading this book review of Aunt Tigress for my full thoughts.
Summary
Tam hasn’t eaten anyone in years.
She is now Mama’s soft-spoken, vegan daughter — everything dangerous about her is cut out, repressed. Medicated.
But when Tam’s estranged Aunt Tigress is found murdered and skinned, Tam inherits an undead fox in a shoebox and an ensemble of old enemies.
The demons, the ghosts, the gods running coffee shops by the river? Fine. The tentacled thing stalking Tam across the city? Absolutely not. And when Tam realizes the girl she’s falling in love with might be yet another loose end from her past? That’s just the brassy, beautiful cherry on top.
Because no matter how quietly she lives, Tam can’t hide from her voracious upbringing, nor the suffering she caused. As she navigates romance, redemption, and the end of the world, she can’t help but wonder…
Do monsters even deserve happy endings?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
In Aunt Tigress it’s a story that balances action and story telling. On the one hand, there’s this sense of murder, investigation, and the supernatural. We are never really sure if we can trust what we see, because we, as a reader, aren’t sure what will happen next. It’s this world where someone else can see beyond what we can. And we aren’t sure what is going to spring out at us. Because of that, there’s this heavy hand of storytelling. Not only are we learning about this world, but Tam is also learning about the history behind her family and the world she grew up apart from.
While I wish that there had been a stronger sense of internal character introspection, I enjoyed the action. For me, I’m one of those readers which benefits from some introspection and so I need to be involved in the internal angst, in the processing of feelings. At times, Aunt Tigress falls into the action and while I enjoyed that, I just needed a bit more balance. One of the themes I enjoyed was this idea of monstrosity. What makes a monster? Is it our actions or our intentions?
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And what would we do to protect the ones we love, even if we think they might be monstrous? In many ways, Aunt Tigress also examines power and what we think of as power (and strength). I enjoyed watching all these pieces come together and I was quite shocked at moments! Find Aunt Tigress on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.