Fairy Godmurder by Sarah J. Sover: Let’s Solve Some Murders

What’s a better combo than fairies and crime-fighting? When someone murders Gwen’s first fairy godmother charge, her life takes a turn and she becomes a crime fighter. If the cops can’t figure out who did it, she will. Little does she know that that first murder was only the beginning and she’d be hunting a serial killer years later.

Let’s discuss!

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Gwendolyn Evenshine thought being a fairy godmother would be cut and dried—take on a charge, solve a royal problem, and return to the Academy for her next assignment. But she got too close.

When the beloved Princess Francesca is brutally murdered on her watch, Gwen refuses to resume her fairy godmother duties. Instead, she laces her docs and hits the streets of Boston in search of the bastard who took Frankie from her, a serial killer who operates in lunar cycles. But Gwen’s magic is on the fritz, and bodies are piling up.

Gwen enlists the talents of Chessa Moon, an upbeat pixie crime blogger who will do anything for a scoop. Together, they open new leads as they race against the hunter’s moon. As the killer hits closer and closer to home, Gwen is forced to confront her past and nail the killer, or she’ll lose more than just her shot at vengeance—she’ll lose the only person in her life worth a damn.

As soon as I read the premise of this book, I was like YES PLEASE. I love crime/detective books and while the fae aren’t usually my thing, I’m all for crime-fighting fairies looking for justice.

Let’s talk about the good.

I really loved Gwen and Chessa as characters and I loved their friendship. They are both really strong and committed to their goals. Gwen is committed to finding out who killed Frankie and Chessa is committed to running her crime blog and getting all the gossip and info she can find. I would very much like to be a writer for Chessa’s blog!

I also love how much they support each other. Even when in danger, they don’t just walk away. They save each other.

I also liked Gwen’s relationship with Detective Samson. First of all, I loved that he’s a griffin. I don’t know why but it made me so happy.

Beyond that, I really liked their push-and-pull relationship. He is reluctant to give her information because he wants to keep his job, but Gwen is nothing if not persistent and she always gets at least a tidbit of information out of him.

They also have clearly been looking for this killer together for years and that shows in the way they are with each other. I wish there was more scenes with them because, while we understand their relationship, I was looking for a bit more.

There is also a scene that shocked the hell out of me. I was not prepared for a certain character to die and was like WHAT?!?! when they do. It hurt my heart.

Ok, let’s get into the meh parts of the book.

If there was one thing I could say about the book overall it would be: I wanted more. The worldbuilding was good, but I wanted more depth from the characters. I wanted more of a deep dive into who they are. Especially Gwen. Maybe some flashbacks with her and Samson or her and Matron Celeste.

The final scenes between Matron Celeste and Gwen would have hit me in the feels much more if we had gotten a scene or two showing how deep their relationship was when she was a student.

I am giving Fairy Godmurders 3 out of 5 stars. If you like crime dramas, fantasies involving fairies, or a mix of both, you may want to give this one a try! It definitely has some fun moments.

Fairy Godmurder by Sarah J. Sover is available now.

Thank you to Falstaff Books for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you’d like to support me, donating to my ko-fi goes a long way to keeping this blog up and making my life a little more stable. Love you all!