Spotlight on Jess Kidd

The sun was shining down on Jess Kidd in a Coulee as Norma and I were reading Himself and Mr Flood’s Last Resort with some of our Traveling Sisters.  We started off lost in a coulee with two of our TS reading Himself first and then we followed it with Mr Flood’s Last Resort with two more of our TS joining us in a coulee. We found ourselves in a very different coulee with these two books as both stories were very different from what we have read before.  It’s like Jess Kidd has created a unique genre on her own here by blending a mystery, suspense with supernatural and magical realism to her stories. Jess Kidd writes clever and imaginatively with her stories and does a fantastic job blending darkness with light.

In the end, after reading both stories by Jess Kidd we were split as to which one we felt was the strongest story of the two. We highly recommend both of these magical stories.  

Mr. Flood’s Last Resort by Jess Kidd

Brenda’s Traveling Sisters Review and rating: 4 of 5 stars

Norma and I were lost in the heavy dense wooded coulee reading Mr. Flood’s Last Resort with four of our Traveling Sisters and we were swept up in the mystery and magic of this story that explores grief and loss. Jess Kidd does a good job bringing out some emotions here for us with the emotional depth that touches on grief and loss.

Jess Kidd does a fantastic job creating well-developed enduring characters here with our main characters Cathal and Maud. We really loved the dynamics between these two very different characters that really added some contrast to the story. We loved the dynamics that the other colorful and eccentric characters brought to the story as well.

What really stood out for us was Jess Kidd’s ability to blend a murder mystery set in a gothic mansion full of secrets and chaos with some black humor that adds some comic relief to the story.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Atria Books and Jess Kidd for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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Norma’s Review

4.5 stars! This novel had the perfect mix of genres that I absolutely love to read!

MR FLOOD’S LAST RESORT by JESS KIDD is a magical, clever, imaginative, and an absolutely wonderful novel that had me totally engaged, entertained and interested throughout this entire book.

JESS KIDD delivers a well-written and creative story here with an absolutely wonderful gothic mansion setting, quirky characters and an extremely mesmerizing storyline. I really enjoyed the magical realism and the Irish folktales that were seamlessly blended into the storyline.

To sum it all up it was an interesting, charming, dark, comical, and an enjoyable read with a satisfying ending. Would recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Atria Books, Simon & Schuster Canada and Jess Kidd for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Himself by Jess Kidd

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Norma and I were lost in the magical lush coulee with two of our Traveling Sisters reading Himself.  At times we were hidden in the bushes looking over our shoulders for the supernatural who were wanting to find us and tell us their secrets.

Himself starts off dark and violent and left us wanting to stay hidden in those magical bushes to hide from the dark but soon humor is introduced into the story to lighten the darkness of this story. Jess Kidd does a good job balancing the dark with some light here with magic and humor.

She adds some supernatural elements here with our main character Mahony who sees the dead that holds the secrets and lies in a small Irish town.  At times we were left confused with some of the supernatural and magical parts of the story and we were grateful to have a discussion to help us figure out some aspects of this story.   It lead to a very interesting discussion amongst us and in the end about reading and discussing this story we were left very satisfied to come out of the bushes to recommend this story.