It's only fitting that one of the first books I read in 2019 was the Purple Door District by Erin Casey and one of the last books I read was Wolf Pit, the second book in the Purple Door District series. It is no easy task to release two books in a year and there is a ton of work that authors put into being indie published.
It's also fitting that the inscription from my signed copy reads, "You're never alone with the District!"
Once upon a decade ago, New Year's Eve meant sparkler bombs and friends. Today, it means wearing my children out at the Children's Museum and hoping that one day of our winter break is filled with health. See, my friends and I can no longer feasibly get together on NYE due to #adulting and the permanent absence of one member of our group. We try to get together at least once a year now, but usually that's saved for around the 4th of July. This year though, I am missing the spontaneity and carefree days before our kids were born and our schedules changed.
This Urban Fantasy series is one where there is an interconnection of a variety of parahumans—werewolves, vampires, magus, and other were-creatures (birds and cats). These unique creatures also reflect the unique connection my friends and I have. Their commonality is that they are parahumans. My friends and I, our connection boils down to a movie theater of the past where almost everyone (except me) held a part-time job.
As we've learned to navigate our friendships without our friend taken way too soon by cancer, the Purple Door District is trying to navigate the world without their long-time Violet Marshall, Gladus.
The good news for my friends and I is that we all trust each other. The bad news for the Purple Door District is that Paytah, the current Violet Marshall has not earned the trust of every parahuman subset. This causes some disruption in the district, especially amongst the leaders.
Wolf Pit picks right up where PDD leaves off, and this caused a little confusion for me since it has been a while since I read the first book. If I had at least brushed up on the characters in the series, it would have been a little easier for me to follow the entire plot of the book. However, by the end of the book, the characters had been developed enough in this book for it to stand on its own.
Wolf Pit helped me have connection to others, even if it was in a fictional kind of way, and maybe someday we won't have to #adult so hard and we will once again fill our NYE with sparklers and pickle wraps. If you like Urban Fantasy, supporting indie authors, and belonging to a community, check out Wolf Pit by Erin Casey.
Brandi Parsons is a freelance writer and proofreader. She published Kidnapped Asylum and Intentional Inboxes in 2019 under her name and two picture books, Squirmy Wormy and Wiggle Piggle under the name Rosa Clark.