Catch Lili Too by Sophia Whittemore
Synopsis
"Lili is a Mesopotamian siren, and life as an immortal being is hard enough as it is. She’s asexual (which is incredibly difficult to reconcile if your entire point as a mythical being is to seduce people to death). She’s also struggling with depression from being alive for so long.
Lili is an absolutely shoddy improv-detective trying to track down a serial killer so ruthless that it makes even her murderous soul uneasy. However, there’s something larger at work than just one serial killer. A small town is hiding an even deadlier, global-scale secret. Forget Area 51 conspiracies. This one beats them all. With magic.
So, what better way to spice up her eternal life than being hired as a vigilante detective to stop a serial killer? Anything, literally anything. She’d trade her left lung to get out of this. Or, perhaps, somebody else’s."
My Thoughts
This book was such a fun and wild ride! It had some of my favorite tropes of found family and characters with contradictory characteristics. First, the story is told by Lili who is an asexual/demisexual siren. Then there's a gay ghost who is a poet, named Byron, but not that Byron. Then there's a trans necromance who passes out at the sight of blood. The rep in this was wide-ranging and so exciting to see. Not just on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, but also the POC spectrum and mental health as well. Lili has depression and this book doesn't shy away from showing the reality of that, which I appreciated and I felt like it strengthened her character rather being a weakness.
The monsters and myths that were woven into this story were mostly non-western which was really cool to see. Usually, when you have a town full of monsters in the Midwest of the USA it's very western heavy, and I thought it was a nice touch that it wasn't the case for this one.
The mystery and the dark humor in this one really kept me engaged and I was eager to see how everything played out. I will say the pacing was a little strange at times and there was a lot of telling not showing, so time seemed to jump at weird times. And the ending wasn't as clear as I'd hoped it would be. But I genuinely enjoyed watching these characters interact and watching Lili find herself in this story. There were so many moments in this book that had me cackling with laughter. Lili's dark humor made this a truly enjoyable read! I definitely recommend this one!
I was provided a free eARC by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: own voices, contemporary, lgbtqia+, fantasy
Representation: asexual/demisexual, trans, lesbian, gay, POC, mental health (depression & ADHD) rep
Content Warnings: graphic violence, the death of a secondary character, suicide, murder, cancer, references to mental illness
*And because it's a trigger to many LGBTQIA+ folx, and because it's more than just one line, I want to note that there are many Harry Potter references in this one*