BBNYA 2021 Gold Winner | May Day by Josie Jaffrey #BookReview #Paranormal #Mystery #LGBTQ

Congrats to May Day (Seekers Book 1) by Josie Jaffrey for winning 1st place in BBNYA 2021 !

Book Info for May Day

• Publisher: Silver Sun Books
• Length: 392 Pages
• Date Published: July 9, 2020
• Amazon (Canada) | Amazon (USA) | Amazon (UK) | Goodreads

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.

It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.

When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.

To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.
Body bags on standby.

May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.

This is a reposting of the review that originally appeared on my site on September 17, 2020 and it can be found here.

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May Day is a dark detective story with a pinch of grit and a lot of sass.

What I Liked

The fact that the detectives in this story are vampires kindles my fantasy-loving heart. Vampires take keeping their existence secret very seriously, and detectives called Seekers to investigate whether a vampire has potentially exposed their existence to humans. They have their justice system with a hierarchy that is much different from their human counterparts but just as definitive and intolerant.

I found the love life of vampires fascinating.  I’m not sure that I fully understand it, but it seems that any time two vampires become romantically inclined, it marks them in a way all vampires can see. The mark only lasts for 24 hours and makes the two vampires yearn to spend more time together.  This is a pretty original attribute from my experience with paranormal fiction, and I found it intriguing.

This is a slowly unfolding mystery with a leisurely pace until about the last third when the pace steadily picks up.  I enjoyed the increase in the speed as I want stories that keep me glued to the pages from the sheer impact of needing to know who did it.

I loved the sassy main character, Jack, short for Jacqueline, and all her intricate nuances.  She was 18 when she became a vampire, and she has been one for 20 years.  Sometimes she stills acts like a young adult, especially where her love life is concerned, but other times she’s a hard and fast adult who will stop at nothing to catch the criminal.  Her spunk and sass drew me into her story and held me there until the pages ended.

To Read or Not to Read

If you are looking for a detective story that is just as strong of a paranormal fiction story, you will love this series by Josie Jaffrey. It’s a different take on a vampire story that has a lot of grit.

Josie is the author of multiple novels and short stories. Most of those are set in the Silverse, a pre- and post-apocalyptic world filled with vampires and zombies.

She is currently working on a range of fantasy and historical fiction projects (both adult and YA). Ultimately, she hopes to be a hybrid author, both traditionally- and self-published.

​After finishing her degree in Literae Humaniores (Classics) at the University of Oxford, Josie wasn’t sure what to do with her life.

She slogged through a brief stint working for an investment bank in London during the 2008 credit crunch, then converted to law and qualified as a solicitor specialising in intellectual property. She worked at a law firm for five years before moving to a UK-based international publisher in 2016. Whilst she loved law, in the end she didn’t love it quite as much as writing, which she now does almost full time.

Josie lives in Oxford with her husband and two cats (Sparky and Gussie), who graciously permit human cohabitation in return for regular feeding and cuddles. The resulting cat fluff makes it difficult for Josie to wear black, which is largely why she gave up being a goth. Although the cats are definitely worth it, she still misses her old wardrobe.

Author Website

BBNYA is a yearly competition where Book Bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or twitter @bbnya_official. 

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Judgement Day (Seekers Book 2)  By Josie Jaffrey is out now!

Book Info for Judgement Day

• Publisher: Silver Sun Books
• Length: 318 Pages
• Date Published: May 6, 2021

Jack Valentine finally has her shit together. She has a great job, great friends (well, one at least) and a girlfriend whom she loves, even if she can’t work up the courage to tell her that yet. Unfortunately, she also has an archnemesis who’s about to punish her crimes in the worst possible way: by making her spend time with him.

Which she could cope with, maybe, if she didn’t have problems at work as well. When the body of a human judge is found in a locked library, there’s no denying that she was murdered by one of the Silver – by a vampire – and the evidence points worryingly close to home. If that wasn’t bad enough, some of Jack’s least favourite people are opening a new blood bar in Oxford with questionable motives. For Jack and her team, it’s becoming increasingly hard to separate allies from enemies.

With conspiracies on every side, the simmering tensions in Silver society are about to come to a head. As usual, Jack intends to be right in the middle of it. She does like it when things get messy.

Judgement Day is the second book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.

Amazon (Canada) | Amazon (USA) | Amazon (UK) | Goodreads