A House Between Sea and Sky by Beth Cato

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting from A House Between Sea and Sky, but it was a delightful read. It’s full of surprises and fun characters. I largely just enjoyed the ride. It’s fun to see a twist on mythologies I’m familiar with. I won’t spoil it, but I guessed fairly early on the provenance of The House. Finding out I was right only made it more fun. A House Between Sea and Sky is another one of those I don’t really have a lot of thoughts about, so I’ll leave it here. It was a fun, chill read. Exactly what I needed with the holiday chaos around me. 

Favorite Lines

"Men were the worst creatures to unexpectedly meet in the dark." - Fayette Wynne Narration

"While help could be fine sometimes, there was no freedom like that of wandering among full bookshelves." - Fayette Wynne Narration  

Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton

Ah yes, the pregnancy scare book. I have been kind of dreading rereading this mess. That said, I am very happy Anita and Ronnie can have the frank conversation around abortion they have. It’s kind of fantastic. Ronnie’s whole mess is… not. Girl clearly has issues, but that’s largely not what this book is about.

There is alot of talking in this book. Talk about Master Vampires. Talk about Anita’s powers. Talk about pregnancy. Talk about Marmee Noir. It’s honestly no wonder my brain took in the important bits and discarded the rest over the years… I honestly didn’t even remember how this book went, like, at all. Merlin… for such a powerful vampire, literally does not show up again and I just forgot he existed. Go figure.

Second book in a row Richard has accused Anita of rape. Sir… stop. Also, the fact that he’s still holding out hope for a white picket fence with Anita at this point is just gross. He really, really needs therapy. Or to actually do therapy rather than just going for the sake of going. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near a hypothetical child, either, at this point, regardless of whether or not he’s the father. If your worldview hasn’t shifted to account for actual reality as of yet, that tells me you’re unhinged. I don’t know how much “real world” time has passed, but it’s been several books and enough has happened that Richard’s worldview should have adjusted to reality by now. Seriously, this discussion about Richard’s illusions happens a couple times within a few chapters of each other. Ugh! I am so very over Richard at this point.

All of that said about Richard, specifically, I do like that there is a wider discussion about women and pregnancy and children and expectations around all of this. I’m fairly certain it helped shape my views on the whole thing. I did originally read this book as a teenager, after all. This and being around young children for a chunk of my life certainly worked together to shape how I feel about the whole thing.

It’s interesting “watching” Anita puzzle out what she’s feeling. It feels sort of like an extended therapy session except the boys aren’t professional therapists in any sense. There is honestly so, so much of this that feels like that and not just for Anita herself. Augustine and Asher also get some random talk-therapy here.

I enjoy how we’re not gonna talk about the fact that Belle gave Anita a Human Servant Mark… so technically, Anita’s calling power for both Belle and Jean-Claude… but apparently that’s just a non-issue or something? I feel like that bit of lore is super forgotten about.

The intro of Vlad and Mowgli syndromes is interesting. I do always enjoy my bits of world-building that really make the world feel lived-in. Didn’t really think about birth defects before this point and now… still probably won’t think real hard about them, but it’s nice to know someone thought about them. I also liked that we got some stuff about how were-lions tend to work. Fun stuff, the weird mixing of human and animal cultural crap that happens within Lycanthrope societies. Kinda dumb, to be honest, but we apparently gotta appease the animal bits or else they’ll tear the human bits apart, I guess. Much shrugging.

I had completely forgotten the whole thing with Auggie and how it was the impetus for figuring out what was actually going on with Anita’s powers. I think I, too, would have freaked the fuck out if I realized it was my powers that had drawn all the important people in my life to me and I’d had zero idea. I don’t especially love that Micah goes “We’re almost thirty, Anita.” in the middle of his argument against her freaking out… but… yeah…

So yeah… so. Much. Talking. It’s not a super bad thing, but it also kind of felt slog-ish to get through at points. Might have been the particular characters involved or might have been the real world encroaching on how much brain-space I have for the fictional world. I liked Danse Macabre well enough. Probably going to forget most of it again, though. Heh. 

Favorite Lines

"The practicalities of life do not cease needing to be done just because other things are going wrong." - Jean-Claude

"Feelings are never stupid, they just make us feel stupid sometimes." - Nathaniel Graison 

Reviews Batch 15

 Alright so... this next pair of reviews are quite short and so I'm posting them together. Enjoy.

 

Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton

Short Reread Review

I liked Micah a lot. It was short, sweet, and packed a good chunk of backstory in. 

 

 

Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton

2025 Reread Review

Incubus Dreams is another really focused on Anita's "power creep" and the fallout from it. She, Nathaniel, and Damien are now joined in a second Triumvirate and that's had some consequences. First and foremost, Anita has to remember to actually take care of herself. I find that aspect of having to remember to eat very relatable. Sometimes you're just not hungry and have to force yourself to eat. At least most of us don't also have metaphysical hungers to deal with.

Incubus Dreams is also the book where the character count starts to jump up. There are lots of men to keep track of and that list is not about to get shorter. That said, this is really Nathaniel's book to shine. Anita realizes she's actually moving him into the boyfriend category and I could honestly not be more happy about it. I love Nathaniel. He is precious and must be protected above all else. Heh.

Unlike the last few books, I feel like Anita's work life was better worked into the overall story. It didn't feel as tacked on as it has been. Although I will say, I really, really don't enjoy the inclusion of racist, sexist police officers. I know the series is set in the South and that kind of thing is probably more rampant that I'd like to think... or rather, not think about, but I really don't need it in my fiction. Unfortunately, Anita has to deal with it so... ugh. I think this sort of thing is where that one person on Threads got confused... Anita herself doesn't hold these views, but boy do the rando police officers she has to deal with. Again... ugh.

I liked the world-building around Anita's necromancy powers. I like the idea that we can't raise murder victims because they're essentially rabid until they kill their murderer. Also the reiteration that raising the dead is something Anita absolutely has to do or roadkill starts coming to life... and certain constants needing to be observed despite the "power creep" providing alternative methods of doing the necromantic stuff.

So yeah, Incubus Dreams may have taken me a month to get through this go-round, but it was fairly solid. 

Favorite Lines

"Stop poking at it, Anita. Your heart is not a wound to be poked at to see if the scab is ready to come off. You can be healed of that very old pain, if you'll just let it happen." - Marianne

"Love was not the nice, neat, linear thing I'd wanted it to be. It was not just one thing, but many things." - Anita Blake

"There comes a point where you just love someone. Not because they're good, or bad, or anything really. You just love them. It doesn't mean you'll be together forever. It doesn't mean you won't hurt each other. It just means you love them. Sometimes in spite of who they are, and sometimes because of who they are. And you know that they love you, sometimes because of who you are, and sometimes in spite of it." - Anita Blake

"Guarantees are for major appliances, not for murder." - Anita Blake 

     "Rape is rape, Richard. Is a woman less raped because she likes men? That's a question, Richard."

     "No, of course not," he said.

     "Then why is it less rape for a man who likes men to be raped by another man?" - Anita Blake & Richard Zeeman