The Alphabet Book Challenge "Y"

 The "Y" Books

"The Bark Of Zorro" by Kathleen Y' Barbo

A Cozy mystery, about a woman who works for a veterinarian and a dog rescue group. On a dark and stormy night, Cassidy Carter is called out to pick up a stray dog with a Z painted on its side. This is not the first dog in the area to be running around Brenham, Texas, with a Z painted on it.

Cassidy is a huge fan of the Scooby Doo series, torn between wanting to be Daphne yet feeling more like Velma. She sets out to track down the mysterious person spray painting dogs. The case is complicated by a handsome, single Texas game warden and a viral social media crew filming a segment featuring him. 

Cozy mysteries are great when you just want to chill with something fun. This is a nice light-hearted one, but like most cozies, it was torn between the mystery and the romance. Which one gets more play? Maybe it's a formula the cozy-writer has to follow? Hmmm.

But if you are looking for something to read when you finally get a chance to lie out in the sun, you might try it. I give it 3.5 stars.

"Thirst" by Marina Yuszczuk

A female vampire who falls in love with a woman! Of course, I had to read it! 

Thirst follows two women in different time periods in Buenos Aires: a 19th-century vampire fleeing Europe and a modern woman dealing with her mother's terminal illness. The two meet in the cemetery.

The vampire is focused on her thirst. She does nothing but kill. She doesn't learn anything about the different time periods; she just comes out to feed. 

The woman is a hot mess. Her mother is dying. She wants nothing to do with life or her child. And blah...blah...blah.

Maybe we are all spoiled by Anne Rice and her vampires that adapt to the changing times. This one fell flat. The story had promise. The author did great with the atmosphere, but the love story? Non-existent.  Don't promise a love affair if there isn't going to be one.

Three stars.