My name is Hibiscus Brown, my best friend is a unicorn and my life is going absolutely nowhere. Oh, and I'm a witch. At least partly - the rest is all werewolf.
After growling a little to loudly, Hibiscus - Kitty - Brown finds herself in the unfortunate situation of having to move back home to live with her dad /the werewolf/, her step-mom /the werebear/, and all the other creatures living in a small town called Nowhere.
Surely it's just temporary? Surely even a half-witch/half-werewolf can figure out what she wants to do with her life? Surely the handsome werewolf who just moved back will ignore her, like he /mostly/ did when they were in high school? And surely the mysterious dark stranger who seems to pop up just about everywhere will help her when she needs it? And what about the missing amulet? Will Grandma Hazel find it? And what does Grandpa Hunter wear on his head?
So many questions... let's see if we can bring some clarity to it all, shall we?
*** NOTE *** There will be f-bombs. And references to s-e-x. Nothing graphic because it's not my style, but there certainly will be shit that isn't super appropriate for a younger audience. You have been warned.
*** This book is a slightly edited version of a story I wrote on Wattpad ***
The proper way to put it here would probably be to describe how I love to play with our two big dogs, how much I adore my fantastic daughters and how much I love to read.
Another way would be to use my imagination and then I would be a super powerful warrior woman, think Xena the warrior princess (though with less tacky clothes). Or when I think of it, maybe I’m actually more of a Hercule Poirot (sans the suit and moustache). Or maybe I’m like Aragorn, strong and cool and then I might get to meet Gandalf! Or I could be Bella’s pretty cousin and snap Jacob up in a second (yeah, I’m so not team Edward), or wait, maybe I could be like one of them heroines in historical novels who swoon all the time. I’ve always wanted to swoon…
Well, I guess you get how my mind is working (or not working, some say).
Anyways, I like to write. Stories, adventures, romantic and happy stuff mixed up with sorrow and hardship, and bit of laughter here and there because the way I see it – life is way too short to go around feeling grumpy.
Unless you are looking for a totally irreverent read, filled with quirky, crazy characters, most of them from the same dysfunctional, supernatural family, (three generations worth)…turn back now, because this laugh out loud tale is not for the faint of heart!
Meet Hibiscus Brown, a half witch, half werewolf down on her luck and moving back in with her father and step-mother AND her rather far-out-there grandparents, all citizens of the tiny town, Nowhere.
Lena North’s GOING NOWHERE is a raucous romp into the misadventures of one young woman who is a magnet for trouble, or complications. I swear, from page one, I started chuckling, just couldn’t help it and by the end, I was laughing out loud, and did I mention it was around 3 am?
Pretty sure Lena North has nailed paranormal comedy perfectly, so if you’re looking for something just for fun, here’s your read! Silly, snarky and often a little raw, meet the family that you may be glad doesn’t live next door, but certainly makes life anything but dull!
I received a complimentary copy from Lena North!
Publisher: FAB Books; 1 edition (October 13, 2018) Publication Date: October 13, 2018 Genre: Paranormal Comedy | Amateur Sleuths Print Length: 195 pages Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble For Reviews, Giveaways, Fabulous Book News, follow: http://tometender.blogspot.com
This is a story I wrote on Wattpad, and I had so much fun with Kitty and her crazy family that I decided to share it also in ebook format. Go grab it - it's free everywhere!
Everything about this book should have put it squarely into the realm of books I rate highly. With the possible troubling element that it was a heterosexual book, but most of the books I read that are contemporary romances with fantasy elements with injections of humor tend to be heterosexual books. So not really an issue. But . . . I believe I might have smiled once, and let out something resembling a laugh maybe once. But otherwise, no.
It is difficult to read a book that features as the sole point of view someone depicted as being, while not literally or openly stated, but shown as being dumber than a door-knob. Especially when everyone around this main character keeps taking advantage of her, constantly laughs at her (even if she regularly doesn’t always know why they are laughing), and, this one being a deal-breaker, men keep ignoring her when she says no. She says no to dating two different men. They come to an agreement among themselves that both will date her – she still says she doesn’t want to date them. They continue to ignore her. Then they steal kisses. Then, and this was the deal breaker, while she is saying no, and literally trying to get away but finds that the man is just too strong, and while she is still saying no, he forces her onto his lap and proceeds to kiss her. How . . . humorously romantic? I liked that the main character kicked Jackson, the one who did the thing described above, in the balls twice, hard. But she did that before all the other stuff happened. She did that when she first saw him (not as a hello type gesture, but because she had been supposed to be his prom date but he ditched her).
You know how they tell stand-up comics not to laugh at their own jokes (who is they, and no this isn’t a 100% always rule)? Well, if you are writing humor, don’t have every bloody character laughing non-stop throughout the whole bloody book. Kitty, the so far unnamed main character, has best friends that constantly laugh at her. They learn she got fired from her latest job? They laugh. Everything was super humorous to Elsa the unicorn and Joel the gearhead (or whatever term was used, he’s some type of fantasy creature who has control over electronics). Kitty arrives home because she has to move back in. Whole family laughs at her. The man who ditched Kitty turns up, they laugh at her. She kicks that man hard in the balls, twice, they laugh at her, they learn that he blackmailed her into going on a date – they both laugh at her and force her to go on the date, despite her strenuous objections. For being a big manly werewolf sheriff dude, pops sure giggled a lot and forced his daughter to date creepy men. Thanks, pops, eh? She asks people in a bar if anyone wants a beer, everyone laughs. A man enters the bar and the bar patrons notices his interest in Kitty, everyone laughs. Bah. An Angel tells Kitty to do something, she refuses, Rafe laughs (because, apparently, Angels have the power to make people do stuff – except, apparently, Kitty. (which was later used as a ‘joke’ when they visited a bordello and the one woman there who didn’t obey orders says something like ‘I’m a lesbian’ to which Kitty immediately responded with something like ‘I’m not a lesbian!’ ha-ha? That ‘built in’ controlling voice thing? That’s not creepy, at all! Heh, mmphs).
The rape-y vibe, and inability of the men to take no was the deal breaker, though. You know, those moments when Kitty would say no, people would ignore her, and physically molest her? Yeah, those moments. I’m not sure if it is more problematic that she was shown to ‘like it’ after the fact, or just the part where her no wasn’t accepted.
Oh, and lastly, a werewolf named Kitty? Well, half-werewolf. Has been done before (Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series, though this Kitty is a full werewolf).
Blurb: My name is Hibiscus Brown, my best friend is a unicorn and my life is going absolutely nowhere. Oh, and I'm a witch. At least partly - the rest is all werewolf.
After growling a little to loudly, Hibiscus - Kitty - Brown finds herself in the unfortunate situation of having to move back home to live with her dad /the werewolf/, her step-mom /the werebear/, and all the other creatures living in a small town called Nowhere.
Surely it's just temporary? Surely even a half-witch/half-werewolf can figure out what she wants to do with her life? Surely the handsome werewolf who just moved back will ignore her, like he /mostly/ did when they were in high school? And surely the mysterious dark stranger who seems to pop up just about everywhere will help her when she needs it? And what about the missing amulet? Will Grandma Hazel find it? And what does Grandpa Hunter wear on his head?
So many questions... let's see if we can bring some clarity to it all, shall we?
So much potential. Agree that it is light and frothy. Perfectly readable. Problem is that the author has thrown in every element possible to make this a light & frothy read and it suffers because of it. The zany family. Please rein them in. Quickly grew tired of the heroine's ability to both come out triumph but be the butt of jokes because she slipped/fell/got snotted on etc etc - been done a thousand times. And how come Kitty has to be the one who slips/looks like an idiot? - the two guys are too uber smooth. And why they are both after Kitty is never fully explored. Nor is why she won't date - even though she is forced into dates. The magic rules changed. One minute she's not really a practising witch, next she's performing spells, make up your mind. Lots of elements were great here - but often remained unexplored. Then there was like a hundred other elements thrown in, just to kind of see if they would stick. Liked it - but grew frustrated with it.
Going Nowhere is a fun-filled frolic with angels, shifters, witches, and glitter-farting unicorns. If you are after a heavy, angst-laden book, then I'm sorry, but you've found the wrong one!
This is an action-packed book that has romantic elements to it, but it doesn't overrule the whole story. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, in fact, far too many to count. I loved this book from start to finish with its crazy family and heart-warming characters, plus there is always which one Hibiscus will go for?!
A brilliant story that I hope will be the start of a new series. Excellently written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt my reading flow. I thoroughly enjoyed every word, and really can't recommend this lighthearted novel highly enough.
* Verified Purchase ~ October 2018. *
Merissa Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books! Nov 6, 2018
I was so surprised by Going Nowhere. Kitty and her family are a hoot, her best friends are a widget and a unicorn (who farts glitter to calm down a situation). The trouble her horny Grandpa Hunter got up to was hilarious, and her a Grandma Hazels new job as a pole dancer had me in stitches. Oh, and did I mention that this witchy-wolf is being courted by an Angel and a werewolf?
Anyway, the mystery of the Missing Amulet was fun, and led to numerous other side quests, searching for lost stuff. She may not be much of a witch, or able to change into a wolf, but Kitty has freaky good luck, and a lot of pluck to rush in where Angels fear to tread. Can’t wait to see what Kitty and Co. get up to next.
The story about half-witch-half-werewolf Kitty who dislikes her real name Hisbiscuit is intriguing at first. As the chapters emerge, Kitty turns out to be a woman who doesn't have a voice in her society. When she refuses to go out with two guys, they make the decisions for her. She is the subject of constant ridicule. The sexual inappropriateness of Kitty's grandparents, though unconventional, has made the story less mundane.
Perfect read for a rainy Saturday. Laughed so hard I snorted, Kitty is a bit clueless but she’s surrounded by amazing people, amazing eccentric people, which makes for some hilarious situations. Hope there is a sequel.
This book reminded me of R.J. Blain, but without verbal diarrhea. I did genuinely laugh out loud many times, though the plot was not all that strong. I think the author wrote a bunch of funny scenes then wrote the connecting parts afterwards. I suspect that the plot did not come first. The characters are not well-fleshed-out, but this is not a character-driven book, either. It's a gag-driven book, and it delivers.
The premise is a mostly-supernatural town named Nowhere. The heroine is in her early 20s and out of a job, so she moves back into her parent's home with 3 generations in the same house - 8 people total. And she has 2 best friends around a lot, and 2 love interests following her around, as well as a mom, step-dad and 3 half sisters that she hates. She gets a job bartending at a biker bar where she makes a lot of new friends, and is also taking odd jobs to save up enough to put a three month deposit on an apartment of her own. The odd jobs are all about finding stuff with the help of friends and relatives.
There's a little too much of the characters laughing before the the humor is presented to the reader. That seems like cheating to me - like someone standing on a table yelling "Get ready! This is going to be so funny!" Overall, though, I liked it. And it was free on Kindle.
The best description for this one is paranormal Stephanie Plum. There are alot of similarities but interestingly I didn't really notice them til about half way in because I was so involved and entertained by the story. Then one of the 2 guys called her babe in a way that reminded me of Ranger and I started toting up the matching points - there are crazy grandparents, two hot guys both interested in Kitty (and their names even start with a J and R respectively)- Jackson the hot werewolf cop who done her wrong in high school and the mysterious Raphael. Kitty is kind of a disaster prone trouble magnetic. But none of this is a bad thing as it has all the humor and entertainment value of an early Plum novel before they got repetitive and stale. Kitty's family is hilarious, as are the situations she gets herself into and her interesting witchy ability to 'find' things and resist the angelic persuasion that works on others. Would be keen to read more of Kitty's adventures but sadly there doesn't seem to be another book (that I could find anyway).
I found this book through a PNR group I belong to here on GR. My GR friend in the group said she highly recommended this book bec it was "sweet, frothy, ridiculous and HILARIOUS fun!" and she's totally spot on!
I think if you like PNR books by Shelly Laurenston, I would say give this one a shot. It had me giggling out loud. The pace was fast and good. The storyline was very entertaining and engaging. The characters are interesting and endearing. And I totally want more! I'd love to continue reading about these characters and this world!
I love this book, ... I have read books that are funny .....but this author is the master in the funny and lol business. I love 💖 it.... I laughed so much that I couldn't breathe. The only part that bother me was the use of Jesus name on the book ... She amended it by been the name of just a regular person, but still it affected me, that is why I give a four star.🌃 Other than that an excellent writer that would transport you to a funny world🌎 indeed✋
I loved this book! The characters were great and I felt like the author must have people like this in her own family tree because they were so down to earth and hilarious regardless of Angel, Werewolf, Witch or whatever. They just struck a chord. I laughed so much, I kept waking up my granddaughter who was sleeping. I hope there are more books in this series. I can't wait to see what's next!
Kitty, aka Hibiscus Brown a witch/werewolf, and her BFFs Elsa, a unicorn, and Joel a widget are bored with their lives. After being fired (again) Kitty has to move back to Nowhere where her father is the local sheriff and an old crush, Jackson, is the deputy. It isn't long before she meets Rafael, angel/satyr. The one thing Kitty is good at is finding things.
Humor might be the only thing that can make me ignore the fact that I kind of hate love triangles, juggling multiple love interests, and such. Humor makes everything acceptable. I laughed out loud while reading this book, in weirdest moments. It's pretty great. It also looks like a prologue/beginning of series... Which means, where is the rest?
A really fun book. Humor ranges from wry to slapstick.The addition of uniform shifters makes it unique in my experience. Lots off possibilities going forward. Looking for the next one avidly.
I'm glad I persevered. It started a bit silly, but either me or the book changed and despite the shenanigans of the olds i enjoyed the quirky tale of Kitty.
This was a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed the characters of Nowhere. I expected more paranormal activities, considering the population of the town, but the dialogue was well crafted and the antics amusing. I would love to see more of this town!
If you need a good laugh than this is the book for you... I haven't read a book this funny in a quite a while. Kitty is a werewolf/witch. Elsa is the farting unicorn and Joel is the hacker. Lost? Go Nowhere...
I loved this book. Kitty is my spirit animal!! I loved the humor and the witty banter between kitty and all her family and friends. This book is a most read, but beware you'll quickly become addicted and not be able to put it down.
This book is amazing with actual laugh out loud parts and it keeps you interested throughout. I highly recommend the book if you are into paranormal rom-com. I look forward to the next book. "Lost? Go Nowhere."
This read just like a bad Janet Evanovich novell. Even to the two competing boyfriends. Appears to me the author replicated many characters and even the style of writing. Only problem was a weak plot and jumbled events.
Loved it, just a very well written incredibly funny and absolutely fun book to read, best laugh out loud interesting book I have read in ages just read you'll see!
I love how you put this book together I lafed alot and have to force myself to put it down to get some sleep. I would love to get ur books. Do u have any in paper back as well lol I'm making a library for my home and would like ur books in it
This is totally worth the time to read. It is laugh out loud funny, and had me turning the page for more. It is hard to find a great comedy these days and this book exceeded that. This author has the talent and I can't wait for more.
This book was incredible! It needed to go to a proofreader but otherwise it was great! I went the gamut from wanting to strangle the character to laughing so hard I nearly peed on myself !! I am going to have a sore stomach tomorrow !
I Loved this book, laughed so much, I can't wait to read more of Kitty and her adventures. I have read it 3 times, I can't get enough of this book. Please let me know when to expect the next book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s a laugh out loud good time with funny characters and a little mystery to boot. I devoured it in one afternoon. I highly recommend this book.
What FUN. Sheer ridiculous entertaining, HILARIOUS fun. Just what I needed on this particular day. My fellow travellers on the bus, however... thought I was batty LOL!
AND it seems to be permanently free on kindle... go grab it if you're up for a laugh!