Loved it, more then I expected I would. There is a lot going on, and that is not always my thing, but it somehow got formed into a coherent whole. In the beginning, it was a bit confusing to figure out what was going on, but it becomes clear eventually. I like the family dynamics, the standing together, even though there are hints of power abuse for the good of all. It didn't come to the forefront too much, though. I'm glad the family members themselves are ok with the way their world works, because it could have become bitter otherwise, with the meddling and all. But there was no resentment, and apparently, none of the family felt it was too stifling. Or if they did, they got away for a bit, and this was accepted.

One definitely good thing, the women are awesome, they work together, and they also work together with the men. There may have been meddling, but mostly, there was a lot of support within the family, people backing each other where it was needed. This was cool! ( )

It seems like the idea behind this book was 'borrowed' from Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and not done any better than she would have done it... ( )

Not my usual cup of tea, but this started out as a fairly witty and imaginative urban fantasy. But the slow pacing and low stakes really got to me; the book feels like the setup for a series instead of a fun story of its own. Also, the very. slow. reveal. of information our characters already know becomes wearing after the first act.

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/03/2023033-enchantment-emporium-tanya-huff.h... ( )

When Allie inherits her grandmother's junk shop in Calgary, she is between jobs and looking for a purpose, so she heads west to see if she can figure out what happened to her grandmother, who was eccentric even by family standards . . . and Allie doesn't come from any kind of normal family. She finds that things are happening in Calgary: dragons regularly fly over the city, the clientele of the junk shop are mostly fey in disguise, and a rogue sorcerer is setting up for something big on the horizon. Can Allie handle it, or will she have to call in the aunties?

This was good, fantastical fun. I felt like I had been thrown into the middle of the story without any explanation, though by the end it more or less made sense. So, I wouldn't recommend it to those who need lots of exposition early on when encountering new magic systems, or to those who are squicked out by lots of implied casual sex, some of it vaguely incestuous. I liked the characters, and I felt the plot moved pretty quickly, though I didn't rip through it as quickly as I might have expected to (I think that was just me, and not necessarily the fault of the book). ( )