A review by Nalini Haynes
Maggie (don’t-call-me-Margaret!) Cunningham is The Awesome, an apprentice monster hunter who can’t get her journeyman’s license until she’s had The Sex because vampires go berserk for virgin blood. Maggie goes to a party intending to have casual sex.
What teenage boy wouldn’t take her up on that offer? What alcohol-fuelled teenage boy COULD take her up on that offer EFFECTIVELY?
After Maggie’s would-be fuck buddy passes out, Maggie and her mom aren’t sure if she’s still a virgin, so they park a few blocks away from a vamp bar to find out. Yup, she’s still a virgin. After killing the protégé of a powerful prince, it gets complicated.
The fuck buddy calls for another date and Maggie’s mom offers to bury his body because she’s in LURV with his wheels…
Maggie isn’t your waif-thin heroine and she’s very self-conscious of her “squishy” tummy and her boobs that sag and separate when lying on her back because of a girl’s worst enemy: gravity. However, Maggie goes from “let’s get the dirty deed done” to discovering The Sex isn’t half bad.
And she acquires a new housemate: a super-powered intelligent zombie. The smell! The fashion tips!
Maggie’s mom, Janice, combines epic competence in the monster-hunting, woeful incompetence with the mothering and is generally the ‘cool’ mom. Who has sex with a vampire. After endlessly warning Maggie to never ever trust vampires.
Even when I enjoy a comedic novel, I’m not so much with the literal laughing out loud. A book that even makes me smile is doing well. The Awesome made me chuckle, laugh and even snort.
The plot races to the finish, building tension between hilarious inter-generational embarrassments. Probably the closest “type” to The Awesome that I’ve read in the past few years is The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty although the protagonist in The Shambling Guide is older.
I LOVE The Awesome. Eva Darrows is on my must-read list.
The publisher doesn’t seem to have The Awesome page up yet, so I’m linking to The Awesome on an indie bookstore website.
Rating: 
5 out of 5 stars
Scheduled for release: May 26th 2015
ISBN: 178108324X
ISBN13: 9781781083246
Format: ebook (review copy) and paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: Ravenstone