The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty

The manager of my favourite book shop knows me VERY well. I dragged myself there, desperate for some mindless escapism, She dragged me away from the YA section (I was desperate, as I said, for nothing that required thinking - unfair statement for some YA books, but I have already read the good ones) and showed me this. The blurb had me:

'If Buffy grew up, got therapy and found a real job, it would look like this.'

- Scott Sigler

This is exactly what I was wanting. It was light, fun and, most importantly, grown-up!

Zoë Norris has left her old job as a travel writer. She was good at it, but, it is never recommended to 'get involved' with the boss. Now she is in New York, desperately wanting to find employment. Out of the blue, in the strangest of places, she finds the perfect job - mostly. The only problem, in fact, is that she is the main food group for almost all her colleagues. But that is not all. Obviously something else has to happen too.

I enjoyed the interactions between the characters. Hell, I enjoyed the characters. They interacted believably, which says a lot. I enjoyed Zoë's sense of humour, but more her gumption. That is where the comparison to Buffy became clear - albeit a very naive, inexperienced Buffy (which even Buffy was, 7 seasons and how many episodes ago). No lack of girl-power though. Zoë will be a force to be reckoned with in future books, I am sure.

I must admit, that although this was probably not intended to be read in anyway other than the literal, I liked that I could see the 'supernatural creatures' in my own life: the blood-sucking vampire boss
(please, let's just pause and enjoy that metaphor), the zombies on a go-slow, and although my current work environment lacks this, the bloke who oozes sexual energy and is begging for a sexual harassment charge. Yes, she works in an interesting place...

This is probably the first urban fantasy I have enjoyed. And by enjoyed, I mean enjoyed. This is a fun read, nothing more.

I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads, because I can (and because it was exactly what I was after, and hell, not everything has to be brainy to get 5 stars).