Review: A Tale of Two Goblins by H.P. Mallory

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t read To Kill a Warlock, you may want to hold off on this review!

“The murder of a dark arts warlock. A shape-shifting, ravenous creature on the loose… When a warlock is murdered and Dulcie was the last person to see him alive, she must uncover the truth before she's either deported back to the Netherworld, or she becomes the next victim. Enter Knight Vander, a sinfully attractive investigator sent from the Netherworld to work the case with Dulcie. Between battling her attraction to her self-appointed partner, keeping a sadomasochistic demon in check, and fending off the advances of a sexy and powerful vampire, Dulcie's got her hands full. As the body count increases, Dulcie finds herself battling dark magic, reconnoitering in S&M clubs and suffering the greatest of all betrayals.”

A Tale of Two Goblins is book two in H.P. Mallory’s Dulcie O’ Neal series. We welcome the return of our favorite characters in book one, as well as some new ones. While we get a whole new storyline with this goblin taking so many lives, targeting specifically for people close to Dulcie, not everything is said and done after Quill’s betrayal. Dulcie is dealing with the consequences, not only through the ANC, but inside herself as well. H.P. does a great job taking us on the emotional rollercoaster Dulcie is going through as she starts out a wreck and slowly pulls back into her normal self.

Welcome new character Dia! She is easily my new favorite with her sassy, diva ways. She brings a whole new light onto the ANC and is someone I really hope is around to stay for several more Dulcie novels.

My Rating for this Book:

Although the beginning didn’t reel me in too quickly, I really enjoyed reading this book. It had my emotions up and down with an ending I didn’t see coming. I just got really tired of the back and forth, testing the waters on a relationship that Dulcie did between Bram and Knight. Part of me just wished she would pick one, let go of some of those hesitations of being hurt in the past and give it a shot. That or just drop them altogether…

Another thing that bugged me a bit was that there were times when I felt the book too casual. I love a good tale where you can sit down and feel like you’re in the world the characters are in, but when there is so much side narration, I feel like it can really take away from the strength of the story.