Catch Lili Too by Sophie Whittemore | ARC Review

Catch Lili Too (Gamin Immortals #1) by Sophie Whittemore

• Publisher: NineStar Press, November 16th 2020
• Genre: Fantasy, Mystery
• Format: Ebook (eARC)
• Page Count: 321 pages
• My Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

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Content warnings: death, blood, gore, cancer, murder, HP reference, attempted arson, drug abuse, vaping, alcohol (recreational)

This is a whimsical story with a very funny and entertaining narrative. I love all the jokes threaded throughout even though a lot of important things were happening and I couldn’t really keep up with them all. I do think there are scenes that do not line up or are a tad bit confusing, but that might just be an ARC issue.

Told in the first-person POV, the story follows an immortal, asexual, depressed Siren, Lili, who is haunted by her past and sick and tired of living, seducing people, and killing. Yes, you read that correctly: an asexual Siren. She arrived at Gamin after two murders of humans—a young girl Anna Snow and a poet Byron López (gay). After stumbling upon Byron’s body and his ghost (whom she fails to seduce because, ta-da, he’s gay), Lili is persuaded to help the town solve this murder mystery. But then supernatural beings start getting murdered, too.

I love all the random references to everything paranormal, mythologies from around the world, pop culture, etc. They are funny and ridiculous, and even in a dreadful and horrifying crisis like having an unknown killer in town, the main characters don’t lose their spirits, jokes, or attempts of having fun in life. There are Biblical references that work well with the theme, too.

Oh, how precious are the mystical misfits:
Lili, the depressed asexual Siren with her deadpanned narration filled with sullen jokes,
Byron López, the gay, Mexican-American ghost who carries a note pad to write poems,
Jason Sweeney, the buff transguy who is an eager necromancer and co-owns the Sweeney Inn with his twin sister,
Patty Sweeney, the sapphic twin sister of Jason’s,
Detective Ikiaq, an Ijiraq, and
Jo Kim, a jiangshi who died from cancer.
This mismatched group forms a lovely found family even though they don’t completely trust each other. But in a time where a serial monster killer is running loose, stay together to keep each other safe. And I just love how pure that is!

I did not anticipate the story to have romance subplots but was pleasantly surprised to find both sapphic and achillean relationships develop (albeit very quickly) during the murder mystery. Despite all the morbidness of the theme, there were cute moments and a lot of hilarious scenes.

Catch Lili Too is a paranormal story with a predominately queer cast and little to no queerphobia. It has a wonderful mix of morosity and humor, and I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

I received a digital copy from NineStar Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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