Coveted by Shawntelle Madison Book 1 in the Coveted Series

Natalya Stravinsky lives in South Toms River, New Jersey and works cataloging antiques, having been forced to leave behind her dream job in New York.  Natalya, is a werewolf but unlike the rest of her family, she is no longer pack, after being thrown out when the alpha discovered that she has issues with anxiety and OCD.  To make matters worse, though she still spends time with her family, she often feels like an outsider at family events and they are no longer close.

Natalya developed a routine for herself going to work and buying Christmas decorations, which she comes to see as her friends. Though she is lonely at times, she is getting by, until her ex boyfriend and heir apparent to the local pack Thorne moves back to town.  Now she is constantly hoping to get a glimpse of him.  When her friend Aggie shows up looking for a place to stay, Nat reluctantly opens her home and in the process, creates a widening of her boundaries. This leads to her going on her first day in five years, buying new clothing and even restarting therapy, where she meets a wizard named Nick.  Chemistry quickly develops between Nick and Thorne, but she is not sure whether or not she is ready to move on with her life.

Things are are really starting to look up for Nat, until the Long Island werewolves decide that they want the territory of the local pack.  Nat approaches the alpha sure that she can help but is quickly rebuffed and shamed.  Things escalate, when she becomes a target and her family is attacked.  Nat is scared and unsure but loyalty forces her to find the strength that she needs to fight.

There were times when I felt that Coveted was overwritten because Madison included details that were obviously extraneous, yet I was completely drawn into the story and found myself rooting for Nat.  There are a lot of werewolf books on the market, but Coveted is absolutely unique.  Nat is neurologically atypical and so is every character in her therapy group.  Often in urban fantasy, the supernatural element spends time whining about how oppressed they are, but Nat really and truly is oppressed in a real world sense, though she is a werewolf.  Nat has to negotiate abelism in her community and is heavily stigmatized. Without a doubt, Madison's treatment of disability is the best I have read in the genre to date and as a disabled woman, I greatly appreciated the inclusion.

Another aspect of Nat's disability that I found fascinating is the fact that she is a hoarder.  Nat tries to deny this because she is extremely conscious of having everything as clean as possible.  She knows that the fact that she cannot stop buying Christmas decorations and storing them in boxes all over her house is a problem, but when she is stressed, or feeling down, she simply cannot stop herself.  Madison did an excellent job detailing the compulsion behind her actions.  Where she kind of went off the rails was when she revealed that Nat's great grandmother was a hoarder and her family assumed that this was something in the gene pool. Yes, there are generations of hoarders; however, it is usually passes from generation to generation when there is a shared living space.  It doesn't just hop generations.

American Horror Story, Season One, Episode Six: Piggy Piggy

 

I don't even know what to say about this episode, except that I absolutely loved it.  Piggy Piggy was filmed in the tradition of the best horror out there and I was thankful that I watched it during the day rather than at night. I am still scared.

The episode began with a flashback of the swat team knocking on the door.  When Constance answers the cops ask for Tate Langdon.  It goes back to 1994 and there are a few kids in the library and in the background we hear gun shots.  These kids are the same kids that appeared to Tate and Violet on the beach.  The kids manage to bar one entrance to the library but in their haste forget to lock the other entrance.  Tate bursts in wearing all black and proceeds to kill them all. The scene flashes back to the house and cops stand with their weapons pointed at Tate and on his chest we can see red dots. Ever so slowly Tate raises his hand to his head and pretends to shoot himself.  Believe it or not, this all occurs within the first few minutes of the episode.

Through a little investigation on the internet, Violet learns that not only is Tate dead but that he is a mass murderer.  When Violet runs downstairs to tell her mother she find Constance in the kitchen itself.  Constance tells her, "I questioned my sanity when I first found out, but this house, this house will make you a believer. Violet we were living here when Tate lost his way and I believe that the house drove him to it."  Violet immediately denies what Constance is saying but Constance responds, "You're a smart girl, how can you be so arrogant to think that there is only one reality that you're able to see?"  Constance then introduces her to Billie Dean Howard, a psychic that she met on youtube.  Billie Dean tells Violet that she has a gift and that she has to accept the truth of it before it makes her mentally ill. I don't know about you but I see this as ore covering up about the nature of the house.  Violet is not seeing ghosts outside of the house, only in the house.  It is to stop Violet from exploring how evil the place she calls home really is.

Luke shows up once again to check the house after Vivien calls to say that she heard some strange sounds.  Vivien tells him about Ben's infidelity, and of course Luke listens cause that's just what Black men exist to do.  He in turn tells Vivien that his wife cheated on him with another woman and points out that while some men may be into this sort of thing, he is not.  I don't know about you but it seems as though they included the same sex aspect to make it appear as though what she did was above and beyond.  The writers are so obviously setting up Luke and Vivien for a little swirl action and why not, Luke is played by Morris Chestnut, the king of the African American romantic comedies. Ben shows up full of concern to interrupt their little tête-à-tête .

Vivien clearly does not want him in the house, but he tells her that he needs a place to work, and that they need the money.  When she insists that he rent an office, he tells her again that they need the money and promises to leave when he has seen his last patient of the day.  

Alone in the bathroom, Violet is again playing with razors.  She cuts her wrist yet again and fantasizes cutting her own throat.  Her father is a psychiatrist, how is it possible that he is so unaware of his daughters pain? Ben and Vivien are so self involved that they don't have the slightest clue what is going on in their home.  Tate shows up briefly and asks her if she is scared now and then disappears as Violet turns to answer.