Any House in a Storm

Hidden Sanctuary, Book 1

De: Jenny Schwartz

Narrado por: Tess Irondale

No one suspects Zelia is a sorcerer, and that’s exactly how she likes it.

Even better, no one suspects she is human. Masquerading as a goblin Traveler, she roams Reality in her glittering van pulled by her two trusty world walking birds, Warp and Weft.

But when a storm of cosmic chaos strands her in an outer thread, the only refuge in sight is the legendary Darkhouse of Doom. Goblin legend says it is cursed; that the appearance of the wandering darkhouse foretells the appearance of world-devouring monsters and the death of all who see it.

So, Zelia knocks on the door.

Any House in a Storm is a beauty and the beast tale set in an otherworldly, space-traveling darkhouse where nothing is as it seems and no one who enters remains unchanged. While evil exists, there will always be those who fight it. It is a standalone novel set in the universe introduced in The House That Walked Between Worlds.

©2023 Jenny Schwartz (P)2023 Podium Audio

Interesting quick read

good story, character development was superior, good narrator looking forward to any follow on stories

Entertaining sf-fantasy

Zelia was removed from Earth at the tender age of five by a humanoid goblin mage, who bought her from her callously greedy parents after he recognized enormous magical power within her. Her foster father worked as a dagger, and raised Zelia to be a dagger, a magical job which involves protecting interstellar travelers as they pass through untracked areas of space, in the interplanetary universe called Reality. Although Zelia has known since she was a child that she is a sorcerer, she has lived for over 40 years as if she were only a far less magically talented mage. She also has continuously assumed a gradually aging glamor of a goblin woman, hiding the fact that she is human and that she only looks like she is in her twenties, because sages live for hundreds of years. She roams Reality in a wagon pulled by her two best friends, Warp and Weft, who are world-walking birds.

When a storm of cosmic chaos strands Zelia in an outer thread, she is concerned that, even with the enormous amount of her sorcerer power, she might not survive. Then she notices a source of refuge. She has never seen it before, but everyone has heard of the Darkhouse of Doom, a sorcerer-manifested House that utilizes dimensional transcendence, similar to the TARDIS from "Doctor Who." After the death of the goblin sorcerer who created this House, it should have self-destructed, but it has somehow survived. Zelia knocks on the door and is granted admission. There she meets her love interest for the first time, a handsome, tall and muscular goblin named Tavor. Zelia learns that, for the past 90 years, Tavor has been magically bound to this House by a curse imposed upon him at the death of its creator, forcing him to be its eternal caretaker. He appears to be the same 20-something age he was when he arrived at the House because, as long as he is bound to the House, he will live the same extended lifespan that a sorcerer typically does. He entreats Zelia to take over ownership of the House so that he can be released from this curse and die. She refuses to do so, for two reasons: she does not want to be outed as a sorcerer, and she does not want to be the cause of Tavor's death.

While this is definitely a stand-alone novel, with a resolution of the main action-adventure plot and the romance by the end of the novel, I would highly recommend first reading Uncertain Sanctuary, a trilogy set in this same world with related events that occur prior to the events in this novel.

The cover of this book makes it seem as if it is a romance, and there is definitely a lovely romantic subplot, but for the vast majority of this book, Zelia and Tavor are not onstage together. Instead, the central focus of the novel is Zelia's personal, emotional journey, from living her life well beneath her magical potential, to accepting the fact that she is a sorcerer and presenting herself openly as a sorcerer. As such, the main plot is a classic hero's journey, involving a "reluctant hero."

Everything about this book is entertaining, and I especially appreciated that we get to see the FMC and her love interest from the previous trilogy living out their HEA.

By the way, though there is definitely emotional and sensual chemistry between Zelia and Tavor, there is no sex in this novel, not even any offstage sex.

This novel is narrated by Tess Irondale. She does a very good job.

Great story!

I really enjoyed this installment in the Reality Universe by Jenny Schwartz. You don't need to read the trilogy before it to enjoy this book, but you will want to once you read this delicious story. It is a delightful combination of fantasy and clean romance that will leave you wanting more.

A little bit of “this sounds familiar”

But stands quite nicely on its own. I can’t wait to find out what happens next - to both houses.

LOVED IT!!!!

I recently discovered Jenny Schwartz and she has become a 1-Click author for me. I am so glad Audible is offering her books. This is my first Tess Irondale story and I was not disappointed. If you are on the edge of whether or not to purchase this new series….DO IT! You will not regret it. In addition to a great story and story telling you are supporting a new(ish) Indy author. I can hardly wait for the rest of the series to be released:)