Matchbox Girls threw me a loop, I tell you what! Not in a bad way at all. It starts off a bit like a book from the Series of Unfortunate Events. Two precocious young girls (who are eons ahead of other people their age in terms of intelligence) wake Marley out of a dead sleep to come and save them. Their Uncle has vanished, and they were instructed to call her if that ever happened. Doesn't bode well does it? Well rest assured that if that was your assumption you are right! What ensues is a story filled with dark corners, deep secrets, and all manner of angelic and demonic creatures. It's pretty fascinating!

Let's start with what I loved about this book. The characters. Marley is so sweet and broken. She feels like madness is constantly pressing in around her, and yet when the girls need her she finds the strength to press on. I adored her character. She was so mothering. The girls themselves are adorable, albeit slightly creepy at times. They are so smart. I was engrossed by them alone the majority of the story, trying to uncover their secrets. Add in all the other characters who flit in and out of the story, and you have a well rounded group. Tsavelas allows the reader plenty of time to get to know this group, and it is easy to fall in love with them.

What I didn't enjoy so much is the over abundance of information that is often thrown out at the reader in certain parts of this book. There are a lot of different creatures that correlate with the angelic hierarchy in this book. While I respected the want to share them all with us, and help us form connections between them, it was all very confusing. There were pages that I had to read, and then re-read, just to make sure I was really understanding what I was meant to. After a while, especially towards the end, I found myself just skimming to get the parts that were really important and pushed the plot forward.

At the end of the day, Matchbox Girls was a book that I enjoyed. I can't say that I would have picked it up on my own, but I'm glad that I gave it a chance. This is a different look at the paradigm between good and evil, and it is given a deliciously mysterious twist. Despite some flaws, I think it is a unique book! I'd say that if you are looking for a new read, something a little different, give this a shot. ( )

A very different take on the whole "angels here to save us" books. I enjoyed the perspective on the situation, and identified with the main character, Marley, who has an anxiety disorder--she is forced into a sudden position of responsibility when her friend Zachariah, guardian to two young twin girls, disappears and they call her for help. It's the beginning of something far more mysterious than even Marley knows it will be, from angels to nephilim, demons to fae. It's so refreshing to read something so out of the ordinary using the same things so many other books do. It definitely proves the theory that many of the same stories are out there, but there are many different ways to tell them. This is a different story, and it's told in a unique way. ( )

As you can see by the publication date, I’m a little late to the party with Matchbox Girls. But, then again, books don’t really go bad (for the most part), and I reviewed one from the nineteenth century last year, so, you know? I’m not going to worry about it. Just wanted to point out that this book has been out for a little while.

And I’m sorry I didn’t get around to reading it sooner.

Matchbox Girls is Chrysoula Tzavelas‘s debut novel. It’s a contemporary/urban fantasy tale about a troubled woman, Marley Claviger, who wakes up one morning to a phone call from a pair of frightened little girls whose uncle has disappeared. She comes to their aid and finds that she’s going to be doing more than just babysitting.

The book caught me up right away. I found Tzavelas’s prose a delight to read. Metaphors like “in a grip as strong as self-hatred” won me over as much as her characters and her world building. And they’re not bad either.

Matchbox Girls is a different read than the “urban fantasy” I’ve read previously. It’s not quite as dark or violent (although there are those aspects), and there’s no porn. In fact, the book has a YA feel to me, which is odd as all of the characters, other than the girls are adults. But there’s an unexpected lack of gloom and less focus on how hot our protagonist is. Tzavelas is much more interested in the mindsets of her characters, not what they wear or what their sexual proclivities are.

I really liked that Claviger is such a flawed character. Marley is a bit of a failure at life when we first meet her, and it was interesting to see her develop into something more as Matchbox Girls’ plot progressed. She felt real to me, as did her friends Penny and Branwyn. I loved Branwyn especially.

Doing as you will creates a bigger burden on the conscience than doing as you’re told. – Branwyn

Children in a story can be tricky, and I think Tzavelas handled the two in her book quite well. They act like little kids, and not in the precocious little adult way that so often happens. Even if there is more to them than meets the eye at first.

The only part of the story that felt weaker to me was the angels and their family stuff. That didn’t really win me over even though I loved Corbin. (ways to make M happy #242: put some kind of corvid in your book) Angels and demons really aren’t my thing; I just find the concept done to death. Tzavelas handles them fairly well, though, and many of their scenes are legitimately creepy.

So, want a good urban fantasy read that isn’t like all the others written by someone with a great flare for writing? You’d do worse than to check out Matchbox Girls. Oh, and? It’s the first of the Senyaza series. The second, Infinity Key, is on my TBR list. ( )

I received this book as part of a Kickstarter pledge. Since I was in an Urban Fantasy slump, I didn’t read it immediately. Which I regret, since this is a really good Urban Fantasy novel. The intriguing worldbuilding takes the standard tropes of angels, demons and fairies, and twists them around a couple of times, until the end result is something unique. The writing starts with a bang, or a phone call to be more correct, and it doesn’t slow down. Marley’s reaction to the events were refreshing. She isn’t a kick ass heroine, she is just an woman who wants to return to her normal life.

The plot is just as fast paced as it should be, and when you think that nothing else can go wrong for Marley and her friends, something unexpected, yet totally logical happens, that turns an already dire situation into a catastrophic situation.

But what made this book for me were the cast of characters. All of them were deliciously flawed. From Marley with her shambled life, to Zacharias with all his secrets, to the impulsive twins, to the new friends she gets in Corbin and AT. And Neath.. I loved Neath. She behaved like I imagine a cat should. The bad guys were scary. Brr. I wouldn't want to be alone with either Severin, Tarn or any of the other bad guys.


What keeps me from giving this book an A is the sparseness of description. It stopped me from imaging the settings to the level I wanted, and needed to get really sucked into the book.
Still, I'll definitely get the sequel, since I believe in supporting good authors. And Chrysoula Tzavelas is definitely one of them. ( )

This was a hard book for me to rate. There were things I liked and things I didn't. The main character was frustrating and they kept her in the dark way too long for me. I did enjoy the side characters and am intrigued enough to see where the story will go from here to give the sequel a try when it comes out. ( )