The Nest of Nessies (Penny White Volume 6)

As a priest in a small-town village, one might expect Penny White’s life would be rather bland and boring. It’s anything but, though. Dealing with parallel worlds, roaming with mythical creatures, and dealing with the demanding vampire population roaming through her town, she has more than enough on her plate. Then, Penny is enrolled to help bring back a stolen submarine to Britain. A dead mermaid turns up near an orca tank. The Archdruid has tasked her with finding a winged unicorn, and on top of that, she’s still struggling with her own emotional turmoil. Still, she has little time to deal with that when she has to chase a pack of nessies, dinosaurs resembling the Monster of Loch Ness. 

“The Nest of Nessies” is the sixth book in the Penny White series, and it’s no wonder why: with a world this vast, world-building this impressive, and characters this diverse, an author can fill six books, ten books, maybe even more. Everything about this book is amazing, from the set-up to the characters to how the plot is executed. Combine all the magic, fantasy, vampires, and one has a book that is at times hilarious, at times heart-breaking, but always equally original and brilliant. 

Penny is a mesmerizing character, and the way she tumbles from one magical situation into the next makes for a great roller-coaster of plot twists, situations that will have readers laughing out loud, and situations that will make readers cringe. Readers can easily pick up on the story by starting here, so reading books one to five is no requisite for enjoying this book. 

Majanka Verstraete