So my problem is, how do I describe it without confusing you? Well the prequel, for lack of a better word, is Littermates. What starts out as the childhood of a young female out of Cat People becomes a realistic and harrowing tale of abuse as the child loses the father who could have told her of her heritage, and is instead taken by her human mother into the custody of a child molester. In defence, the child develops multiple personalities. By crossing genres, the author makes what could have been a depressing story of a victim, and makes it one of survival and accomplishment. By mixing fantasy with domestic terror, she transcends both. The separate personalities are each appealing, and completely individual as they are forced to make their way in the world alone. Sort of. And none of this encapsulates the magic of the writing and the creation of the author.

‘Acacia’ is the sisters, years later when they have, wait for it, founded a detective agency. I know, it seems ludicrous, but honestly, it works. Certain of the sisters have a desire for human blood, and their method of culling the human pack is sometimes humorous, sometimes terrifying. So, even as you try to tell yourself that this is ridiculous, that you can’t really be engrossed in a mystery being unravelled by a multiple personality lesbian/straight vampire cat, you cannot stop reading. Or caring about each of the sisters. That’s because the story is well written, the characters and situations expertly drawn, and the plotline somehow marvellously clean and straight forward despite the twist and kinks. It manages to stay routed in reality, all while you know that you are reading something that defies any genre, and is unlike anything you’ve read before.

How should you read them? Both can be read independently, though each reflects upon the other just as any human’s adulthood is found within childhood. Possibly, they are best enjoyed by slipping back and forth between the books. Which is appropriate. A story like none you’ve ever come across should probably be read differently from any other as well.