What January Remembers

 

This may not be most people's idea of a Christmas story, but I'm gonna consider it an early gift!

In Amen Maxine, Faith Gardner introduced us to Jolvix - creator of futuristic technology for the home. In that book, Maxine was a personal assistant device in the shape of a small silver box. Think a more evolved Alexa with a hint of feelings. In this third book of the Jolvix Episodes series, we meet January: a lifelike female companion robot to Jeremy, the widowed patriarch of the Jagger family.

That's great for him, but not so much for his adult children, Josiah, Julianna, Jesse and Jada, who are still reeling in all sorts of dysfunctional ways from their mother, Janelle's, suicide 12 years prior.  Everyone is still on high alert after their last Christmas gathering two years prior when Jesse tried to kill January.  She was repaired and her memory was wiped, so why is she still keeping her distance from them? There's also the mystery of those notes each sibling was sent with just four words: Your mother was murdered.

There's clearly something more going on. Everyone in this family has secrets ... can robots have them too?

After loving Amen Maxine, I was nervous that nothing else could live up to it, but I needn't have worried. Though I liked the story and plot just a tiny smidge less, this domestic suspense with sci-fi seasoning was another deliciously fun one from Gardner, and just the holiday story my dysfunctional family-loving heart could want! I thought Jeremy was a little OTT with his Christmas cheer and family togetherness, but hey - he also lets January wear his dead wife's clothes, sooo ... yeeeah. 👀 To each his own!

I highly recommend this book and series if you enjoy smart writing, great characters, mystery, suspense and moments of dark humor!

★★★★ ½ 

Thanks to Mirror House Press, NetGalley and author Faith Gardner for this ARC and the opportunity to share my honest opinions. It's now available.