Much Ado About Magic by Shanna Swendson

Katie Chandler is back in New York and at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. – and just in time. The city’s in the grip of a magical crime wave from spells that wizarding whiz Owen Palmer thinks look awfully familiar, and the rogue firm Spellworks is raising its profile in the magical world by selling protective amulets. It’s Katie’s job as the new director of marketing for MSI to fight this battle of public perception while Owen and the other wizards try to uncover what’s really going on.

What Katie doesn’t realize is that her idea to stage a showcase for MSI’s magical achievements is playing right into a devious plot more than three decades in the making. Now Katie has to do damage control that has nothing to do with marketing. To save the magical world, she’ll have to prove who the real enemy is, and doing that will require digging deeper into Owen’s mysterious past than he wants anyone to go. If she fails, she not only stands to lose a magical war, but she could also lose the man she loves.

~~

You guys. YOU GUYS. Shanna Swendson wrote another book in her Enchanted, Inc. series! Yes! These books are an old love of mine, the first one recommend to me when I worked at Barnes & Noble. Thank goodness for the employee discount cause trade paper or not I proceeded to buy each and every one because they were so much fun to read. Katie is a down-to-earth lady from Texas trying to live her life in NY, and her combination of quick wit, humor, and intelligence in the face of danger make her a joy to read. Throughout all the novels we see her interacting with a number of mundane people and magical creatures, and Swendson does a fantastic job at making each one both unique and seemingly 'normal'. Just because Sam is a gargoyle who spends most of his shift watching out for magical dangers doesn't mean he can't swoop down and have a quick convo with Katie during her lunch break. 

In this latest installment Swendson introduces us to the 'after HEA' of Katie and Owen. After a few books of slow build-up Katie and Owen finally got to defeat the bad guy and be together. These may not be the sexiest of books, but the way Owen blushes when he gets Katie coffee or buys her chocolate and flowers for her birthday is adorable (and leaves me smiling every time). We're introduced to a new big and bad in this book, one who's been behind the scenes, setting up himself to be head honcho of the whole magical realm, and there's a good bit of action at the end which Swendson handles well without going over the top. I don't want to be spoil-ery but the very end of the book was a BIG surprise, just because it was so unexpected, but I can happily say that Katie and Owen are still the wonderful couple we've come to love from previous books and I highly recommend this whole series to anyone who likes a feel good adult fairy tale.

Overall Feeling - A-

Series - 1) Enchanted, Inc. 2) Once Upon Stilettos 3) Damsel Under Stress 4) Don't Hex With Texas 5) Much Ado About Magic

**Title requested from NetGalley**

Spellbound Falls by Janet Chapman

Maximilian Oceanus arrives in Spellbound Falls just in time to save Olivia Baldwin from an overly aggressive suitor, only to find himself attracted to the beautiful, if rather aloof, widow. And although Mac has come to Inglenook to get a handle on fatherhood, his newly discovered six-year-old son has set his sights on finding his father a wife.

Olivia, however, is busy getting Inglenook ready for its new season, so she doesn’t have time to deal with her growing attraction to the dangerously seductive Mac. Besides, weird stuff seems to happen all around him. Take the fact that her seatbelt keeps getting stuck in his presence, or locks magically open for him without keys, and that he seems to have a talent for sensing things. Never mind the three lost albatrosses walking down the road in the middle of the night. Since when are there albatrosses in Maine?

But despite Olivia’s resistance to falling under the sexy man’s spell, Olivia is having trouble fighting her longing. Because she knows Mac is just the man to unlock the powerful passion deep within her….

~~

If you follow me on Twitter you probably read some of the worries I had Monday night about this turning into a 'hero teaches the heroine the error of her ways' kind of romance. I hate preachy and similar to my feelings about heroines who have to overcome a feeling of 'shame' I have no patience for it. I like my heroines crazy and messed up and I want a hero who loves her just the way she is. 

I was so happy to find out that Max was actually underestimating just how sane Olivia was under her surface crazy.  Olivia is more of a behind the scenes mover and shaker - she doesn't have an interest in battling people head on for things that she can make happen in a more roundabout way. As someone who deals with life in a similar fashion, this was an attitude I could definitely get behind.

Combine this with Chapman's classically wonderful characters and you've got a very nice romance. Max and Henry were great, both unsure on how to navigate the tricky road to father and son, and almost every 'small town' person who popped up had a purpose and added to the story. Though I would say some people might as well have had a huge 'HERE I AM' sign over their heads because the mystery of who they were wasn't all that hard to figure out. But hey, for a contemporary romance the mystery of a character's backstory isn't that big of a deal and the connection between Max and Olivia was more than enough to make up for any perceived lack.

Overall Feeling - B-

Series - 1) Spellbound Falls 2) Charmed by his Love (May 29, 2012)

**These books are connected to the Midnight Bay series - see Mystical Warrior

Wickedly Charming by Kristine Grayson

He's given up on happily-ever-after...

Cinderella's Prince Charming is divorced and at a dead end. The new owner of a bookstore, Charming has given up on women, royalty, and anything that smacks of a future.
That is, until he meets up with Mellie...

But she may be the key to happily-right-now...

Mellie is sick and tired of stepmothers being misunderstood. Vampires have redeemed their reputation, why shouldn't stepmothers do the same? Then she runs into the handsomest, most charming man she's ever met and discovers she's going about her mission all wrong...

It's only natural that sparks fly and magic ensues when these two fairy tale refugees put their heads-and vulnerable hearts-together...

~~

If I remember correctly I read Simply Irresistible by Grayson QUITE  a long time ago - there were some positive feelings but I didn't have enough to go on when it came time to read Wickedly Charming. Luckily it didn't matter because this book is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it. 

Charming and Mellie are both in very different places in their lives than they had original expected. Charming has divorced his Cinderella and lost custody of his two daughters, and Mellie is stuck still trying to convince the world that evil stepmothers aren't really all that evil. Neither of them are prepared to meet someone new, whether it's lust or love. 

This book is so much fun to read because even with all the fairy tale and magic it's a story about two people trying to live normal lives who just happen to fall in love while doing it. It's contemporary but not, with enough quirkiness to make me happy and has definitely left me interested in picking up the rest of the series. There aren't enough heartwarming, fun romances these days, books that have a little drama but not too much, with characters you can really root for. Wickedly Charming has all of that and it was great - especially as a 'right before bed' read.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.

Series - 1) Utterly Charming 2) Thoroughly Kissed 3) Wickedly Charming 4) Charming Blue (Fall 2012)

Harvest Moon by Mercedes Lackey, Michelle Sagara, & Cameron Haley

A Tangled Web by New York Times bestselling author Mercedes Lackey

Kidnapping Persephone should have been an easy task. But in the Five Hundred Kingdoms, nothing's ever simple - and the wrong blonde goddess is stolen by mistake, leaving Prince Leopold without his new bride. At least until he braves the realm of the dead to get her back..

Cast in Moonlight by New York Times bestselling author Michelle Sagara

Barely a teenager, Kaylin Neya is a thief, a fugitive and an attempted assassin. She also has a smart mouth, sharp wits and mysterious markings on her skin. All of which make her perfect bait for a child prostitution sting in the city of Elantra - if she survives her first meeting with the Hawks!

Retribution by Cameron Haley

In the underworld, there are tricks to killing. Like executing rivals at crossroads so ghosts won't follow you home. But sometimes retribution is hard to avoid - and now a supernatural hit man has a contract on Domino Riley's life. Luckily she knows a thing or two about death..

~~

**I requested this title for review from NetGalley**

I knew I was going to enjoy Sagara's story in this anthology, but it surprised me how much each author's contribution was really unique and entertaining. 

Lackey does a retelling of the Greek myth of Persephone & Hades in her tale, and I liked the way she brought in a different pantheon of Norse gods to round out the cast. It wasn't just the gods and goddesses we were used to seeing - it was Ragnarok and human interference and the relation that all of these different belief systems had to each other. I do have to say though that I didn't really feel like either of the romances mattered so much to the overall story line. Yes at the base of everything was Persephone and Hades, but I never felt like I got to know them enough to care about their happy ending. Neither of them had unpleasant personalities, in fact I think Hades was particularly well done, but I just didn't feel attached to their experience enough. Maybe because this wasn't a romance? Oh well, it just felt a little tacked on even though it was ultimately the basis for everyone's experience in the tale. The story itself was still good and it's a nice addition to the anthology.

Sagara's story was my favorite and it's a prequal to her 'Cast in' series (also published by Luna). She's one of my favorite contemporary fantasy writers and she does an incredible job showing to new and and season readers alike why she's so respected. Even in just a few pages we feel attached to Kaylin and the hardship she's had to go through. Marcus and the Hawklord are very prominent and it's the first time I've really felt like I've gotten into the HL's head a bit. Plenty of mystery, magic, and mayhem and I think it'll do great to inspire those unfamiliar with her work to pick up the next book. 

I'd probably say I was surprised the most by Haley's story. I am not familiar with her 'Mob' series and for the first few chapters I was like 'What is going on....?' The beauty of this story is that about half way through you're stuck, wanting to know how/if  Domino is going to escape a death a curse - a curse that summons the Angel of Death at that. The dialogue is witty and sharp paces and as another prequel, does have me intrigued about how her characters play out. I'm not saying definitively that I'll buy the next book, but I'm for sure going to see if it's available at my local library and request it if it's not.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up!

Series - "Cast in Moonlight" and "Retribution" are prequals to those authors respective series, "A Tangled Web" is a stand alone.

*GIVEAWAY* Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn

I won a copy of this title through LibraryThings Early Reviewers Program, but for some reason they sent me two! Who knows why now but what matters is that I'm passing this extra copy onto you. It's going to be a quick little giveaway, open for about 2 weeks, and the rules are simple:

1) Have to be a subscriber
2) If you're younger than 18 years old you have to have your parents permission
3) Leave a comment on this post (with your email address please)
4) Giveaway ends August 16th at 11:59pm EST

That's it! Easy peasy right?

Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn

When Evie Walker goes home to spend time with her dying father, she discovers that his creaky old house in Hope’s Fort, Colorado, is not the only legacy she stands to inherit. Hidden behind the old basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again. The magic of the storeroom prevents access to any who are not intended to use the items. But just because it has never been done does not mean it cannot be done.

And there are certainly those who will give anything to find a way in.

Evie must guard the storeroom against ancient and malicious forces, protecting the past and the future even as the present unravels around them. Old heroes and notorious villains alike will rise to fight on her side or to undermine her most desperate gambits. At stake is the fate of the world, and the prevention of nothing less than the apocalypse.

Highlander Series by Janet Chapman

A tempestuous passion begins with a battle of wills...

When Sadie Quill comes upon an unbelievably gorgeous man lying naked beside a lake, she can't resist taking his photo -- and is quickly trapped in a passionate confrontation with the fierce stranger. Discovering the identity of this irresistible warrior will complicate Sadie's search for a legendary gold mine. For he is Morgan MacKeage, a medieval highlander in modern-day Maine, a man with the fury of the untamed wilderness pounding in his veins -- and the power to unlock Sadie's fragile heart.


A runaway beauty finds love in the brawny arms of a handsome stranger.

Talented surgeon Libby Hart is fleeing to Pine Creek, Maine, when her car spins out of control and crashes into a pond. She is rescued by Michael MacBain, a medieval highlander trapped in the modern world by a wizard's spell. Wounded in love once before by a modern woman, Michael wants nothing to do with Libby, but he can't resist the intense desire she stirs within him. Can this proud warrior pledge his heart to a woman whose secret threatens to change their lives forever.



She has the power to tempt him beyond all reason....

Catherine Daniels arrives in Pine Creek, Maine, at just the right time for Robbie MacBain. She is on the run from her ex-husband, and Robbie is a sexy, single foster parent who needs a housekeeper while he travels back in time to medieval Scotland. Unbeknownst to Catherine, Robbie's looking for a book of spells to save the future of his family...and little did he expect to find a burning passion in Catherine's arms. Can Robbie seal his family's fate while enticing Catherine to follow him and her own heart wherever love will take them?

I picked this series back up when my reading rut began, because I knew I liked them. I'm not going to lie, the Scottish Highlander thing is definitely one of my favorite genres in the realm of romance, but instead of that being a negative I think it means that I'm pickier than most! I know what kind of strong alpha male + loveable romantic works the best. Janet Chapman is one of the best, because while usually it's the woman that's sent back in time, here the male leads are brought forward and they have to deal with a suddenly changed world and women that are forthright and independent. Each book in the series might have similarities in regards to how the men feel like women should be treated, but in each case the relationship is very distinct and the supporting characters keep the plot fresh and interesting. I don't own the whole series, though at this point I think I've read them all, but I highly recommend them to anyone whole likes a bit of magic and mischief with their romance.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up!

Enchanted, Inc. Series by Shanna Swendson

Katie Chandler had always heard that New York is a weird and wonderful place, but this small-town Texas gal had no idea how weird until she moved there. Everywhere she goes, she sees something worth gawking at and Katie is afraid she’s a little too normal to make a splash in the big city. Working for an ogre of a boss doesn’t help.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, Katie gets a job offer from Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., a company that tricks of the trade to the magic community. For MSI, Katie’s ordinariness is an asset. Lacking any bit of magic, she can easily spot a fake spell, catch hidden clauses in competitor’s contracts, and detect magically disguised intruders. Suddenly, average Katie is very special indeed.

She quickly learns that office politics are even more complicated when your new boss is a real ogre, and you have a crush on the sexy, shy, ultra powerful head of the R&D department, who is so busy fighting an evil competitor threatening to sell black magic on the street that he seems barely to notice Katie. Now it’s up to Katie to pull off the impossible: save the world and - hopefully - live happily ever after.

This series first starting getting published in 2005, so while I'm sad to say I was a little late jumping on the bandwagon, at least when I got there all the books were already out! Swendson has put together this great little contemporary romance fantasy quartet with Katie trying to not only figure out life in the big city, but figure out life when magic is real!

Swendson writes Katie as a woman who, while being impressed by the surreal still has her feet firmly planted on the ground, which makes her a perfect character for readers to get attached to, since I'm sure so many of us would feel the same way. The romance between her and Owen is strung through all four books and is both frustrating and sweet, because as much as you want them just to get together already, the reader understands that sometimes life just doesn't work that way. I'm very happy to have all of these books to read at my leisure and they definitely make me think of my favorite rom-com movies (You've Got Mail anyone?).

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. This series is so much fun to read from start to finish, and it's one that I'm happy to have on my shelf and recommend to my friends when they need a pick me up.

Series - 1) Enchanted, Inc. 2) Once Upon Stilettos 3) Damsel Under Stress 4) Don't Hex with Texas

Teaser Tuesdays (2/23)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Look, I know what you used to be, and I hear that's not something that happens to nice guys. So I want to make it very, very clear to you that if you give my friend anything to complain about, I know people who can turn you right back into a frog. Are we clear?"

--pg 207, Enchanted Inc. by Shanna Swendson

Truly, Madly by Heather Webber (ARC Review)

Lucy Valentine is as smart as can be, as single as you can get, and so not qualified to run a matchmaking service. But when her parents temporarily step down from the family business, Valentine, Inc., it’s Lucy’s turn to step up and help out—in the name of love. Plus, her rent is due.

Here’s the problem: Lucy doesn’t have the knack for matchmaking. According to family legend, every Valentine has been blessed by Cupid with the ability to read “auras” and pair up perfect couples. But not Lucy. Her skills were zapped away years ago in an electrical surge, and now all she can do is find lost objects. What good is that in the matchmaking world? You’d be surprised. In a city like Boston, everyone’s looking for something. So when Lucy locates a missing engagement ring—on a dead body—she asks the sexy private eye who works upstairs to help her solve the perfect crime. And who knows? Maybe she’ll find the perfect love while she’s at it…

This was another free read gotten through the nice folks at LibraryThing.com! I was really happy to get it, mostly because the book sounded right up my alley as a nice uncomplicated read and it was definitely that! A lot of people would probably classify this as a romance, and it is, but I think that it's even more of a fantasy fiction novel - almost Chic-lit, but not. I think it's Lucy herself that makes Truly, Madly a fun read, with her spunkyness and need to be doing something with her life. Plus, it's just a very unique twist to have a magical matchmaking family end up with a daughter that who, after getting struck by lightning, finds lost things but can't match up people. It's a quick read that does a great job of leading audiences into the next book. And just so you don't think I liked everything about this book, haha, rest assured that I was very annoyed at the very last page. Mostly because I hate when a character whose sole existence is to cause strife is deliberately brought back to wreck havoc - especially when another less annoying character could have been introduced instead.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. Read in less than 2 hours, it's a great way to spend an afternoon break.

Series - 1) Truly, Madly (Feb 2010) 2) Deeply, Desperately (Aug 2010)

Excerpt - Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

"I find it horrific."

"Why? I've seen you kill before, Kate. Granted, you do it with considerably more skill."

"I kill because I have to. I kill to protect myself or others. I won't take a life to titillate a crowd. Nor would I torture a man for the pleasure of it."

Saiman shrugged. "You kill to survive and to appease your own misguided conscience. Those in the Pit kill for money and the gratification of knowing they are better than the corpse at their feet. At the core, our motives are always self-serving, Kate. Altruism is a fog created by sly minds seeking to benefit from the energy and skill of others. Nothing more."

"You're like a god from Greek myth, Saiman. You have no empathy. You have no concept of the world beyond your ego. Wanting something gives you an automatic right to obtain it my any means necessary with no regard to the damage it may do. I would be careful if I were you. Friends and objects of deities' desires dropped like flies. In the end the gods always ended up miserable and alone."

Saiman gave me a stunned look and fell silent.

A Highlander Christmas by Janet Chapman

Camry MacKeage has absolutely no intention of telling her parents that she left her job as a NASA physicist for the small-town life of a dog-sitter -- which is why she's spending the holidays alone in coastal Maine with her furry friends Tigger and Max. Unfortunately, her irresistibly handsome rival, scientist Luke Pascal, accidentally spilled the beans. Now he's on a mission from her mother to tempt Camry home for the family's annual winter solstice celebration. But Luke is hiding his own secret, and he'll need a little bit of magic to earn Camry's trust...and a whole lot of mistletoe to seduce his way into her heart.

Chapman has pulled out another cute little Christmas romance. The other books of hers that I've read have concentrated on the historical twist shes adds to this series, but the contemporary feel to this particular novel, mixed in with a few magical elements, makes it stand out. I was really amused by the idea of a nuclear physicist throwing her hands up at it all and becoming a dog walker - Chapman just pulls it off well and definitely gets the reader rooting for Camry. Luke is another great leading man, someone who after spending most of his life firmly in reality gets a taste of what life can offer those who look beyond their noses. Together they make a very cute couple and their journey from career nemeses to husband and wife is a good one.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. Not incredible but still a lot of fun and a somewhat atypical Christmas romance.

Series - 1) Charming the Highlander 2) Loving the Highlander 3) Wedding the Highlander 4) Tempting the Highlander 5) Only with a Highlander 6) Secrets of the Highlander 7) A Highlander Christmas

Never After by Laurell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu, and Sharon Shinn

#1 New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton spins a story of a princess who decides to take her own destiny in hand and rescue a pampered Prince Charming from an evil sorceress in 'Can He Bake a Cherry Pie?'

A selkie on the run from a century-old broken marriage arrangement has finally found true love- only to have the darkness from her past return to threaten both her and her dearly beloved in New York Times bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn's 'The Shadow of Mist.'

New York Times bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu tells the tale of a young princess who escapes bethrothal to a warlord by entering a magical forest. But when an evil queen sends her on a quest to 'The Tangleroot Palace', she faces dangers more perilous than marriage.

When a princess refuses her boring betrothed, the king holds a competition to see who will win his daughter's hand. But in matters of the heart, is a winner truly worthy- or can a loser offer even more in national bestselling author Sharon Shinn's 'The Wrong Bridegroom'.

This was actually a really disappointing anthology. I'm a big fan of Ms. Hamilton, Ms. Galenorn, and Ms. Liu but the stories were just unsatisfying. They all just felt short and unfinished, kind of like these authors were asked at the last minute to throw something together and this is what was given to the audience. OR I could see this as being a kind of publicity vehicle for the last author, Sharon Shinn. Even as a relative new comer to me, her story offered a kind of depth and character development that the others lacked (though this could also be attributed to her story being twice as long as almost everyone elses). I could see readers picking up this anthology because of the bigger names and being introduced to Shinn in a very flattering light.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs down. It's just not that great and 1 enjoyable story out of 4 does not a good anthology make. Either get it from the library or don't even bother - especially for the too high price of $9.99.

Series - None

On the Edge by Illona Andrews

The Broken is a place where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is nothing more than a fairy tale.

The Weird is a realm where blueblood aristocrats rule and the strength of your magic can change your destiny.

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, the place between both worlds. A perilous existence indeed, made even more so by a flood of magic-hungry creatures bent on absolute destruction.


Illona Andrews made so much noise on their (it's a husband and wife writing team) website about their editor and publishing company not being able to define what genre of book this was. I didn't have that same problem - it's a great example of Urban Fantasy with strong Romance leanings. Let's be real folks, fantasy is changing every day and with the inclusion of stories like this, where the contemporary is combined seamlessly with the fantastic, Urban Fantasy becomes more and more real. Sometimes I love myself - 'real fantasy'. Ahh, puns. So easily used for both good and evil.

Anyway - to get back to the review - this was a really great series opener. I've loved Andrews through all of her Kate Daniels books, but when an author starts something new it can be a delicate process. You've gone so long without any tedious world building explanations that it can be hard if an author all of sudden incorporates it; luckily, Andrews seems to be beyond that. Instead you're shown this wonderful intricate world and it's through the characters actions that the reader learns about the environment. Rose and Declan are both very unique personalities and their dance around each other is a lot fun to experience.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. I can't wait for the next one!

Series - 1) On the Edge

Dark Slayer by Christine Feehan

Ivory-a rare Carpathian female-has been protected by her brothers for most of her life. But once she frees the mage Razvan from his prison cave, they must flee together, enemies of Carpathian hunters as well as vampires. Ivory senses that Razvan is more than he appears to be, and she vows to go against the entire Carpathian race to help him, risking both their lives in order to save their love.

I don't think I can say enough good things about Christine Feehan. She started out with this great plot and wonderful story line - but I'm not going to lie. After about the 8th book or so, you kind of got the feeling that the series wasn't going anywhere original anymore. But with these last few books she has proven to me that it was no fluke, her rise to prominence, but a clear example of an author with vision. Ivory and Razvan are very moving characters, but with unbelievable stories. They've both endured incredible hardship and yet still manage to find the courage to be with each other. I know that sounds really corny, but this series is really developing an interesting (and new) plot line, with the latest characters being ones readers can really root for.

Overall Feeling - Big thumbs up, a great addition to a (well deserved) highly regarded series.

Series - 1) Dark Prince.........18 additional books later...... 20) Dark Slayer