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Young Adult Fantasy / Romantasy

At the age of 17 Aurelia should be entering magical society and finding a match, but 150 years earlier her Mathilde Wycherley was cursed and since then the curse has travelled down through the generations…and it has landed on Aurelia. She is a pariah, not a single witch will join with her and without a “tether” her magic will fade away.

Jules Nightly is a descendent of the witch who cursed Mathilde but desperate times call for desperate measures and in an effort to hold onto her magic without a tether Aurelia enters into a forbidden bargain with him.

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Fans of Morrigan Crow (The Tales of Morrigan Crow) or Leovander Loveage (Sorcery & Small Magics) will love this book. I hesitate to say this but it’s another book for the Harry Potter refugees. If you need a little magic in your life, this is your book.

(Book #4 in series. Suggest starting at Book #1 The Trials of Morrigan Crow)

Morrigan discovers she has family in the exclusive Silver District and finds herself whisked away from her home and living the life of the idle rich. But while attending a wedding the newly married groom is found murdered and she realises there is something very off in the Silver District.

As she investigates she learns things that will completely tear the Silver District apart.

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I hesitate. That which must not be spoken. I can’t help but think refugees of the Harry Potter series will enjoy the Nevermoor series. It’s a magical fantasy mystery series and while I’ve occasionally struggled with it, it is a lot of fun. This book did meander a little at first but it had a 5 Star ending.

13 years earlier Noelle Marshall survived the brutal attack that killed her husband. As a high profile and well connected politician his murder was investigated by the FBI but because Noelle only had patchy memories of the attack the investigation went nowhere. 

After the death, one of the investigating agents encouraged Noelle to pursue a career in law enforcement and following that path led her to becoming a detective with the Oregon State Police. 

But after 13 years the FBI are taking another look at the murder of her husband to see if anything shakes loose. 

And something has. Noelle has said or done something that has made the killer start to suspect her memories are returning but she has no idea what that is. Now with the help of the two FBI Agents she must dig up the truth of her husbands murder before the murderer silences her forever. 

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Noelle Marshall has been floating in the background of Kendra Elliot’s Columbia River series for a few books now. She has become a fan favorite and finally she is getting her own series. And she doesn’t disappoint. Her First Mistake is much more cerebral than previous books but it is tight, gripping and an edge of your seat thrill ride.

Mystery

When Claire returns home from work she discovers her parents, lying in bed, murdered. While investigating the murder Bree Taggert uncovers family secrets and a shocking motive. 

Every now and then an author stumbles upon the magic sauce that makes a series great. Robyn Carr found it with Virgin River, Patricia Briggs with Mercy Thompson and Kendra Elliot nailed it with Mercy Kilpatrick. Bree Taggert is kind of like that. Melinda Leigh’s other series’ were good, even great, but Bree Taggert got everything right. 

And when you hit that sweet spot there is a lot of pressure to keep going. Robyn Carr kept going with Virgin River way past its best before date. I wonder if Patricia Briggs is also approaching that point with Mercy Thompson. And in some ways this book feels like that. It’s good. Every bit as good as some of her other books, but it also feels like maybe the series has run its course and maybe it’s time to explore new ideas. 

Overall, this book was good but not great. But there were opportunities in this book which were not explored and I hope Melinda Leigh planted those seeds to be explored in her next project. 

YA / Fantasy

Leovander Loveage is a bit of a failure as a scryer. While other sorcerers are writing powerful and complex spells he is stuck writing small magic. His exact opposite is the intensely serious Sebastian Grimm. He is a magical prodigy…and they hate each other.

Until they are forced to partner in class. Leovander hands Grimm a spell to cast on him but the small magic he thought was being cast was somehow mixed up with a powerful curse. And they must somehow put aside their differences to break the curse.

I try to not compare books but I’m going to here. Sorcery & Small Magics gave me some of the same feelings as Darkwood by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch. Honestly that’s about the highest praise I can think of. I loved this book and I’m excited for the series to continue.