Easy Bake Coven

Easy Bake Coven by Liz Schulte
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really like the cover and title, which left me wondering why I haven’t read this series before. I love a good paranormal romance and this looked like something I’d be into. I dove in without even reading the description, which might have been a mistake on my part. All the reviews will tell you that this is not about a coven or witches, but big bad elf politics.

Selene is a witch, so that much is true. She owns her own yoga studio, has a tight knit group of friends that are also in her coven (they have powers, too), and has some family drama. Oh, and she’s also in a relationship at the start with what seems to be the perfect guy. All of that blows up when Cheney shows up in her yoga studio to harass her. He really started at a defecit for me, and it took a while to get behind his story.

Turns out, Selene’s life has been a lie. She’s a changeling and things only get stranger from there. There’s powers, drama, politics, and rigorous training that all needs to come back to her in order for her to support this stranger/forgotten person in a big maybe war. It just seemed like the drama and complications for poor Selene just never let up. She took it in stride for the most part, but this book definitely doesn’t end in any sort of solid resolution here. I am not sure I would call it a cliffhanger, but we don’t end this book with all the answers or even in a “happy” place. I’m not sure I’ll continue, even though I’m that type of reader. Something about the character dynamic gave me the creeps, but that could just be my take.

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Born Magic: The Diary of Scarlett Bernard

Born Magic: The Diary of Scarlett Bernard by Melissa F. Olson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OK, I took a bit of a long break between the previous book and this one, but knew I would circle back eventually. I ended up picking this up in audiobook format which I found really entertaining. I did scroll to a few other reviews to she how folks who powered through the whole series found it, and I guess I’m in the minority?

Diving right back in to Scarlett’s life was relatively easy. I completely forgot just about everything about this world, but the diary format of this made it easy to weave in summary info for folks like me. Scarlett’s narrative voice is great and very relatable. While I can’t relate to the whole new mom vibe, she just seems… authentic. Her and Jesse trying to navigate living together (with vampires), figuring out their careers, next steps, family drama, etc. was really entertaining. When I found the book winding down I was so sad to see it wrap up for good. I loved being in their world.

So, other than baby stuff, is there a big storyline? I guess it’s a series of mysteries that, of course, end up all being tied together in a supernatural way. If I had come straight into this book from the previous one, maybe I would have been dying to see where everything ended up, but for me this was almost starting fresh and that was nice. I think I am going to need to look up other books by this author!

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Dragon Born

Dragon Born by Donna Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After so many books, I wasn’t sure we’d ever get to see Henry’s story fully told, but here we are!

Henry is a human in a world full of magic. He doesn’t fault them for it, but he also doesn’t feel completely part of their universe. When he meets Melisse, a bit of magic is created in the form of some unexplainable bond between the two of them. She does her best to push him away and he does the same, leaving them both unhappy. Now that Henry can sense a dangerous Druid in Zora, where he knows Melisse is, there’s nothing that will stop him from going rogue and diving into trouble.

Melisse has also been a bit of a loaner, what with being dubbed the most dangerous weapon and kept locked up for ages. She doesn’t fit the title of King, but also doesn’t really seem to be a “normal” dragon either. Through a determination to save a small child and prove her worth to the dragons of Zora, Melisse ends up wandering into a magical area and getting rapidly captured in a labyrinth-like setting. There is, as always, more in the works than you think, so it’s not a simple thing to get in and out, saving the many captured dragons. Henry and Melisse must get over their misunderstandings and hesitations to work together and save each other.

This book was a lot of fun to read, even with all the dangerous twists and turns. Henry really deserves his own tale and this was a very satisfying ending for him and Melisse. It was also great to see all the recurring characters crop up in fun ways, adding their own special abilities to the fight.

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Deadly Little Secret

Deadly Little Secret by Sierra Dean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OK, first off - this book ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, but I hope that can be expected if you know the next book is the last of the series. We have to build to something big!

This book picks up where the previous on left off. Secret is now a werewolf and is unfortunately stuck with Lucas as a third in her counseling sessions. Having two husbands is complicated. Also complicated, navigating the politics of a bunch of rogue wolves threatening you on the way home. Said rogues end up stirring up some history that Secret was not privy to before now. On top of this, Secret ends up on a wild goose chase for the council to find her friend.

Both these things end up coming out a head right around when Secret is going to make her first full moon shift with the pack, so I give her a pass for the very emotional way all of the parallel stories went down. While the outcome of that council endeavor ended up screwing up what could maybe/hopefully be her happy ending, good on her for standing up for herself. Also, I am really rooting for werewolf divorce (from Lucas). Fingers crossed we get that in the next book, too!

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A Wicked Secret

A Wicked Secret by Sierra Dean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These books are so fun and comfortable. Will Secret make terrible decisions that put her in grave danger? Yes. Will her love life be trouble? Yes. Throw in a wild paranormal adventure and you’ve got a formula I love.

Secret and Desmond are still trying to work out the “new normal” of Secret, the ex-vampire ex-werewolf now human, mated up with the New York king of werewolves. Secret is still partnered up with Harry, a demon, and running down the “bad” demons despite her human status. Desmond is still leading the werewolves even though Lucas, the previous werewolf king and Secret’s ex-ish-husband has returned from the dead. Their life is complicated.

Lucas manages to complicate their life even more when he gets captured in another country and another werewolf king’s territory. What should be a “simple” ransom exchange ends up escalating rather quickly into a hunt through the jungle with Secret, Desmond, Harry, and their assigned local liaison running for their lives on the full moon. So much happens that it doesn’t even make it possible to give high level points, but when they leave the jungle (as we all expected, right?) there are some changes that we will address in the next book. I still really enjoy this series, even after the ending/re-starting business, which is more than I can say for other series I have barreled through.

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Soulmates, Doorways, and Other Unruly Magic

Soulmates, Doorways, and Other Unruly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As the completionist that I am, I picked up this short bonus story to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first book. This book gives you a flavor of the chaos in Jade’s life and maybe even a “normal” day in the life? What it does not do is give you a huge story with resolution. A happy diversion, just like for the characters.

We join Jade, Kandy, and Kett as they sit around “bored” and waiting for the next crisis. Jade is boredom baking, Kandy is fastidiously ignoring her pregnant state, and Kett is being stoic. As weird as it would be for anyone else, for these three a magical doorway showing up in the middle of the bakery is not too strange. It is, however, an easy diversion. They silently agree to choose danger over boredom and away they go!

There’s a bunch of twists and turns that truly put our main characters in peril, but since this is just a teaser, not too much of major significance occurs. There’s a little bit more understanding among the three, the start of something big, and maybe a new appreciation for boredom by the end.

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