Personal Demons

Personal Demons: Includes bonus short story - Magicsmith Universe by L.R. Braden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whoops, I didn’t realize this was book 2 in a series where the world was already built. That being said, I was able to catch up here, and threw in a higher rating to compensate for me not really knowing everything I should going into this one.

Mira has issues. She’s adjusting to a new partner (Ty) and still working on the delicate balance that is having a demon sharing your body. Sure, you get lots of power and the ability to do good, but you’ve also got to literally feed the demon. With her demon also comes a whole lot of discrimination and judgement, some of which Mira just assumes comes from Ty all the time. Ty, on the other hand, definitely remembers Mira and his time together before they became partners. Their new partnership gets truly tested when they are called back to Mira’s home town to hunt some evil doers.

Mira somehow believes that she can go down to Florida and magically avoid all her relatives. No such luck and it works out in the most wonderful way. The horrible gritty realness of this family really hooked me. While the start of the story was spent with me trying to figure out what I’ve gotten myself into, I was fully on board when her grandmother arrives. This is ultimately a mystery with oodles of paranormals thrown in (and lots of food). While there is not a gigantic romantic component, it still checks the boxes for a paranormal that could eventually grow up into a romance.

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A Court of Mist and Fury

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These books! I’m not sure how to review them anymore because I’ve reached maximum cringe. There are such bright points of happiness and wonderful things but I also know that there are more books in this series and things have to get back to bad in order to build the story. Brace yourself, because this one took us on a wild ride filled with massively shifting dynamics.

When we last left Feyre and Tamlin, they were happily reunited but with the looming threat of their dark deeds under the mountain coming back to haunt them. More specifically, Feyre’s bargain with Rhys in order to save her life. What’s a week of time in the grand scheme of saving a life, right? Well, after the dust settles, it is definitely weighing on the “happy couple.” Feyre is trapped in her new life, handed from one party to the next, told what to wear, what to do, and appears to be just a shell of who she was before. Where did the wild fighter go? Who is this woman who is sick every night with memories from her last fateful task? It was torture to watch, but somehow gets worse when she is walking down the aisle towards Tamlin, in a gown she hates, with flowers she specifically didn’t want, and no clear way out. Enter Rhys - who we all knew would be a wrench in the plans.

Where to begin? I get it - we hate him, and he’s a bad boy, but… wow. This book does things that I was surprised by. I’m not going to spoil too much, but the journey we go on with Rhys is no simply night and day (get it???) but subtly nudges you on the path to liking him. It’s really well done and with happily smutty results. I *loved* the night court and all the wonderful dreams that reside there. Even knowing that he don’t end up super happy at the end of this one, the journey was worth the cost in this case. I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens next!

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A stitch in time

A Stitch in Time by Andrew J. Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a big fan of Garak and DS9 in general, I devoured this book. The bonus for me was certainly that i did it via audiobook, narrated by the actor that played Garak. It immerses you so deeply into the world that it was like having a spinoff movie set in the DS9 franchise.

This book is told in a few different time periods. I’d highly recommend a DS9 re-watch prior to diving in here, but you can probably just strive to remember things along the way. May loose threads (see what I did there?) are tied up in this book, written by the actor and gives a supremely satisfying tale. So, back to how this story is told. We get to follow along in the present time, where Garak is writing a letter to Doctor Bashir. He’s on his “home world” and trying to literally dig it out of the rubble that the war created. The second bit of the tale is told from Garak’s time on DS9, leading up to the attempt to re-take his home world. Lastly, we get a really interesting look into Garak’s time growing up, getting trained as a spy, and, gasp, falling in love.

It’s hard to summarize this book in a coherent way because it takes a lot of twists a turns. Ultimately, where we end is satisfying because we get to spend time with the Garak who has been through many things that shaped him. Are all the open questions answered? Absolutely not - what kind of Garak book would this be if that were the case?!?! You get taken on a wonderful journey, told through the lens of a truly unique individual. It was very rewarding to see some random mentions make big waves in Garak’s past. I can’t recommend this enough for someone who wants to enjoy some DS9 with a different storyteller.

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A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not sure what I expected here, being that I’m a little late to the game. This is a very popular author and series but I just now have started at book 1. This is a fairy tale coupled with romance and self discovery.

Feyre is a girl who has had to take on responsibility for keeping her family fed at too young and age. Even though she’s not the eldest, she is the one who hunts for them, keeps money coming in, and essentially keeps them all alive after her father’s business crumbled. While this certainly takes place in a different world, it is some weird blend that does not include technology but does include magic. There was a divide between the fae and humans that created a wall between their worlds. There is a lot of hatred, worship, and anything in between for them. Ultimately, Feyre is focused only on keeping her family safe and maybe one day being happy.

While hunting one day she ends up up killing a wolf who is much more than that. From the treaty it seems that Feyre is subject to fae laws and taken to their land by Tamlin. This feels very much like Beauty & the Beast at times, with some smuttier thoughts thrown in. At her “prison” she lives in an estate, never really wanting for anything. She’s able to explore what she enjoys (painting) and figuring out how to spend her days free of obligations. It was nice to watch Feyre open up and grow as a person, even if some choices she makes had me pulling out my hair.

Tamlin is her keeper, love interest, lord, and will likely come to be a lot more. This story grew in ways I didn’t expect, though it did set me up properly by building a wonderful, happy world only to smash it to bits. We do get to a good ending, though, but it takes a lot of pain to get there. As a first book in the series, this was enough to get me into book two. They introduce enough additional characters that I’m thoroughly invested now.

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Biergarten of the Damned

Biergarten of the Damned by Seana Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After all the craziness of the last book, this one comes off as almost sedate. Does Sam get thrown into crazy situations? Sure. But there’s a general focus to the big bad here.

Sam and Clive are back and working on building their married life together. After discovering the awesome magical construct the dragons had in the last book, that is currently under construction behind the book store. They are also working on their own house to live in together (outside the nocturn) like normal folks. Oh, and they’ve got a dog, who is maybe the star of this book. Something, however, is very much up with Dave. He’s ditching work and is maybe more ornery than usual.

Sam being Sam, can’t leave that alone so goes after him to discover he no longer wants anything to do with her. Thus begins Sam’s very reluctant entrance into the demon world to try to get her friend back. There’s a lot of secrets that get revealed as part of this journey, but we end up in a better place by the end. We even gain some unexpected friends along the way! This book is definitely setting up whatever happens next, but I did enjoy a deeper dive into the demon world. Oh, and there’s some almost side story for an old archnemesis of theirs (they have a lot of past villains), but this gives good resolution there, too.

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Eternal Flame

Eternal Flame by Cynthia Eden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This last book in the series delivers by wrapping things up, but also somehow introduces two separate shadowy organizations. Lots going on here, and oodles of fire!

Zane is one of the only main Night Watch characters who has not been paired off. He’s got control issues, and previous books seemed to point to him getting together with the resident witch, but that has fizzled by the start of this one. On a hunt, he ends up meeting Jana. She plays the victim really well and even manages to pull one over on him. Things go sideways after they realize that Jana is the fire wielding magic user who has become top priority for Night Watch.

Surprise - these two have attraction that somehow ends up with them handcuffed together, on the run from the good/bad guys, and dealing with their issues. A highlight of this book? The mundane cop who helps these guys. He has grown on me over the last few books and here he is truly a star. I’m sad we don’t get to see his story play out here, but either way he is a great addition. While there is a lot of death, destruction, and damage, we end this one with a concrete wrap-up and a good happy ending. These were a good set of books for the paranormal minded to check out.

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Bad Luck Vampire

Bad Luck Vampire by Lynsay Sands
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Look - 36 books in you should know what to expect here. If this is where you’re starting, for some reason, I guess you can do that but you’ll miss all the world building and backstory for just about every character in this book. That being said, this did have some fun, new mysteries thrown in to keep it fresh.

Sophie is cursed. She’s been followed by a lot of mysterious events that color her childhood. She thought she finally found a place she belonged, with her adopted family who she also works with, but the bad luck continues. On a spectacularly bad blind date, she gets drawn into the Argeneau world. Alasdair is an immortal who has given up finding his fated mate until he sets eyes on Sophie. On a date with someone else, it seems bad form but the entire Argeneau clan gangs up to make these two meet.

What follows is a whodunnit coupled with some very meddling family members. These two have the typical, expected sizzle that mates have, with a sometimes dark murder-mystery going on behind the scenes. I honestly didn’t guess the big bad here, so that was kind of nice to have happen, too. I’ll keep reading these books until there are no more to read, so please keep publishing!

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