Magic on the Storm

Magic on the Storm by Devon Monk

Allie Beckstrom Series #4

After two uneventful months, Allie and Zayvion get the phone call about danger they have been dreading. They knew the peace could not last with the Authority splitting into factions causing a brewing war, and something would bring everything to a head. What they did not count on was a Wild Magical storm to be brewing. In the last storm Allie tapped into it and saved Zayvion's life, but that came at a very steep cost, a month in a coma and almost cost her life. It is unusual for them to have prior notice of the storms, and all indications point this to being a storm to destroy the entire city. It is up to Allie and Zayvion to band with the rest of the Authority if there is to be any chance at saving the city.

In this book Allie's father isn't quite as prevalent, but when he is there he doesn't seem to be as bad as he used to be. We started to see another side to him, one that actually cares for Allie, but even more so, his pregnant wife, Violet. I think Allie is finally coming to terms with the fact that she cannot be truly rid of her father and must find a way to work with him to protect the ones they care about. The storm and the war really rip everything to shreds, and the fate of the Authority and magic is left in the balance. Allie has to make a tough decision at the end which shows her true devotion to Zayvion, but leaves us with a pretty big cliffhanger. In the next book it looks like Allie is in for the fight not only for her life, but more so Zayvion's as well.

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Magic on the Storm: An Allie Beckstrom Novel

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Magic in the Shadows

Magic in the Shadows by Devon Monk

Allie Beckstrom #3

Not only does Allie have to deal with losing her memories, but now her father's soul is invading her mind as well. She turns to Zayvion, the lover she has no memory of, and the Authority, a secret group of magical enforcers for help getting her father out of her mind. She must tread carefully for not everyone in the order wishes to help her. Meanwhile, one of her hounds gets into trouble, and Allie finds herself in the center of yet another plot for power. In the end it becomes a fight of wills, and if she isn't careful the fight could cost her much more; all her memories, her magical powers, even her life.

Allie's father is like the ghost that just will not quit. I found myself saying "You died in the first book, now just go away already!" Poor Allie has had so much thrown at her in such a short amount of time. She really has had to learn to pick up the pieces. While she is not physically strong, she has the tenacity and willpower of a tiger. It has become clear that she is incredibly powerful even though she does not realize this herself. She doubts herself and her powers, and I think that isn't always a bad thing. Overconfidence is a very dangerous thing for someone in a world like hers. There was a good amount of progression in the relationship between Allie and Zayvion, and my earlier frustration at their starting over because of her memory loss is gone. I think this time around will work much better for them, and helps build the interest in the series. I look forward to Allie building her confidence and powers so she can protect the ones she loves, as that is her greatest wish.

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Magic in the Shadows: An Allie Beckstrom Novel

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Magic in the Blood

Magic in the blood by Devon Monk

Allie Beckstrom Series #2

After losing her memory of the terrible events of the last month, as well as everything about the man she supposedly loves, Allie is trying to pick the pieces of her life up and put them back together. She accepts a job tracking kidnappings for a special police division called MERC, and as a result finds suspicion in a fellow hound. Once again Allie finds herself in the middle of a dangerous plot and if she's to survive she must trust more than just her magical instincts.

I found the major backtracking of the relationship between Allie and Zayvion to be rather frustrating. I can only hope this was done to build a better foundation for them to have a more solid and meaningful relationship since in the first book everything was rushed and built on sex rather than love. After finding out a little more about the mysterious Zayvion and who he really is, I found him all the more intriguing. Sometimes when a character's unknown background is revealed they lose some of their mystique, but not Zayvion. He is the type of character that will always be a little mystery. I find her father's continued "influence" on her to be a little aggravating, but I also feel the need to say the phrase: "And the plot thickens." In the next book I hope to see more of Allie and Zayvion together, strong, and full of love, as well as Allie finally being able to rid herself of everything to do with her manipulative father once and for all.

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Magic in the Blood (Allie Beckstrom)

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Magic to the Bone

Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk

Allie Beckstrom Series #1

Allie Beckstrom is a hound, someone who traces magic back to the caster. In her world magic is readily available to those who wish to pay the price. Allie has to pay twice the price when she uses magic as it steals parts of her memory. She carries a book with her at all times to jot down notes of her experiences so that when she loses the memories, she doesn't truly forget. Allie spends her time hunting those who offload their spell costs onto the innocent. When a friend's little boy ends up very ill from a spell offload things get a little crazy. Allie tracks the source back to her estranged billionaire father, and in the process meets the mysterious Zayvion. There is an instant attraction, but can she really trust him?

Allie is very strong willed, but she isn't overly physically powerful as many paranormal heroines are. As far as strength goes, shes just an ordinary person. Also magic and powers in her world do not come without a price. I find both of these things to be very refreshing. Most novels have their heroines seem to have endless powers, and not that ruins a book, but sometimes it is nice to have more consequences of power in a novel. One thing I did not care for was the excessive memory loss. Allie forgets almost every important thing that happens to her and whenever she doesn't remember to jot them down in her book she truly loses those memories forever. Based on how things ended in this book, it seems as if Allie will be "starting all over again," and I find that to be a little frustrating. I hope in future novels Allie learns how to stop the memory loss. All in all however, it was very good book and I am very interested to see where the series goes.

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Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom)

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Magic Strikes

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

Kate Daniels Series #3

Kate's were friend Derek lands himself in major hot water in Magic Strikes. The two formed a bond when she took control of him and as a result had to claim him as a protector. That blood oath was released, but there are still major loyalty drives on both sides. In order to save him, Kate and some other weres must choose whether to disobey the Beast Lord's laws against the forbidden fighting ring. For the weres this potentially means a death sentence. As for Kate, well one never knows whether she is on the good or the bad side of the beast lord. As if angering the Beast Lord wasn't enough, she must be careful of showing her powers when it looks like her enemies of her heritage could be closing in.

Kate has been steadily building relationships with others even though it was ingrained into her while she was growing up to never trust anyone. I think this really has helped build her character and the series. Being a loner can be great considering how dangerous being her friend can be, but it was just too lonely for her. By trusting others she is finding support where she never thought she could. Her relationship with Curran, the Beast Lord has been building stronger and stronger. There is a major attraction there, and the sexual tension is really thick. Its only a matter of one or both of them caving from their refusal to relinquish any dominance. However, for those two that idea seems a near impossibility.

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Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3)

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Magic Burns

Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

Kate Daniels Series #2

Much to her reluctance, Kate is now employed by the Order as a liaison between the Guild and the Order. The Pack comes to her for assistance with an item that was stolen from them. Kate is the only one who has gained the Pack's trust and "friend of the pack" status, so she must accept the job. Once again, she finds herself knee deep in trouble when she stumbles upon a plot to release a vindictive god into Atlanta. She must find away to work with the increasingly but oh so charming beast master, Curran, if she is to have any hope of succeeding.

There has been an increasing tension between Kate and Curran. I wouldn't necessarily say its a sexual tension as of yet but I feel it is headed down that path. The two of them could not be more strong willed or determined to be the dominant. The dynamic of the dominance games between the two of them really make this series interesting. I would say Curran wins the dominance games except for the fact that Kate never truly backs down, never submits. There were some more hints to Kate's background in this book, and she shows some extraordinary powers she should not possess. Kate truly is growing and learning to use her powers to help friends rather then keep everyone at arms length.

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Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2)

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Magic Bites

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Kate Daniels Series #1

Magic Bites is the first novel in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Kate is a tough as nails, no nonsense woman who has a mysterious heritage who lives in Georgia. In her world, magic comes and goes in waves. When the magic is up, technology fails. The magic does not like large structures and as a result, most of the high rises in Atlanta have been reduced to rubble. Kate works for a magical guild doing odds and ends magical jobs. When her guardian and mentor is brutally murdered she goes back to the one place she swore she never would, The Magical Order, where her guardian was a Knight. She uses their resources to investigate the murder and finds herself sucked into the world of the Pack in a fight for dominance she cannot afford to lose. Due to some bad decisions she winds up with a personal were protector. The deeper she gets into finding her guardian's killer, the more personal the fight becomes.

The book is very vague about Kate's history, only hinting that her heritage is very important. I found this frustrating at first, but as the book went on there was more than enough action in the plot to compensate for the confusion about her past. Kate has a very sarcastic personality and is killer with a sword, literally. Her sword, slayer is very special, as it eats undead flesh. I have to say my favorite point in the book is when she sticks her foot in her mouth and says "Here kitty, kitty, kitty" to the beast lord. You would think she had a death wish, but in one of the hints about her past it was implied that she was trained to never show fear. So when she is afraid, she compensates with her wit and sarcasm. Throughout the book she continues to get herself in trouble with her mouth and sometimes the only thing that saves her is her sword. I look forward to more of her wit and revelations as to who she really is in future books.

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Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)

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Fatal Circle

Fatal Circle by Linda Robertson
Persephone Alcmedi Series #3

Persephone Alcmedi, a witch, who has the werewolf king for a boyfriend, is also inescapably tied to the original vampire. But hey, what else can you expect from the prophesied Lustrata, the one who will bring balance and peace to all the races. In this third book, Persephone is still coming to terms with her destiny and the bond with her vampire. In all her teachings as a witch she was brought to see vampires as evil beings. However, being linked to the vampire Menessos has opened her eyes and helped her to get over her prejudices to strive for the balance she must provide. The high priestess of the local coven's position is empty due to the prior's betrayal of Menessos. Persephone is pulled into the running against her will. As a result of the trials, Persephone by protecting her adopted daughter inadvertently triggers an event that will lead to war with the fey.

This book deals with the three leaders learning to work together and truly become the powerful force they will need to be with war looming. The two men each have their own issues but the core problem is jealousy over Persephone. The love triangle theme is in full force in this series, and if not resolved could be the end of everything Persephone holds dear. There were a lot of resolutions in this book, but it still ended on a cliffhanger of dread. Something major is in the balance, making the end a tearjerker. I love books that stir up real emotion as you read them, and this most definitely was one.

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Fatal Circle (Circle, Book 3)

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Stolen

Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
Women of the Otherworld Series #2

After coming to terms with who and what she is, Elena Michaels is back living at Stonehaven with her mate, Clay. However she hardly has time to settle before her world is turned upside down when she finds out there are many more supernaturals in the world besides just werewolves. Witches, Half-Demons, Shamans, and Vampires are just a few of these races, and they have a governing body called the Council. Someone is kidnapping supernaturals and the Council calls on the werewolves to help. However reluctant they may be to get involved, Elena's conscience in the end prevails. The Pack sets out to investigate these kidnappings, and find a few of the thugs. However, Elena soon finds herself in the hands of the captors and it becomes a fight for her life as well as some new friends along the way.

This book touches on things that I think would be a real issue for supernaturals if they existed. The first thing humans would want to do would be to experiment on these supernaturals, and that is exactly what the captors in this book are doing. The leader of this project wasn't quite enough of a menace for my tastes, but in the end his arrogance does make his character believable. The book was mostly lacking the great dynamic between Clay and Elena from the previous book. This is of course understandable considering they were apart most of the book, but I found I missed it. Elena hold true to her strong kick-ass character throughout this book and even in the roughest of situations she never breaks down. I absolutely love the cover because it fits Elena perfectly; its mysterious, but sensual as well.

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Stolen: A Novel

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Bitten

Bitten by Kelley Armstong
Women of the Otherworld Series #1

The book centers around Elena Michaels, the only female warewolf. She was betrayed and bitten by her former fiance, Clay, and against all odds, she survived the change. To escape him and to try and ignore her change she moves to Toronto. She has a human boyfriend but it becomes increasingly hard to hide who she is from him. Things go sour when Elena ignore summons from the Alpha. Clay is forced to come and collect her to help with a Mutt problem. Though she fights it tooth and nail she cannot help but be sucked back into a world she has tried so hard to forget.

This book kept me up late until the wee hours because I was so sucked in I couldn't wait to read what happened next. There were several sad points in the book and one death that hit pretty hard, but in the end these events only sucked me further in. The sexual tension between Elena and Clay is really thick. As much as she may try to deny her feelings for Clay, there is a major connection there. However, she can never forget his betrayal of forcing her into this life. In the end she must make a choice to continue to ignore her heart or swallow some of her pride.

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Bitten: A Novel (The Otherworld)

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