Book

Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic (The Dowser #2) By: Meghan Ciana Doidge

Trinkets Treasures and other Bloody Magic

Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic (The Dowser #2) By: Meghan Ciana Doidge

Plot:

Three months ago, I lost my foster sister, Sienna, to the darkness. As in blood magic and chaos and general mayhem. No one saw it until it was too late, but I should have. Now, I have a wounded heart and soul that I can’t even reveal to anyone around me, because I’m supposed to hate Sienna with the fiery passion of the justified. And I do. I just wish I didn’t feel so lost without her, so unsure of the path I thought I had carved for myself, and so outclassed by the powerful Adepts constantly by my side these days. I’m not even sure if they’re with me for my own protection or because my shiny new powers are rare and valuable. Assuming I ever figure out who or what I am, and how my magic actually works.
Even chocolate can’t save the day every time … just most of the time. At least I’ve got that going for me.

Review:

I’m not sure why I thought the first book was supposed to be a cozy mystery because this series is very clearly an urban fantasy now. Maybe it was the book cover? Not sure.

Anyway, there was a lot of world building in this book, and some of it seemed to really be channeling Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series. Jade now sort of has a thing for the “beast lord” even though I don’t remember that in the first book. I thought she was afraid of him. Jade is nothing like Kate, though, so that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

Jade is still more willing to let others tell her what to do and not as eager to learn about her new world as I would like her, but she does seem to be giving it some sort of attempt. Her mother played a larger part in this book and I really enjoyed that relationship a lot. It wasn’t toxic and Jade started to really understand why her mother let her grandmother raise her.

The ending was great and leaves a lot up in the air. You finally find out what the other half of Jade’s heritage is and it opens up a whole new world in this universe. I’m excited to read the next installment.

4/5

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and other Deadly Magic (Dowser #1) By: Meghan Ciana Doidge

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Cupcakes, Trinkets, and other Deadly Magic (Dowser #1) By: Meghan Ciana Doidge

Plot:

If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept — was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it. That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unraveled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.

Review:

So looking at this cover and reading the blurb I was excited at the prospect of reading a supernatural cozy mystery. After finishing it I’m not sure if I would still classify it as a cozy. It had some cozy elements, like dead bodies and a normal civilian being dragged into things, but it was much more a Supernatural book than a cozy. I didn’t have a problem with that, though.

Jade wasn’t quiet curious enough, for my tastes. She just seemed to accept what she’d always been told and never tried to figure stuff out for herself. Which is an okay trait for a young adult to have but when you’re older you really should start thinking for yourself. By the end she was a little better, but I’m not sure if it’s a quality that will continue through the rest of the books. I hope it does.

I figured out who the bad guy was fairly quickly, or who I hoped the bad guy was, and I was right. There will probably be backlash in the following books from what happened and it looks like there will be a love triangle in the future as well.

The world created was very interesting and Doidge seems to have the rules of magic nailed down so that’s a positive for her. Though Jade is just starting to figure things out so we’ll see if things change. I thought the Vancouver setting was nice and different and there were mentions of Australia so maybe we’ll go there in upcoming books.

All and all I really liked this series and I’ll be looking up the next one as soon as I’m finished here.

4.5/5

Always On My Mind (The Sullivans #8) By: Bella Andre

Always On My Mind

Always On My Mind (The Sullivans #8)

Plot:

Lori “Naughty” Sullivan finally falls in love in ALWAYS ON MY MIND, the new book in Bella Andre’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling series about the Sullivan family. After a tragic loss three years ago, Grayson Tyler left his life in New York City behind and started over in the rolling hills of the California coast. He’s convinced himself that all he’ll ever need again is the blue sky, a thousand acres of pasture, and the crashing waves of the ocean. Until one day, Lori Sullivan barges into his life and promptly blows his emotionless and solitary world to shreds, driving him crazy as only a woman nicknamed “Naughty” can. But will Lori be able to convince him that it’s safe to love her…and that forever isn’t actually out of reach?

Review:

Lori was not the character I was most looking forward to read, but I ended up liking her more than I expected. She could have easily been a wild child that just has things work out for her, but that wasn’t the case. She worked hard and didn’t expect things to magically go her way.

Grayson was gruff and incredibly rude. Lori’s capacity to forgive was amazing but Andre explained it well. I could have easily been turned off and thought the story unbelievable if Andre hadn’t taken the time to say why Lori was able to forgive.

Overall their romance wasn’t the strongest or the sweetest or the most intense, but I liked it more than the two previous. There was no pushing away because their lives were too difficult to work out. Sure Grayson thought that Lori would leave him and get swept up in her career once she went back, but he still planned and hoped that she wouldn’t. I liked that. It was a break in the formula that was needed.

I’ve finished the first eight book in the Sullivans series and I think it’s time for a change. I’ve read about the eight siblings so the rest to come are cousins. The series, so far, has been good, though I have noticed a formula. That’s completely fine, I love Nora Robert’s formula, but some things have started to grate. One of the things that bugged me, that I haven’t already mentioned, is that one of the past siblings will wind up pregnant or engaged and she only mentions it in passing, almost like you were already supposed to know about it. Oh well, I’ll get around to reading the rest.

4/5

Come A Little Bit Closer (The Sullivans #7) By: Bella Andre

Come a Little Bit Closer

Come A Little Bit Closer (The Sullivans #7) By: Bella Andre

Plot:

Fame, fortune, and falling in love… Movie star Smith Sullivan can’t afford any distractions. He’s staking his entire reputation on his new film…but he can’t stop thinking about Valentina Landon and the fire he sees smoldering just beneath the surface of her cool exterior. Valentina isn’t averse to sensual pleasure, or even to the idea of finding true love, but as a Hollywood business manager she’s watched too many smart women fall for actors…only to be torn apart when the fairy tale comes to its inevitable end. But when intense weeks together on set turn their heated attraction into red-hot flames of passion, Smith knows he has to find a way to convince Valentina to let him get a little bit closer. Close enough to completely steal her heart…the way she’s stolen his from the beginning.

Review:

I’m getting tired of the whole ‘we shouldn’t be together it will never work’ thing. I feel like its been in almost every book in the series.

Smith and Valentina were a good couple, she just didn’t date actors. She should have realized he was different. He’s a Sullivan for crying out loud. She finally woke up to his complete awesomeness and of course that’s when he decided to push her away. Thankfully this lasted briefly and not a week like the last Sullivan.

This is the problem with binge reading. All the similarities in the series are more evident because they are so fresh. The series is still good, I’m just not as willing to put up with it.

3/5

Let Me Be the One (The Sullivans #6) By: Bella Andre

Let Me Be The One

Let Me Be the One (The Sullivans #6) By: Bella Andre

Plot:

How far would you go for a friend? Back in San Francisco preparing for her big art show, Vicki Bennett needs help protecting herself and her career from the unwelcome advances of one of the judges. She knows that her longtime friend and baseball star, Ryan Sullivan, will know just how to handle things, and he’s the only person she can imagine asking for help. Ryan is thrilled to have Vicki back in his life, and he will do anything to protect her from harm, including playing the role of “pretend boyfriend.” But when their staged kisses and caresses lead to an incredibly sensual night, they both worry that they may have damaged their friendship forever. Have they made the worst mistake possible? Or is the perfect combination of friendship and love finally within reach?

Review:

There’s something about books starring baseball players. They always make me think of summer and good times with friends. Not to mention great uniforms.

Ryan and Vicki’s story was sweeter than the other Sullivans. Not to say the racy scenes weren’t plentiful and hot. Ryan and Vicki had loved each other during high school, but too afraid to lose a friend neither did anything about it. Now that they’re adults and currently free things happen.

There was a decent villain in this story, though I’ve noticed that Andre doesn’t really let her men beat the crap out of the jerks trying to take advantage of their women. Chase beat up Chloe’s ex-husband but I think that’s it. The side of me that thirsts for vengeance would prefer a bit more violence toward the douches in this series.

3.75/5