Touched by Magic(Razor’s Edge Chronicles, #1) by Celine Jeanjean – Review

Tags

5 stars, Adventure, Book Review, Celine Jeanjean, dogs, fantasy, magic, series, talking cats, urban fantasy

About Touched by Magic by Celine Jeanjean

I’m Apiva.  No, I’m not a badass magical asassin.  I’m a barber to the supernatural.  My magic is very weak and very niche — it works best with keeping things clean.  I know.  I can sense your awe at my power already.  And I’m sure you can see why barbering suits me well.

Although now that I’ve mastered the art of trimming a weretiger’s regrowth, my biggest challenge is fielding the insults of the shop’s cat. Sometimes I wish I had enough magic to go deeper into the city’s magical underbelly.  You know what they say—be careful what you wish for.

Everything changes when a pair of forest fae come into the shop one night, asking for help to protect their youngling. Something’s got them properly spooked, but they won’t say what. If it’s big and bad enough to scare the fae, it’s most definitely powerful enough to make a mouthful of me—probably a small mouthful, at that. And now that the fae have come to me, whatever’s after them is also after me.

My weak magic and a sarcastic cat for backup are unlikely to be enough to keep me alive and save the fae youngling.  There is someone who’s willing to help me—Sarroch. Arrogant, unpleasant, wealthy, and I don’t even know what kind of magical creature he is beneath his human form. Or what his motives are in offering to help.  I have no idea if I can trust him, but I’m so short on allies, I might not have a choice. I just hope I’m not making a huge mistake…

Grab Touched by Magic to see if I make it. Oh, and don’t get offended if the cat insults you…

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Review of Touched by Magic

I was very excited to get this first book in a new series by Celine Jeanjean.  I loved her Viper and Urchin series, so I have high expectations for this new one.  Book 1 did not disappoint!

The author has created a lovely detailed vision of Panong, the city where Apiya lives and barbers. The east Asian influence is evident in many ways: food, dress, transportation and, most importantly, in the folklore – the magical creatures, also known as the Mayak.  Many of the terms were not not familiar to me, prompting me to do a little research.  But the story gives plenty of definition and context so you will not need to do that research.  The Mayak is comprised of many different magical beings, each with their own agenda.  Those Mayak agendas will play into the story not only in this first book, but in the ongoing story.

Apiya is, as the title says, touched by magic.  That means she is not very magical but seems to be very lucky around things that are familiar to her.  Which explains why Hunter, the dog she loves, mostly sheds outside.  All this animal lover can say is Wow! What a great idea.  As a touched human, Apiya is also aware of all the other more powerful magical beings.  And while most of the Mayak believe Apiya to be beneath notice, a few do notice her.  Which is how she gets into a sticky situation.

Along for the adventure are Mr. Sangong, her magical mentor, her touched friend Chai, and businessman/Mayak Sarroch.  I found Mr. Sangong to be mysterious and not yet worthy of my loyalty because I’m not sure of his loyalty.  Chai is an artist with a talent for shaping any type of metal into whatever he wants.  And he is a great friend to Apiya, so, good guy.  Sarroch is the big question.  Is he good?  Is he evil? Will he help Apiya or eat her?  He is, I must admit, interesting.

I enjoyed Apiya’s relationship with her with parents.  They live in London, so she talks to them by phone.  Dad is a geeky scholar who barely knows how to use a phone and Mom is the calming voice of reason in the family.  Their family sense of humor is delightful!  Humor also comes in the form of a cat.  Timothy is a magical cockney cat, who doesn’t take orders from ‘inferiors’ (humans).  As Apiya says: ‘But that’s cats for you — tiny animals with enough arrogance to think they rule the world.”

The book ends on what I consider to be a cliffhanger.  That is, a major part of the storyline concluded and then the story continued, without the word ‘epilogue’ in between.  So I was a truly disappointed when it ended somewhat abruptly.  Touched by Magic is just 195 pages long and it was over too fast.  The next book is out next month though, so the wait is not long.  I am looking forward to more of Apiya’s adventures!

Thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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Pets in Space 5 By Many (12) Authors- Review

Tags

5 stars, Alexis Glynn Latner, anthology, Book Review, Carol Van Natta, Cassandra Chandler, cats, dogs, frogs, J.C. Hay, Kyndra Hatch, Laurie A. Green, Leslie Chase, Michelle Diener, other worldly creatures, Pauline Baird Jones, pets, Pets in Space, Regine Abel, S.E. Smith, scifi romance, Veronica Scott

About Pets in Space 5

The King’s Quest (Dragon Lords of Valdier) by S.E. Smith

A playful trick leads to love for a Goddess, but will the King she falls in love with accept her for who she really is?

Dark Ambitions (Class 5) by Michelle Diener

When a planetary exploration trip takes a dangerous turn, a human woman and her powerful AI friend will need all their skills to come to the rescue.

Star Cruise: Return Voyage (Sectors SF Romance) by Veronica Scott

She survived the worst interstellar shipping disaster in history as a child but can she survive the Return Voyage as an adult?

General’s Holiday (Project Enterprise) by Pauline Baird Jones

A General is ready for another fight—this time for the woman he loves.

Juggernaut (The Inherited Stars) by Laurie A. Green

A security commander must decide if she can trust a mysterious stranger and his bioengineered StarDog when the secret underground site she protects is threatened.

Galactic Search and Rescue (Central Galactic Concordance) by Carol Van Natta

Two military first-responders and an animal team of rescuers are the only hope for saving an entire town when disaster turns deadly.

Reaper (Xian Warriors) by Regine Abel

With time running out, a woman accepts her fate only to find hope in the genetically engineered warrior created by her captors.

Pastfinder (Starways) by Alexis Glynn Latner

A woman’s psychic gift might be the catalyst needed to save the life of the man she loves—in an ancient archaeological site that contains a stupendous discovery.

Mittens Not Included (TriSystems: Smugglers) by JC Hay

He craved order and discipline to help his life make sense. She offered him cats instead.

Finding Mogha (Before The Fall) by Kyndra Hatch

A human’s effort to save a sentient being takes her straight into the path of a Korthan warrior.

Rate of Return (The Department of Homeworld Security) by Cassandra Chandler

Falling for an Earthling sends an alien and his adorable, six-legged pet in a tailspin.

Glitch (Crashland Colony Romance) by Leslie Chase

An alien pirate and a human find love in the shadow of disaster.

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Review of Pets in Space 5

I can’t believe there are 5 Pets in Space collections already.  My how time flies when you are enjoying great stories.  Pets in Space 5 is the best collection yet!

Many of the stories are a part of series that I am following.  Having the qualities of both new and familiar make them favorites in this anthology.  However, whether you follow the series or not, all of these stories stand pretty well on their own.  For me, there was one exception that seemed a bit disjointed because I had not read any books in the series.  Individual results will vary.  However, I still enjoyed every tale in this book!  Today, I am offering a few short reviews of some of my favorites.

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Dark Ambitions (Class 5) by Michelle Diener

Rose, having lived on a ship for some time, is excited to be able to set foot on a planet.  This is where she meets Sweetpea, a small squirrel-like critter.  Make that flying squirrel.  Daz is off on a mission, but Sazo is still in contact with Rose.  Good thing.  There will be trouble for Rose and her explorer friends.  I am a big fan of the Class 5 series and was especially pleased to go back to the story of Rose, Daz and the original Class 5, Sazo.  Sazo has not changed much, so imagine him to be very protective of Rose while not especially concerned about the others.  The ongoing education of a superpower ship/AI is one of the things I like about the series.  Sweetpea makes a delightful addition to Rose’s family while Daz sweeps in for the assist.  But leave it to Rose to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to being the heroine.  After all, she is from gravity-rich Earth.

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General’s Holiday (Project Enterprise) by Pauline Baird Jones

I am a long-time fan of the Project Enterprise series.  General Halliwell is a recurring semi-major character who really deserved his chance at romance.  Halliwell, who likes to wonder WWPD (What would Picard do?) runs into the engaging and lovely Naxe and her friend who happens to be a frog.  If you read Ms. Jones’ book, you now that sentience can occur in just about any type of creature.  Add some impressive, if scary, plants, a long-deserted ship complex and some bugs that create quite the buzz and you get another Project Enterprise adventure full of plenty of Picard moments.

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Juggernaut (The Inherited Stars) by Laurie A. Green

What you need to know about The Inherited Stars series is that the order the books are released is not an indicator of the time line of the overall story arc.  Each new story sheds light on something you may have read about that will happen on a future timeline or something that happened in the past.  Either way, it is a unique and entertaining way to read a series.

In Juggernaut, the reason for the threat to the project Dek is providing security for reads as secondary to the immediate situation she finds herself in.  That is, Dek is more concerned with the actual attack and with the enigma that is Sno Telon.  Dek and Telon are a natural couple once they decide they can trust each other.  It should be noted that CaSandra, Telon’s stardog, intuits that Dek is on the right side immediately.

Back to that reason for the threat.  It is part of the big story arc picture.   It is not critical for taking care of the threat, nor does it play into the romance.  However, if you have read the series, when you get done with the story, you might think “Hmmm”.  (If you haven’t read the series, you can still enjoy this story very much.  You can just skip the “Hmmm”.)

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Reaper (Xian Warriors) by Regine Abel

Dark is the word I would use to describe the beginning of Reaper.  Having been imprisoned and stranded in an underground bunker for years, Janelle and her Creckel companions are running out of resources.   Death is near.  The arrival of genetically engineered soldiers/peacekeepers may be her last hope, but the first one to find her, Reaper, looks too much like her former captors.

After a minor glitch, Reaper and Janelle hit it off just fine.  Really it is a major glitch, but I don’t want to worry you too much.  Besides the glitch adds humor to what was a very dark situation.

Of all the ‘pets’, I think the Creckels are the least fluffy.  I mean that in the sense that they are way too ferocious and deadly to be considered a pet.  In fact, companion is probably a better word.  Just the kind of companion one would want in a hostile situation.  

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Finding Mogha (Before The Fall) by Kyndra Hatch

Ms. Hatch’s After the Fall in Pets in Space 3 blew me away.  The two follow up stories, Interrupting Starlight in Pets in Space 4 and Finding Mogha in this anthology have helped to fill in the details of the world(s) of the Korth and a few human women that seem to get in their way.  In each story, there is a new planet to test the humans and the Korth as well as an enemies-to-lovers romance that tests the ability of sentients of diverse backgrounds to overcome prejudice.

And there are moghas.  Mogha is the term for an alien that forms a bond with a Korth warrior.  Every warrior longs to find his own companion mogha.  In Finding Mogha, K’vyn is sorely disappointed to find the mogha, C’hase, has already bonded with a human woman, Dani.  The odd circumstances of their meeting are just a warm up for the adventure because the mogha homeworld will soon be under attack.  Warning: humans are the bad guys in this one (except Dani).

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Even though the anthology is supposed to be about pets, many of the cats, dogs and otherworldy creatures are so much more than pets.  Many are sentient companions, have specific purposes and even seem to be as in charge of things as their partners.  Pet lovers can relate to this.  Not only does my dog appear to understand me, he often seems to direct me to certain actions (fill the water bowl, go for a walk, toss a ball).  He would make a great SFR companion-hero!

No two stories are alike!  There is enough variety, with 12 original stories, everyone that reads Pets in Space 5 is sure to find their own 5-star story.  Probably several stories!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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The Finders (Mace Reid K-9 Mystery, #1) by Jeffrey B.Burton – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, dogs, Jeffrey B. Burton, mystery, series, suspense

About The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton

What happens when the hunter becomes the hunted?

Mason “Mace” Reid lives on the outskirts of Chicago and specializes in human remains detection. He trains dogs to hunt for the dead. Reid’s coming off a taxing year—mourning the death of a beloved springer spaniel as well as the dissolution of his marriage. He adopts a rescue dog with a mysterious past—a golden retriever named Vira. And when Reid begins training Vira as a cadaver dog, he comes to realize just how special the newest addition to his family truly is…

Suddenly, Reid and his prize pupil find themselves hurled into a taxing murder case, which will push them to their very limits. Paired with determined Chicago Police Officer Kippy Gimm, Mace must put all his trust in Vira’s abilities to thwart a serial killer who has now set his sights on Mace himself.

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Review of The Finders

I chose to read this book because I am a dog lover.  There are actually multiple dogs, so it was even better than I imagined. Vira is the main dog character who proves to have some almost supernatural detection abilities.  I have no idea if there are really dogs that can do what Vira did.  And I don’t care because a dog hero is great in any story.  Plus – just look at that cover.  If you are a dog lover, I dare you not to give it a second look!

The main plot of the story is actually pretty serious, because of the psychopaths hunting and killing innocent people.  When the killer targets Mace, who is just a dog trainer, Mace will have to step out of his comfort zone to make sure he does not become a victim. Mace is a man without supernatural abilities (except he has Vira).  He is not a cop, detective or superhero.  He is just an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances.  Which actually makes the danger Mace gets into even more serious.

He does have have the help of some cops, including Kippy, who he flirts with.   Both Mace and Kippy are getting over previous relationships, so the flirting is awkward but sweet.  They both adore Vira.  I do love a story where the dog/cat/pet brings people together.

The suspense is intense because, you know, psychopaths, but it is tempered by Vira and her dog family and Mace’s sweet sense of humor.  Mace Reid K-9 Mysteries will be a series to watch.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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