Hello everyone!
Listen, okay, you cannot be telling me that, if you pick up ANY of C. L. Carhart's books, you won't be hooked. Sure you might occasionally wonder whether a passage might have been written a little bit less rigidly, but those are RARE.
Overall, these books are fun to read, they flow nicely, and the characters they introduce usually always slip right into your imagination with no problem at all.
Then, to top it all off, they ALL get their happy endings!
If that isn't an added blessing then I don't know what is, to be honest.
So come along with me as we hop right into another series by the author, set in the same world with the same magical rules, but with different characters testing out slightly different waters.
While we're at it, we'll be tying back to the original one and having a whole lot of fun along the way!
Ready? Awesome, then let's get right into Magical Gift.
I'll link previous related posts down at the bottom of my page, as per usual, in this case for the series Elemental Bloodlines (which I read and reviewed all on this blog) as well as my new adventure into the world of His Name Was Augustin.
I'm still working my way through that, but I promise you, there WILL be all books on here as well.
Now, back to the show.
Magical Gift follows Sylvia, whom we actually meet in the previous series right at the tail end, in Gift of Snow, because she's the daughter of the Keyholder that our heroine wants to avoid at all costs at the time.
Sylvia has her own future pretty much guaranteed - or so she believes. She's going to marry a rich heir and escape her father's clutches so he can stop bleeding her on an altar stone three or four times a year, something she hasn't dared mention to anybody.
That is, until her stupid father tells her the man she loves is supposedly courting someone else, and her little sister (thirteen) tells her she's been on the altar stone herself as well.
Sylvia decides to take action, in some form or other, even though her heart is basically broken seeing her beloved up on the dais with another witch where SHE usually sits.
But she has better things to do with her time than mope (don't we love a feisty, strong heroine?) and goes to try and tell her story to this other witch's grandfather, an important and powerful Keyholder of a much larger city than the one they're residing in.
During this process, she runs into the ACTUAL lover of the witch she believes is stealing her boyo away, who explains that it's all an elaborate ruse for the grandfather in question, and that he's woven that heart-spell on the girl which priests do to ensure their safety.
As they go into the ballroom and swap partners, they decide to speak to the grandfather and everything comes to light, which leads to warnings and repercussions (but we all know this ends dramatically differently, as per Gift of Snow), and Sylvia finally gets that ring on her finger that she's been dreaming about since forever.
She's going to escape her father's clutches after all, and with the man she loves more than anything in the world. So, for the time being, we leave them in their cozy little nest within the bowels of his ancestral castle, a nook they created for themselves and where no one can find or interrupt them unless they allow it.
FIN!
And in case I forgot to mention: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Full disclosure: I love Ms Carhart's books. Like, LOVE them. Naturally, I was going to pick this one up.
As it's a shorter one than usual, too, it's a very fast read, and equally as fast-paced, actually. The only reason I'm docking one star off my otherwise positive review is that I would have dearly loved to see at least a bit of what happened to the poor girl, rather than just the glimpses we're offered. Or, if not that, to showcase her love with Siegfried a little bit more, a memory of some sort of the two of them growing into a couple together, rather than it being an accomplished fact by now.
HOWEVER, that said, I enjoyed meeting Sylvia and the other von Heydt's, because I suspect we might get more glimpses of them at some point or other. Or at least I hope so!
The author's style remains witty and the writing flows beautifully, guiding you from one scene to the next without bumps in the road. It's a smooth read and a very fast one, but a caution to those picking this up: if you're not familiar with the world of Teutonica, I do recommend you read the Elemental Series first, as the magical system and the elements, as well as Teuton culture, are explained in sharper detail there.
Otherwise, I loved this! I can't wait to read further installments.
Full disclosure: I love Ms Carhart's books. Like, LOVE them. Naturally, I was going to pick this one up.
As it's a shorter one than usual, too, it's a very fast read, and equally as fast-paced, actually. The only reason I'm docking one star off my otherwise positive review is that I would have dearly loved to see at least a bit of what happened to the poor girl, rather than just the glimpses we're offered. Or, if not that, to showcase her love with Siegfried a little bit more, a memory of some sort of the two of them growing into a couple together, rather than it being an accomplished fact by now.
HOWEVER, that said, I enjoyed meeting Sylvia and the other von Heydt's, because I suspect we might get more glimpses of them at some point or other. Or at least I hope so!
The author's style remains witty and the writing flows beautifully, guiding you from one scene to the next without bumps in the road. It's a smooth read and a very fast one, but a caution to those picking this up: if you're not familiar with the world of Teutonica, I do recommend you read the Elemental Series first, as the magical system and the elements, as well as Teuton culture, are explained in sharper detail there.
Otherwise, I loved this! I can't wait to read further installments.
xx
*image not mine
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