Edge of Magic: A Fae & Shifter Urban Fantasy Novel

It's trite, but this is well written. It's safe if you aren't into sex, but still the added tension of a little romantic hopefulness with your action, at a slow burn rate. It's nothing too fantastical, but at over half way, it had enough twists to still be interesting, without being overly dramatic. The 3/4 downturn was real life depressing, but it ended on high enough notes that the cliffhanger is bearable for now. I don't have to stay up all night to read the next one. This was a nice book.

So well-written, with amazing, relatable characters, tons of suspense and even a bit of comic relief. I literally teared up in several places - the character dialog is that good. The supernatural retrieval angle isn't new, but the characters make it work. And there's a glorious cliffhanger!

I want to like this book. It has the elements of unlucky plucky heroine working for her family that are all good.

However, the main character does nothing. She is described as awesome and talented and hard working, but she is reactive, thoughtless, and without boundaries or common sense. She supports her mom, sister, and sister's kids selflessly to the point of frustrating vapidity. Everyone makes demands and pushes her around . . . SHE LETS THEM.

She can say no, and be pratical, but she gives on every point and then surprised when others are mean enough to hold their own boundaries. The supposed love interest makes pressing demands, fails to communicate, and then springs a "nice" gesture in which she has no say. Romantic.

Main chick does not think through her actions, and promises the enemy of her mob boss owner - who is another mob boss, duh - a weapon of mass destruction. She has no assurance she can pull off this double cross, hands her enemies ammunition to use against her, and thinks she did well.

This is a book about unhealthy relationships, bad decisions, and codependency.

This would be a 4 star review but it started a bit too slow and ended on a kind of cliff-hanger.

Tara has the ability to sense magical items - she is trapped between family obligations and an abusive Fae mobster, this is her story of darkness and a light at the end of a tunnel. Is it daylight or an oncoming locomotive?

A fun and interesting story with excellent and diverse characters. My only criticism is that the ending was a little abrupt. I'll definitely read more of the series.

In the film version of Willy Wonka, Grandpa Joe spends 20 years in bed and upon being offered the opportunity to visit the Chocolate Factory leaps out of bed and starts dancing. Meanwhile, Charlie’s mother has spent the past 20 years of her life taking care of Charlie’s grandparents and at least 10 years taking care of Charlie without a single word of thanks or appreciation from any of them. It’s standard cookie-cutter misogyny.

This book has similar elements.

At some point in a previous series by the author, Tara had to take a blood oath to save her mother’s and sister’s lives. In the current series, the mother guilts Tara for having to pay back the blood oath and does nothing to help herself, her family, or Tara - even though Tara was still a teenager when whatever happened happened. Tara’s sister had 4 kids with no father and both she and her mother have spent the last 10 years expecting Tara to fully financially support all of them and does nothing to help Tara. At the end of the book, the mother and the sister agree that Tara will get to have her own bedroom in the house that Tara pays for.

I can’t even make a sarcastic comment about how old Tara is before she gets her own room because the author says that Tara is 25...but she was also 17 when she made the blood oath 10 years ago, which would make her 27...and she is also nearly 10 years older than her 17 year old nephew, which would make her 26. So the character is somehow simultaneously 25, 26, and 27, and has never had her own bedroom in the house that she’s paid the rent on for the past 10 years.

As it is, it was hard to care about Grant Shaw, or the sword of noonecares, or some guy Tara knew in high school, and the constant references to the earlier series were a distraction. If readers need to have read the previous series to understand the AU and characters of this series, the author should include that information in the description.

Just couldn't get into it.