Audiobook Review: Like a Charm by Elle McNicoll

Like a Charm
Author: Elle McNicoll
Narrator: Carmella Brown
Publication: Audible Studios (April 12, 2022)
Length: 8 hours and 34 minutes

Description: Edinburgh is a city filled with magical creatures. No one can see them...except Ramya Knox.

As she is pulled into her family's world of secrets and spells, Ramya sets out to discover the truth about the Hidden Folk with only three words of warning from her grandfather: beware the sirens.

Plunged into an adventure that will change everything, Ramya is about to learn that there is more to her powers than she ever imagined.

My Thoughts: This was an engaging middle grade title with an intriguing main character. Ramya Knox has a learning disability - dyspraxia. It is a motor disorder meaning she falls often and has really messy handwriting. Since her intelligence is not affected, she's bright and really frustrated to be in special education classes when she sees her cousin in Gifted and Talented classes. 

Ramya's parents are news presenters on television. They are really busy people who don't seem to have time for her. Her mother is also frustrated about her motor issues and is constantly criticizing her. A recent move to Edinburgh has brought Ramya from London to the same city where her aunts live. But a long ago disagreement has estranged Ramya's family from her other relatives.

When her grandfather dies, Ramya attends the funeral - without her parents - and learns that he has left her a gift. The gift opens up a whole new world for her. There is a whole magical side to Edinburgh that she has never seen. But now she learns that she can see through the glamours the hide all the non-human residents. And she learns that sirens are evil and have chaos and divisiveness as their goal. 

She and her cousin - who is bright but doesn't see through glamours - are on a quest to help the magical residents of Edinburgh and to reunite Ramya's family.

The story was filled with adventures for both cousins. It was an engaging and imaginative story. It also had nice things to say about those who have learning disabilities and about the importance of families. I enjoyed the story very much.

This Audible book was included as part of my membership. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris

A Longer Fall
Author: Charlaine Harris
Series: Gunnie Rose (Book 2)
Publication: Gallery / Saga Press (January 14, 2020)

Description: #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns with the second of the Gunnie Rose series, in which Lizbeth is hired onto a new crew, transporting a crate into Dixie, the self-exiled southeast territory of the former United States. What the crate contains is something so powerful, that forces from across three territories want to possess it.

In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straight-forward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.

New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse mysteries and Midnight, Texas trilogy) is at her best here, building the world of this alternate history of the United States, where magic is an acknowledged but despised power.

My Thoughts: The second Gunnie Rose book has Lizbeth hiring on with a new crew who has the job of delivering a crate into Dixie. Lizbeth doesn't want to go into Dixie which has reverted back to an earlier time period in its culture where women are only valued if they are married and dress appropriately and Blacks aren't valued at all.

Problems start right away when the train they are on is derailed and hired gunmen attack to steal the crate. Lizabeth is about the only one of her crew who survives mostly unhurt. It is up to her to find the crate and deliver it to its destination even though she doesn't know who hired the crew.

Lizbeth runs into Prince Ilya Savarov who she met in the first book and discovers that he is also on Bthe trail of the missing crate. After the events of the first book which left Eli and his family in disgrace, completing this mission is his only hope for salvaging his family's reputation. However, some of the grigori don't want his mission to be successful. Neither do some of the powerful white residents of Dixie.

I really liked this story. Lizbeth is an intriguing character - practical and pragmatic and intensely loyal to her own values. Because the story is told from her point of view, we don't have quite as clear a picture of what Eli wants and thinks which makes interpreting their relationship less clear. Lizbeth does love Eli but believes that they don't have any sort of a future because their lives are so different. She tries to convince herself to live in the present and not make plans for a future that has them together.

The world building is excellent in this story which tells of a fragmented United States with the Holy Russian Empire complete with its magicians controlling what used to be California and Oregon. Lizbeth's region of Texoma, Dixie being composed of the Southern States mostly east of the Mississippi, and Britannia which is the Northeast part of the former United States.

Fans of alternate history with magic and with an intrepid main character will want to read this series.

Favorite Quote:

"Eli, we judge every day. We decide that person is bad and this one is good." It was a struggle for me to talke about what  felt. I wasn't used to it.

"There is a difference. We have to fight people who are trying to kill us, to block our path to the goal we have promised to reach."

***

"But that's different from picking people out of a crowd and deciding that person isn't worthy of live," Eli said.

"What makes it different?" When Eli didn't answer right away, I went on. "What's the difference between deciding someone has to die because they're shooting at me, and me deciding someone has to die because they don't believe people different from them are human?"

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Department of Magic by Rod Kierkegaard Jr.

The Department of Magic
Author: Rod Kierkegaard Jr.
Publication: Curiosity Quills Press (January 5, 2012)


Description: Magic is nothing like it seems in children’s books. It’s dark and bloody and sexual – and requires its own semi-mythical branch of the US Federal Government to safeguard citizens against everpresent supernatural threats.

Join Jasmine Farah and Rocco di Angelo – a pair of wet-behind-the-ears recruits of The Department of Magic – on a nightmare gallop through a world of ghosts, spooks, vampires, and demons, and the minions of South American and Voodoo gods hell-bent on destroying all humanity in the year 2012.

Only Rock and Jazz, in the company of a ragtag team of urhobos – homeless guardians of the District of Columbia – can prevent it by resurrecting “Goddess America” in a mystical ceremony on the Fourth of July.

It’s all just a normal day on the job at The Department of Magic – where new employees entering its offices are never seen again, while mysteriously continuing to draw full salaries and benefits, sometimes for decades or even a century after.

With a magical cast of characters and a wry insider’s view of the US Federal Government, here at last is a Harry Potter for grownups.

My Thoughts: This was an action packed story with a wide variety of supernatural characters. The main characters were Rocco di Angelo and Jasmine Farah. In the beginning they think they are hired by an obscure government agency and are competing for the same job. But things quickly get weird.

Jazz and Rock soon find out that they are working for a dead man and are part of a plot to reanimate George Washington to help protect the United States from takeover by ancient Aztec gods and other outside attacks.

The story was quick moving and had lots of dangerous encounters for both Jazz and Rock. Ultimately, though, I didn't feel a connection with either Jazz or Rock and didn't really care about the problem they were trying to solve. The story concentrated on action rather than character development which made it less engaging for me.

Also, each chapter began with a description of some magical character many of which seem a tongue-in-cheek stab at political characters. For example, "plaints" are said to be "silent sad defeated creatures who have long since given up the ghost, still pursuing lawsuits for damages against the federal authorities or filing for patents." I never could decide if those descriptions were supposed to be serious or humorous.

The description suggests that this is Harry Potter for grownups but I saw few parallels between the two stories. This is an urban fantasy that has a rather unique premise but would have been better if more attention had been paid to creating sympathetic characters.


Favorite Quote:

"The Union is now complete," said Crawley solemnly.

Of course, now that he was dead, everything the man said sounded pretty damn solemn. And binding.

I got this one from Curiosity Quills Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. You can buy your copy here.

Teaser Tuesday: The Department of Magic by Rod Kierkegaard, Jr.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I was browsing NetGalley and chose The Department of Magic by Rod Kierkegaard, Jr. because of this description:

Magic is nothing like it seems in children’s books. It’s dark and bloody and sexual – and requires its own semi-mythical branch of the US Federal Government to safeguard citizens against everpresent supernatural threats.

Join Jasmine Farah and Rocco di Angelo – a pair of wet-behind-the-ears recruits of The Department of Magic – on a nightmare gallop through a world of ghosts, spooks, vampires, and demons, and the minions of South American and Voodoo gods hell-bent on destroying all humanity in the year 2012.

Only Rock and Jazz, in the company of a ragtag team of urhobos – homeless guardians of the District of Columbia – can prevent it by resurrecting “Goddess America” in a mystical ceremony on the Fourth of July.
It’s all just a normal day on the job at The Department of Magic – where new employees entering its offices are never seen again, while mysteriously continuing to draw full salaries and benefits, sometimes for decades or even a century after.

With a magical cast of characters and a wry insider’s view of the US Federal Government, here at last is a Harry Potter for grownups.

Harry Potter for grownups?

Teaser:

"You said you believed in magic, right?" Farah said. She sounded like she was on the verge of hysterics.
"I was kidding. I just said I was keeping an open mind." He yawned.
Well, good, you'll need on open mind. I can't get this damn thing off."