Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Crystal Magic #7
Publication Date: 7/9/19
Number of Pages: 335

Hillvale is a magical place – literally. The mountain on which the town is located has seen so much evil throughout history that it has seeped into the ground and the eccentric residents have taken strange methods to counteract the evil. We’ve already read the stories of several of those residents as they solved a mystery and found their HEA. This story features Aaron, an antique dealer, and Hannah, the librarian for the Malcolm journals. If you have read the Magic, Unexpected Magic, etc. series, then you’ll recognize the Malcolm and Ives names in Hillvale. Aaron has had minor roles in the previous books and he was always intriguing. I was really happy to get to know and like him in this book.

Aaron is a guardian and psychometrist who has spent the last several years of his life trying to protect Hillvale from evil, but the evil seems to be getting stronger. None of the methods the residents have been using seem to be strong enough to combat it. Aaron has had a sad life and has closed himself off from all human emotional interaction. Yes, he talks with people and has contact with them, but he never allows himself to become emotionally involved in any way – because that leads to incredible pain.

Hannah, a Malcolm descendent, is the librarian for the Malcolms, but she has no other gifts that she knows of. She has come to Hillvale in search of the Healing Stone because she has been diagnosed with a knot in her brain which will eventually take her life.

What happens on her first day in town – a murder. Nobody mourned the victim – the whole town was happy to see her gone, but still, it was murder. Hannah and Aaron are thrown together and Hannah discovers that she does, indeed, have a gift. Her gift enhances Aaron’s psychometric gift – makes it much stronger.

When a second murder occurs, they have to work together – even unwillingly – to capture the murderer and also to reduce the evil that is growing stronger. Can Aaron overcome his aversion to being close to anyone? Will they find the Healing Stone to cure Hannah? Can they drain the evil from the mountain? Will they find their HEA?

I hope you’ll read this book – and this series – and enjoy it as much as I do.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.