Category: Barb’s Reviews

Chemistry Of Magic – Patricia Rice

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Chemistry of Magic: Unexpected Magic Book FiveChemistry of Magic: Unexpected Magic Book Five by Patricia Rice

Barbara’s  rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Unexpected Magic – Book 5
Publication Date: April 25, 2017

I am a fan of the Unexpected Magic series and love the idea that two families – the Malcom’s and the Ives’ – who have long been enemies, keep meeting and falling in love with each other. Somehow those magical Malcom women keep taming those brash and boisterous Ives men!!

Don’t think that the ‘magical’ means that some witch is going around waving a wand and casting spells because that isn’t the case. These women are all warm, caring and deeply committed to the betterment of mankind and they use the ‘special’ talents they are born with to help with that. Some have the gift of healing, others of soothing troubled souls, etc.

We have met Emilia, the heroine, in previous books. She has the gift of healing, but she is afraid to use it because she almost died when she was young. She used her healing power to cure her baby sister and expended too much of herself in doing so. This book deals with her overcoming her fear and beginning to learn to use her gift.

Dare is neither a Malcolm nor an Ives, so that is a bit different for the series. However, he is the perfect mate for Emilia. You see – he’s at death’s door from consumption.

Emilia and Dare are two very different people who come together for one set of reasons and find love. They both learn and grow into people we could all admire.

Will (one of the Ives brothers) appears several times in this book just so we learn more about him and begin looking forward to his story in the next book. It will be really interesting to see who his perfectly ‘magical’ mate will be!

** I received an eARC of this book from the author in return for my honest review **

When To Engage An Earl

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When to Engage an Earl (Spinster House #3)When to Engage an Earl by Sally MacKenzie

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author: Sally McKenzie
Series: Spinster House #3

Publication Date:  May 30, 2017
WOW!! What a bang-up ending to this series!! The Spinster House goes to a bachelor — you just have to love it!! Sorry — you’ll just have to read it to see what I mean!

I have to say that I loved all of the characters in the entire series, but Poppy is the absolute best character you could want in a book!! Poppy is a reddish-orange cat that is the very definition of independent AND everybody truly believes that she is magical. After you read this series, you’ll think so too!

If you read the first two books, you’ll know that Miss Jane Wilkinson had some behind-the-scenes involvement in getting the first two couples together. She did that because she wanted the Spinster House for herself. Jane was determined to never marry and to live independently of her brother. However, she didn’t really bargain for how lonesome she might be – even though she’d never admit that. She had an attraction to our hero from the first time they met, but was determined to fight it.

Alex, Earl of Evans is feeling pretty insecure about himself since he was jilted. He doesn’t trust himself to know if he is in love or even to evaluate how someone feels about him at all. However, he feels continually drawn to Jane and finds himself turning up at the Spinster House when he doesn’t really intend to go there.

Alex and Jane don’t have a smooth path to their HEA – mostly because of Jane’s fears. Once Alex realizes how he feels, he’s ready to go – but not Jane. Takes a while and a lot of hurt before she gets where she needs to be.

I absolutely LOVED the epilogue. I always think a book – especially a romance – needs an epilogue, but this one was really, really good. It followed up on the previous couples and ended it all with a really sweet loving finish. Way to go Sally MacKenzie!

“I requested and received this book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”