Category Archives: books/book review

Book Review: Touched by Magic, by Celine Jeanjean

I’ve had a copy of Celine Jeanjean‘s Touched by Magic for a few years now. I almost certainly picked it up as a freebie, possibly during a “Stuff Your Kindle” event.

I’m Apiya. No, I’m not a badass magical assassin. I’m a barber to the supernatural.

My magic is very weak and very niche—it works best with keeping things clean.
I know. I can sense your awe at my power already. And I’m sure you can see why barbering suits me well.

Although now that I’ve mastered the art of trimming a weretiger’s regrowth, my biggest challenge is fielding the insults of the shop’s cat. Sometimes I wish I had enough magic to go deeper into the city’s magical underbelly.

You know what they say—be careful what you wish for.

Everything changes when a pair of forest fae come into the shop one night, asking for help to protect their youngling. Something’s got them properly spooked, but they won’t say what.

If it’s big and bad enough to scare the fae, it’s most definitely powerful enough to make a mouthful of me—probably a small mouthful, at that. And now that the fae have come to me, whatever’s after them is also after me.

My weak magic and a sarcastic cat for backup are unlikely to be enough to keep me alive and save the fae youngling.

There is someone who’s willing to help me—Sarroch. Arrogant, unpleasant, wealthy, and I don’t even know what kind of magical creature he is beneath his human form. Or what his motives are in offering to help.

I have no idea if I can trust him, but I’m so short on allies, I might not have a choice. I just hope I’m not making a huge mistake…

I enjoyed this. The main character and her BFF banter pleasantly, and being a weak magic user among stronger mythical creatures feels relatable (as much as fantasy can). However, at 188 pages, it is shorter than the genre’s norm, and I thought that it was underdeveloped. (Two things that feel related.) It could have used those extra pages to thinken the plot, further develop the characters (and their relationship to and among one another), and sketch out the wider world the events are set in. As it reads now, I liked the main character, and the setting seems interesting. But I was never particularly invested. Plus, the mystery is solved very easily, by accident basically. This makes it the sort of series I’d pick up as freebies, but I probably wouldn’t buy it. So, a pretty middle-of-the-road read. Absolutely better than some, but not stellar either.

Other Reviews:

#SPFBO X: Review: Touched by Magic (Razor’s Edge Chronicles #1) by Celine Jeanjean

Book Review: Adored by the Grumpy Ghost, by Ivy Knox

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I somehow picked up a BookFunnel copy of Adored by the Grumpy Ghost (by Ivy Knox). The problem is that I have lost track of who gave me the book and why, and I suspect I was supposed to post something on Instagram that got lost. (which means I probably flaked on someone, sorry.) So, I opted to read it instead.

Unemployed, broke, and on the verge of homelessness is not how Natalie pictured life in her early 40s, but since being her mother’s caregiver wiped the last of her savings, she’s forced to grieve her mother’s death in a state of panic as she looks for a job. Any job that’ll pay enough to keep a roof over her head.

Luckily, her college roommate just inherited an old Victorian mansion in the mountains of northern New Hampshire, and doesn’t have the time to fix it up or rent it out herself. Natalie can stay rent-free as long as she needs. There’s gotta be a catch, right?

A grumpy ghost set in his ways …

There’s nothing Winston hates more than roommates. Now this irritating blonde woman has moved in, she won’t stop crying, she leaves crumbs everywhere, and she plays way too much Taylor Swift for his liking. It should be easy enough to scare her away.

As much as he hates sharing a space with her, though, he can’t deny his attraction. Those soft lips. Her luscious curves. The adorable scrunch of her nose when she’s frustrated. He can’t get her out of his mind. But this isn’t her house. At some point, she’ll have to leave. How can he keep her by his side when she deserves more than a penniless ghost could ever offer?

This was cute, but it is very low stakes. Other than the obligatory 3rd act breakup, there is almost no tension in the plot. Even the discovery of ghosts and monsters, more generally, is glossed over with no reaction, not once, but twice (two characters). Once, it was such a non-issue that it was even off-page.

This low angst, shallow plotting is often fine for a sweet, cozy romance. And it likely would have been here, except that this book is 268 pages long. That is dragging a wafer-thin plot a looong way. The characters deal with some heavy topics in their past. But other than that, the plot is about as deep a puddle. And it struggled to stretch to the page length.

I did like the main character a lot and appreciate that she is both plus-sized and in her 40s, not to mention child-free and without a successful career. She is relatable, is what I am saying. The MMC is not without issue, but he is also eager to please and careful about his partner. That’s a whole lot in his favor.