Legacy

 

By Jeanne C. Stein

Book Four of the Anna Strong Chronicles

Anna is a human turned vampire unwillingly and who has been having a hard time accepting her new reality. For example, she has not shared her new status with her parents.

 She fell in with a vampire who promised to help her adjust but Avery turned out to be a complete nightmare. Eventually they had a showdown and Anna killed him, saving her business partner David's life, all of which occurred in previous books. 

David is in love with Gloria, a woman that Anna despises and she has been trying to convince David to dump. So it was quite unexpected when Gloria came to Anna for help because she was being blackmailed. Gloria's business partner has been pressuring her and now he has been murdered and Gloria is the main suspect, thanks to his vengeful wife's lies. 

Meanwhile, Anna has encountered a gang of werewolves and their leader, Sandra, has sparked a strange and inexplicable lust in Anna. Anna suspects some kind of spell or dark magic and so she agrees to meet Sandra at Avery's old mansion. Sandra and Avery used to be together and for some reason, Anna inherited his estate, which Sandra doesn't like. During their meeting, Anna sees Avery has possessed Sandra and she flees the mansion. She is completely unprepared to deal an Avery that is somehow still alive and living inside Sandra.  

This was an interesting story and easy to follow even without having read any of the earlier Anna Strong novels. The author gives you the data you need to understand the backstory without being boring or longwinded. The story is well written and held my interest all the way through. 

A Taste of Magic

 

By Tracy Madison

Life has not been going well for Liz lately. Her divorce has been finalized and her ex is happily settled into his new life with his new wife. Liz was blindsided by his sudden decision to end their marriage and has been feeling empty and lonely ever since.

Life is about to get more interesting though. Because her grandmother is giving Liz a very special birthday present: magic. According to the grandmother, Liz is descended from a long line of gypsy women with magical powers. Grandmother is in her eighties, so Liz doesn't take her claims about magic too seriously. That is until she accidently casts a spell on to some desserts she has made. And sees the results of those spells on the people who ate the magical desserts. Too bad that the spells were just wishful thinking and not well thought out. Liz's next attempts are more on target, but still with unplanned for side effects that are messing with some of her closest friends' lives in way she never intended. Including the ex-husband who Liz was trying to punish but instead seems to have revived his interest in her, the last thing she wants now that she has a hunky, single policeman living right next door who is as interested in Liz as she is in him.

This was an ok read. Actually found it dull, for the most part. I suppose all Liz's mistakes with her magic are supposed to be funny but I didn't find them to be so. Halfway through, I got pretty bored with it and was ready for it to be done. I kept thinking, given her first failures, that Liz should stop messing with peoples lives with her fumbling spells and just leave magic alone. 

Also, the vibe was coming through that it is the first book in a series, which it is, the second book, A Stroke of Magic, is about Liz's sister, Alice, with whom Liz shares her magical abilities.