Narrator: Cris Dukehart

Item: Three Mages and a Margarita
Rating: 2.5
Author: Holly

Review: Three Mages and a Margarita by Annette Marie

Posted July 13, 2022 by Holly in Reviews | 3 Comments

Reviewer: Holly
Three Mages and a Margarita by Annette Marie
Narrator: Cris Dukehart
Series: The Guild Codex: Spellbound #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: September 14, 2018
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited, Purchased
Point-of-View: First
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 314
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:

Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig.

It went downhill the moment they asked for a trial shift instead of an interview--to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete jerks, and I was an asshole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right?

I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they ... offered me the job?

It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I'm exactly the kind of takes-no-shit bartender this guild needs, or there's a good reason no one else wants to work here.

So what's a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course--with a pay raise.

--Note: The three mages are definitely sexy, but this series isn't a reverse harem. It's 100% fun, sassy, fast-paced urban fantasy.
Tori has no problem getting herself into trouble in every book in the Guild Codex series, but each one is a complete adventure--no cliffhanger endings.
--THE GUILD CODEX: SPELLBOUNDThree Mages and a Margarita (#1)Dark Arts and a Daiquiri (#2)Two Witches and a Whiskey (#3)

Three Mages and a Margarita (The Guild Codex: Spellbound #1) by Annette Marie is available for Kindle Unlimited. I purchased the audio add-on, which is narrated by Cris Dukehart. I enjoyed the narration. I found this in a Recommended Reads thread on the Ilona Andrews blog. I want to preface this review by saying I do not like “campy” romance novels. I’m okay with funny, but campy doesn’t work for me.

Tori is attending college and sleeping on her brother’s couch after a recent move to the city. She’s gone through 6 jobs in the past few months because she has a hard time holding onto her temper. After getting fired from her latest job, she stumbles into a bartending position. She figures for sure she’ll get fired after she throws a drink in a customer’s face, but to her surprise they offer her a position. It ends up being too good to be true…they’re a Mages Guild, and serve only magical clients. Something the rest of the world doesn’t know about.

I liked the premise of this novel and I thought the Mages Guild and paranormal characters were interesting. I did not like the heroine. She should have been very relatable since she was feeling displaced without a place of her own to live and was struggling to make ends meet as she attended college. Where she lost me was her attitude and how quick she was to violence.

View Spoiler »

I almost quit reading then, but I though perhaps it would get better. As I said, I enjoyed the world and the other characters, but I think she actually got worse as the book when on. I won’t be continuing the series.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5

The Guild Codex: Spellbound Series

3 Comments

Tagged: 2.75 Reviews, Annette Marie, Holly's Reviews, Reviews, Self-Published, The Guild Codex: Spellbound, Urban Fantasy

Review: Red Wolf by Jennifer Ashley

Posted December 7, 2018 by Holly in Reviews | 1 Comment

Reviewer: Holly
Red Wolf by Jennifer Ashley
Narrator: Cris Dukehart
Series: Shifters Unbound #10
Also in this series: White Tiger (Shifters Unbound, #8)
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: May 2, 2017
Format: eARC, Audiobook
Source: Library, NetGalley
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 336
Length: 10 hours and 15 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:

The New York Times bestselling author of Guardian's Mate returns to the world of the Shifters and a tale of a new love under fire...

A man is only as strong...

Red wolf Shifter Dimitri has fought his whole life for respect. It is claimed that red wolves are tainted with coyote blood and therefore not pure. He may not be skilled at verbally defending himself, but because he's a bodyguard, tracker, and champion of the fight clubs, his fists are always ready for some rough and tumble. However, he'd prefer a roll in the hay with the woman who is his oldest friend.

...as the woman who's got his back...

A spirited leopard Shifter and a fellow tracker, Jaycee Bordeaux has no problem forging a mate bond with Dimitri, but soon the two are called to infiltrate a rogue group bent on enslaving Shifters. Jaycee may have defended Dimitri from taunts before, but they now face a more lethal danger--one that threatens not only the future of their people, but also their love.

I really like the Shifters Unbound series by Jennifer Ashley. Red Wolf follows two un-collared shifters from Kendrick’s pack, Dimitri and Jaycee. They were introduced in White Tiger. Jaycee thought she was in love with her alpha (Kendrick), but realized it was just being safe and loved in the pack she wanted. When Kendrick and his mate start mate bonding, Jaycee and Dimitri end up in bed together, too. They’ve been best friends as long as either of them can remember. Dimitri had a speech impediment and Jaycee is the only one who seems to always get him. During a tense situation Dimitri mate-claimed Jaycee, in the hope that he could tell her not to put herself in danger. That didn’t work. Still, the mate-claim stands until Jaycee either accepts it or rejects it. She wants to accept it because she loves Dimitri and wants him in her life, but she doesn’t want to be controlled by a male. Nor does she want to lose the easy friendship they have. For Dimitri, there’s never been anyone but Jacyee. He didn’t claim her on a whim, he’s wanted her all along. When they’re put on an undercover op, their mate-claim will really be tested and Jaycee will have to decide what’s really important.

This started out slow, with a lot of the focus on Jaycee’s internal feelings and exploring a borrowed house. It does eventually pick up and I really enjoyed the second half. The story-arc is continued from White Tiger, and we also saw threads from other books coming together here. Ashley has a wonderful, solid writing voice that really brings this world to life. Though the romance was slow and somewhat lacking, the overall story-arc and progression of things inside the world really worked for me. I love how she tugs so many threads at once. In this book we see how many of them are connected.

I didn’t much care for Jaycee’s internal struggle about the mate-claim. Her main hesitation was that she didn’t want to be controlled or under the thumb of another. That would make sense if Dimitri ever tried to control her. He didn’t want her in danger, of course, but that’s because he loved her. He never tried to stop her from doing her job and in fact often encouraged her. So her fears there were groundless and therefore didn’t hold sway with me. The outside conflict was much more interesting and kept me reading.

3.75 out of 5