CMM's Reviews > Bespelled

Wow, wow, wow!

Okay - first off. Memnon is top-tier book boyfriend for me. I literally could talk about him to anyone for a long period and if you tried to challenge me about him and how much we should embrace him, I would go Selene on you.

Now, can we just appreciate authors like Laura for giving us a refresher when it comes to their last book in the series? I have only seen Karina Halle do this that I can remember, but this is SOOOO helpful. I read a lot and I find especially with fantasy or paranormal stories - I struggle to get back into the story if I don't have a recap of some sort. Not because I didn't love the story, but because fantasy worlds are complex and there are so many wonderful stories and authors and sometimes it's hard to keep up with the different magics and plots. Especially if you read multiple witch/shifter stories at a time. So, showing Laura some love just for that.

Now the story, I still like the magic system. I found it easy to follow and while still unique to the story - I felt that it was still traditional enough for me to understand it. I loved the different ceremonies, rituals, magics, supernatural beings - all of it was important and all of it was easy to keep up with.

I could imagine visually the big scenes because of how well Laura described them. I never was like, wait I thought they were over here and she was... It all made sense. The flow of the main magical plot and the story of Memnon and Selene blended well together and I never felt like we focused more on one than the other. We learned more about the past and I never felt like we spent too much time there and we got little glimpses throughout their dialogue to keep that fresh in our heads.

The bonds whether Selene liked them or not made the story for me. I enjoyed their chemistry and how they worked together (or not) despite the history they shared. Both Selene and Memnon stayed true to their characters and I didn't feel like they trailed off to hit some narrative. And I stand by that to the very end of the book.

Oh.. and the spice, was spicy. Placed in the right places and at the right times.

I thought one thing was going to happen, and it happened. But overall, I was spent guessing the entire time and there were a lot of squeaks and "NO!" and "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" and "THATS AWESOME" coming out of my mouth while reading this. I also laughed ... because Selene's reactions to things are pretty funny sometimes. And than other times, you're cheering on her badass witchy ways!

Read it, read it, read it!

The story is graphic at times, both sexual and violent. So - check those trigger warnings!

I did receive an arc through NetGalley for my honest review. However, I went and bought the book because I loved it<3