“She stared at the bead in the palm of her hand. Just a plain wooden bead, light brown with flecks of darker brown showing. Just a simple bead. A simple, cruel, manipulative, brutal, coercive, unjust bead. She had twenty minutes to cast the spell and become a slaver, perhaps a lobotomist. Or not cast the spell and guarantee the execution of them both. But it was a spell, so, Hell, she’d cast it on Quincy and it would rain cookies and punch. Then, while they were cleaning up, the Society would sweep in and kill them.”
Carole Walsh lives quietly as a community college history professor in a sleepy Texas town. She also lives a double life as the magic practicing sentinel keeping watch on a thin spot between worlds for the shadowy Society, a cartel of magic users. But that life is pretty quiet, too; right up until it isn’t. A magically possessed man attacks Carole, and her enigmatic neighbor, James Quincy, jumps in to help her. That’s when things go crazy. Now, the attacks keep coming, Carole has been abandoned and betrayed, and Quincy is getting ever more involved in her magical world. Can Carole find her way back to her old life? Can she break free of the Society? Can she even survive? It ain’t easy being the practitioner of Boca Muerte.
Note: These are adults who do swear throughout the book.
Review by Twinsie Kelly
I read the blurb and was hooked! I had a feeling that the story was going to be unique and something different from what I have been reading. It did not disappoint! In full disclosure, I started to read the prologue and started to question why I even wanted to read the book. There are soooo many adjectives, then I started to feel sort of stupid like I wasn’t cut out to read this book, which is crazy because I read all the time! I picked it back up a couple days later, finished the prologue, and THEN got into the story. Whew! I am so happy I did because once I started chapter 1, I very much got invested in this story. It was getting to the point that I couldn’t stop turning the pages because I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next. I thoroughly enjoyed how the relationship between Carole and Quincy started and how it grows throughout the entire story. Hold on tight because once the crazy starts cranking, it does not stop! I am so grateful that I picked this back up because I really enjoyed this story. I look forward to the shenanigans that Carole and Quincy will get into. A must read!