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A review by melodicfate
Halfway Bitten by Terry Maggert
3.0
3.5 stars.
*I received an ARC from the author in exchange for my honest review.*
I didn’t see this book coming. I’d been reading historical romances one after the other, and then one day, the author kindly informed me of this story. I read the blurb, saw it involved a small town and witches, and was sold. Magic workers are my weakness. While reading this review, however, keep in mind that this is book two in a series. I didn’t know that before I read this story, so there may be some spoilers.
Carlie was the heroine and narrator of the story. It’s always such a treat to come back to my old familiar favorite, first-person point of view. Of course, it helped that Carlie had a likable enough personality to sell it. She was just an ordinary cook at a regular diner, who also happened to be a witch. I loved how fiercely protective Carlie was of her friends, family and even acquaintances.
One of the things that stood out to me in this story was Carlie’s close relationship with her grandmother, Tess. Not only were they both witches, but they fiercely loved one another. Plus, I liked Tess as a person, because she was super-strong and perceptive. The only other big side character in this book was Carlie’s lover, Wulfric. He was half-human, and half-vampire. I wish we’d gotten some answers as to how he could be both vampire and human, but we didn’t. However, I did think he proved his love for Carlie in the end, with huge cost to himself.
The plot of this story involved Carlie trying to figure out how and why a vampire was capturing humans, and using them for food. Carlie had to talk to vampires, shapeshifters, and smart librarians to figure out a lot of the answers. I liked the setting this novel had, which was a small town in the Adirondack Mountains.
The thing that really took away from this book for me was the writing. It was great at communicating Carlie’s personality, but there were times when the scene would change, and I was confused. The world-building could have been a bit stronger, as well. There wasn’t much explanation on the existence of magic and paranormal creatures. As it seemed to be set in our time and world, I was expecting a little bit more information in that regard. However, this is the second book in a series, so a lot of my confusion could have come from unknowingly reading out of order.
Overall, though, I think this was a fun, quick urban fantasy read. Carlie was a likable heroine, with an admirable personality. The mystery kept me reading, especially to see if Carlie and her grandmother prevailed over the evil taking over their town. There was a pretty big cliffhanger at the end of the novel, which of course makes me wish I had book three. So yes, I do think urban fantasy readers should check this out. It’s a nice read if you’ve only got a few hours, filled with magic, paranormal creatures, and a heroine you can root for. I’d probably start with book one though, as I’m sure that one gives explanations that I would have liked in this story.
*I received an ARC from the author in exchange for my honest review.*
I didn’t see this book coming. I’d been reading historical romances one after the other, and then one day, the author kindly informed me of this story. I read the blurb, saw it involved a small town and witches, and was sold. Magic workers are my weakness. While reading this review, however, keep in mind that this is book two in a series. I didn’t know that before I read this story, so there may be some spoilers.
Carlie was the heroine and narrator of the story. It’s always such a treat to come back to my old familiar favorite, first-person point of view. Of course, it helped that Carlie had a likable enough personality to sell it. She was just an ordinary cook at a regular diner, who also happened to be a witch. I loved how fiercely protective Carlie was of her friends, family and even acquaintances.
One of the things that stood out to me in this story was Carlie’s close relationship with her grandmother, Tess. Not only were they both witches, but they fiercely loved one another. Plus, I liked Tess as a person, because she was super-strong and perceptive. The only other big side character in this book was Carlie’s lover, Wulfric. He was half-human, and half-vampire. I wish we’d gotten some answers as to how he could be both vampire and human, but we didn’t. However, I did think he proved his love for Carlie in the end, with huge cost to himself.
The plot of this story involved Carlie trying to figure out how and why a vampire was capturing humans, and using them for food. Carlie had to talk to vampires, shapeshifters, and smart librarians to figure out a lot of the answers. I liked the setting this novel had, which was a small town in the Adirondack Mountains.
The thing that really took away from this book for me was the writing. It was great at communicating Carlie’s personality, but there were times when the scene would change, and I was confused. The world-building could have been a bit stronger, as well. There wasn’t much explanation on the existence of magic and paranormal creatures. As it seemed to be set in our time and world, I was expecting a little bit more information in that regard. However, this is the second book in a series, so a lot of my confusion could have come from unknowingly reading out of order.
Overall, though, I think this was a fun, quick urban fantasy read. Carlie was a likable heroine, with an admirable personality. The mystery kept me reading, especially to see if Carlie and her grandmother prevailed over the evil taking over their town. There was a pretty big cliffhanger at the end of the novel, which of course makes me wish I had book three. So yes, I do think urban fantasy readers should check this out. It’s a nice read if you’ve only got a few hours, filled with magic, paranormal creatures, and a heroine you can root for. I’d probably start with book one though, as I’m sure that one gives explanations that I would have liked in this story.