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A review by myhandmadehell
Grey Magic by Jeffe Kennedy
5.0
I don’t even know what to say. I’ve been trying to write this review since I finished the book last night but everything I write turns into a blabbering, incoherent rave about the series as a whole and how it’s basically my new favorite thing ever and everyone who is a fan of fantasy and/or romance should read it. I’ve clobbered my friends over the head with it, I’ve mooned and swooned at my husband for days while I’ve been reading it, I’ve already decided I’m going to purchase them in paperback because they are too good to live only in my Kindle.
BUT ABOUT THIS ONE only because that’s the one I’m reviewing here.
If you enjoyed the first and second ones, this one will not disappoint. Not one bit. It might even be the best of the three, which is unusual for me to say because I often prefer the first book in a series the most.
But this? This glorious, gorgeous closure to Nic and Gabriel’s story? It. Is. DIVINE.
NOT ONLY does it give us the ultimate horrible thing we’ve been waiting for since the first book, it also gives us the most satisfying conclusion to that part of the story I could imagine. (Surely if you’ve finished book 2 you know by now we aren’t going to see a massive takedown of the Convocation in this series….but it’s GONNA HAPPEN!)
It also gave me an unexpected found family aspect that had me gasping and squealing with its unbelievable cuteness and fierce loyalty. This band of misfit wizards and familiars is so powerful, delightful, complicated, complex, and interesting, and their immediate love of their new house and their fierce protection of it makes my heart SIIIIIING. Those of you who know me well know that my two favorite tropes are “they’re becoming best friends!” and “everyone pulls together in the end”, followed closely by found family, and this book is loaded with all of these!
Jeffe Kennedy’s ability to write ~actually good banter~ (seriously what is wrong with romance authors who think that “good banter” is just sarcasm and pissing each other off, even when it’s out of character?) extends beyond the two mains we’ve been following to this point and positively glimmers in other characters as well. Asa and Gabriel, Iliana and Han, Alise and Nic, Daisy and GF, Asa and Wolfgang, Quinn and Sage, Jadren and….everybody he encounters. You really feel that each of them has their own relationships and boundaries with other people, and the love is really there with all of them. It makes the world feel so very rich and realistic, and it’s so delightful.
Lastly I want to hit on what we began to explore in the second book, namely: Nic and Gabriel’s tentative but successful steps into incorporating bondage into their sex life, both to enhance their magical abilities BUT ALSO because they both want that. The exploration of the building of mutual trust in the process of exploring that aspect of their relationship, and how that mutual trust strengthens them in every other way, and the gentle but clear descriptions of pleasure and pain being not only compatible but, in some cases, the same, felt like a really beautiful introduction to that concept in general. Also…THANK YOU for non-vanilla sex scenes!!! Let’s branch out from the idea that a man giving a woman head is spicy enough.
Okay I’ll stop now but I can’t promise I won’t update again later as I think of more things I absolutely have to say to the people who are definitely not reading this review, especially given how long this is. Anyway I love this book, I love this series, I can’t wait to read more about this world and what’s next for House Phel and the Convocation!
BUT ABOUT THIS ONE only because that’s the one I’m reviewing here.
If you enjoyed the first and second ones, this one will not disappoint. Not one bit. It might even be the best of the three, which is unusual for me to say because I often prefer the first book in a series the most.
But this? This glorious, gorgeous closure to Nic and Gabriel’s story? It. Is. DIVINE.
NOT ONLY does it give us the ultimate horrible thing we’ve been waiting for since the first book, it also gives us the most satisfying conclusion to that part of the story I could imagine. (Surely if you’ve finished book 2 you know by now we aren’t going to see a massive takedown of the Convocation in this series….but it’s GONNA HAPPEN!)
It also gave me an unexpected found family aspect that had me gasping and squealing with its unbelievable cuteness and fierce loyalty. This band of misfit wizards and familiars is so powerful, delightful, complicated, complex, and interesting, and their immediate love of their new house and their fierce protection of it makes my heart SIIIIIING. Those of you who know me well know that my two favorite tropes are “they’re becoming best friends!” and “everyone pulls together in the end”, followed closely by found family, and this book is loaded with all of these!
Jeffe Kennedy’s ability to write ~actually good banter~ (seriously what is wrong with romance authors who think that “good banter” is just sarcasm and pissing each other off, even when it’s out of character?) extends beyond the two mains we’ve been following to this point and positively glimmers in other characters as well. Asa and Gabriel, Iliana and Han, Alise and Nic, Daisy and GF, Asa and Wolfgang, Quinn and Sage, Jadren and….everybody he encounters. You really feel that each of them has their own relationships and boundaries with other people, and the love is really there with all of them. It makes the world feel so very rich and realistic, and it’s so delightful.
Lastly I want to hit on what we began to explore in the second book, namely: Nic and Gabriel’s tentative but successful steps into incorporating bondage into their sex life, both to enhance their magical abilities BUT ALSO because they both want that. The exploration of the building of mutual trust in the process of exploring that aspect of their relationship, and how that mutual trust strengthens them in every other way, and the gentle but clear descriptions of pleasure and pain being not only compatible but, in some cases, the same, felt like a really beautiful introduction to that concept in general. Also…THANK YOU for non-vanilla sex scenes!!! Let’s branch out from the idea that a man giving a woman head is spicy enough.
Okay I’ll stop now but I can’t promise I won’t update again later as I think of more things I absolutely have to say to the people who are definitely not reading this review, especially given how long this is. Anyway I love this book, I love this series, I can’t wait to read more about this world and what’s next for House Phel and the Convocation!