Bewitching Bedlam

Bewitching Bedlam is book one in the Bewitching Bedlam series by Yasmine Galenorn.

I grabbed this as a freebie to try. I’ve had my eye on this series and Ms. Galenorm for a while. I was going into this story thinking I was getting a fun B&B storyline with a cast of magic characters to enjoy; unfortunately this novel didn’t live up to what I had hoped. We do get a cast of magical characters, but it wasn’t a fun B&B storyline. Their where things I liked and things I didn’t, but it just didn’t grab me enough to have me continue the series.

To start I’m not sure if I’m missing reading books before this one or a series I should have read before Bewitching Bedlam, but it feels like I missed something. The first chapter/introduction starts with Maudlin and Aegis having sex. I’ve got no issues with sex in my books, but to jump into that when we don’t know the characters or what’s up. Ah! Then to add to my issue we jump back in time a little bit and then we come back to the present. Can you see how this might be shocking and confusing. I sure didn’t care for the beginning.

Now let’s move onto the character and world building. We don’t get enough character building for any of the characters. Nor is there any world building. We do learn about Maudlin’s past and that she is very powerful and feared by a lot of supernaturals.

Then we have the romance. I wasn’t feeling the romance between Maudlin, our witch, and Aegis, our vampire. It just felt off and I think that had to do with Maudlin being a hunter aka vampire killer in her past.

The mystery was interesting and intriguing. We’re lead in one direction and then it takes us into another direction. I like miss directions and not having it be obvious what’s going on.

I also really liked the djinn cat. He was a lot of fun and added humor.

As for the ending. I had major issues with this. Maudlin has a confrontation with five evil bad vampires and instead of saving herself she has to be saved by her boyfriend. This didn’t jive with me. Especially when we learn about her past and know that she’s powerful.

All and all Bewitching Bedlam wasn’t for me and I won’t be reading on. If the blurb intrigues you, I urge you to give it a shot. Just because it did not work for me does not mean it won’t for you.

Rated: 2 Stars

Maddy is a witch in a coven on the island Bedlam. She has a three-thousand-year-old vampire, Aegis as a boyfriend. She renovated a place to become a B&B. She has a resident ghost and an animal called a cjinn as a pet. Many super naturals live on Bedlam with humans. Maddy walked outside and found one of her coven members dead. Rose was murdered and the police arrest a satyr, Ralph. He admitted to the killing, but Maddy does not believe it for one moment. In her past, she was known as Mad Maudlin because two friends and her terrorized their way across the world killing vampires and witch hunters. They changed after awhile and buried that part of themselves. It occurred because Maddy’s love had been turned after they were attacked. He sacrificed himself to save her. Now, the island is under attack from many directions. Aegis’s ex, the new vampire queen and others are out to control the island. It will turn into a war if Maddy and friends cannot stop them. This is a great book for the start of this series and will keep you spellbound. There are steamy scenes and some laughter as well. I received this book as an ARC and am leaving a voluntary review.

An awesome book with a lot of drama, danger, murder, mayhem, mystery, shifters, secrets, lies, betrayal, evil, magic, magical creatures, and friendships! Lots of wonderful and scary characters with secrets and hidden agendas. Can a love between a vampire and a witch survive? Will their enemies use it against them? With the help of her BFF, can the save the town from the evil that is stalking them? Who is the is trying to kill her? Can the witches, shifters, and vampires work together to prevent evil from winning? So many questions! It will keep you guessing til the end!