Dear Fae,Don’t even THINK about attacking my castle.This science geek witch and her four magic-wielding men are about to get medieval on your ass. I’m Maeve Crawford. For years I’ve had my future mathematically calculated down to the last detail; Leave my podunk Arizona town, graduate MIT, get into the space program, be the first woman on Mars, get a cat (not necessarily in this order). Then … program, be the first woman on Mars, get a cat (not necessarily in this order).
Then fairies killed my parents and shot the whole plan to hell.
Now, I’ve inherited a real, honest-to-goodness English castle – complete with turrets, ramparts, and four gorgeous male tenants, who I’m totally not in love with.
Not at all.
It would be crazy to fall for four guys at once, even though they’re totally gorgeous and amazing and wonderful and kind.
But not as crazy as finding out I’m a witch. A week ago, I didn’t even believe magic existed, and now I’m up to my ears in spells and prophetic dreams and messages from the dead.
It turns out the five of us wield a powerful magic that can banish the fae forever. They intend to stop us by killing us all.
I can’t science my way out of this mess.
Forget NASA, it’s going to take all my smarts just to survive Briarwood Castle.
Earth and Embers is the first in a brand new steamy reverse harem romance by USA Today bestselling author, Steffanie Holmes. This full-length book glitters with love, heartache, hope, grief, dark magic, fairy trickery, steamy scenes, British slang, meat pies, second chances, and the healing powers of a good cup of tea. Read on only if you believe one just isn’t enough.
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Maeve lost her adoptive parents in a ferris wheel accident. Except not an accident. Then Maeve and her sister Kelly are kicked out of their home as the next pastor needs it. Then Maeve receives a letter from a solicitor in England re Briarwood Castle. Her birth mother left it for her. The bonus? Their are four gorgeous tenants in the castle. Male witches, Flynn, Rowan, Arthur and Corbin. Apparently Maeve is a witch of great power but she doesn’t know it. An evil prince. Four hot male witches. One beautiful powerful witch. A castle. Seelie. Unseelie. I read this book as part of the Briarwood Witches Complete series. What on earth is going to happen in the next one?
Our heroine is a down-to-earth math geek who inherits a castle, multiple hunky men and witchy powers. Oh, and enemies…
This is book one in a new paranormal series and the first book I have read by the author. I felt that the premise was wonderful and the start was good, but it could use a little more polish to make it great.
To explain, I love the concept and the setting. Both are well written and nicely detailed. And the characters are solid, with unique personalities that make them stand out. The plot also provided some interesting twists and turns that kept me guessing, which was all to the good.
There were a few sections that were a bit repetitive and could have been edited to make for a cleaner read. But one real issue is with the heroine, who hit upon one of my pet peeves. She wouldn’t accept what was happening around her, instead continually insisting on rational explanations. I get tired of characters ignoring the obvious because it doesn’t fit into their world view.
But minor issues aside, this did not ruin the story for me. I still found it very enjoyable and there were sections where I just could not put it down. Now that our heroine has seemingly accepted the situation, I am really looking forward to the next book.
Recommended.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout for review purposes.
The Castle of Earth and Embers by Cherrylily ARCs is a wonderful story to read. This is book number one in a brand new wonderful series writen by a brand new wonderful author I just found. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves witches and their stories.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Magical Reverse Harem Adventure!
This is the first book I’ve read from Stephanie Holmes and what a great introduction. I loved the unique and varied characters. Intriguing new Fae versus Witches storyline. Steamy, action-packed drama with startling climax and cliffhanger ending! I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. Enjoy!
I received an arc copy and am happy to leave my honest review.
She had all her life planned out but she is about to learn things never comes as expected. She learns she has inherited a castle with four hot men. She soon finds out she is a witch and together they are very powerful. People will try to kill them. See how they are going to get on
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book was amazing. I don’t think that I was expecting so much story packed inside this book. There was a great story line, and amazing backstory. I can’t decide if I’m team Blake or team Rowan.
***possible spoilers****
First off I have to say, how have I never read anything from Steffanie Holmes before? I got so engrossed into this story that I didn’t realize until the end it was early morning.
The story starts off with the Maeve, who born in England, was adopted and moved to Arizona at a young age. When her adopted parents are killed in a horrifying accident on her 21st birthday. When her life feels like it couldn’t fall apart more she loses her scholarship to MIT, crushing her dreams, and becoming homeless, she receives a letter from an English lawyer. With that letter her life changes more than she could ever imagine. Her sister Kelly leads her to making the decision to go on a adventure.
Holy guacamole is it an adventure! Inheriting a castle with four tenants was not where she seen life heading. Upon her arrival, finding four of the hottest men living there couldn’t hurt right? With very scientific beliefs she is emerged into a world of Fae and witches that go against all of her education. This is where I kinda got frustrated with her, and the not believing stuff even if it smacked her with a frying pan. With the help of her men and the magical pull of the castle, she has to make a choice and accept her destiny. Their goal is to keep the fae in their realm and protect the human race.
All in all I can’t wait for book two to see more of Maeve and her magical men! The ending for sure made me want to instantly start book two.
Magic and Fae and Witches, Oh my! This was cool because it incorporated the fae, witches and humans. The magic involved between them is different and complex. The story is good and entertaining, it had steamy times and dreamscapes and I loved Hunter’s character! Interested in finding out what happens next.
*I received a free copy of this book which I voluntarily chose to write an honest review for.
Book one in the Briarwood Reverse Harem series and what a nice start it is too. We get to meet Maeve as she goes to the fair with her family on her birthday. Some strange things happen and the next thing she knows her parents are dead leaving her life in shambles. Just when she is at her lowest she finds out that she inherits a castle in England so after some encouragement she decides to go check it out. Now I can admit that this lead up is a little slow but it does help the story later when it really gets good. Now this castle just happens to be full of hot guys that all want her while they keep some really big secrets. Finding them along with her is quite fun and there is some incredible world building going on here with several ideas that are nicely new. This is a solid start to a new paranormal RH series and I recommend it fans of the genre. I really enjoyed it so I give it 4/5 stars.