Magic always comes at a price.Harley is a ticking time bomb, ready to detonate with uncontrollable magic. The only solution? Find the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, make some risky deals, and balance the Light and Darkness within her—before she’s torn apart, atom by atom.If only she didn’t have a million other problems standing in her way.The new Director of the San Diego Coven isn’t exactly … of the San Diego Coven isn’t exactly friendly, and Katherine has already gained untold power. More than ever, Harley needs answers about the rituals Katherine plans to perform to become like Eris, goddess of discord and destruction.
Wade knows that Harley is strong enough to win this battle—not to mention stubborn, overconfident, and wildly reckless. True to his proud family lineage, he’s always played by the rules. But for one girl, he’s willing to bend those rules, to lie, to give his life. Because love can make a person do crazy things…
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*Beware of spoilers in the reviews below that are without spoiler alerts.*
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Excellent audiobook, Harley and Wade are dual protagonists
Book 5 begins immediately after the events of Book 4 in this series. Harley and her friends, the Rag Team, failed to stop Harley’s evil aunt, Katherine Shipton, from performing the first of five powerful, esoteric magical rituals. If they are all completed, she will become an essentially unstoppable demigod who threatens everyone on the planet, human as well as magicals.
Holly continues to grow in friendship and loyalty to the members of the Rag Team, including Tatyana Vasilisa, Santana Catemaco, Raffe Levi, Astrid Hepler, Dylan Blight, and Wade Crowley. Garrett Kyteler continues to show up in this novel, and his motivations continue to be suspect. Another important character throughout this series is the young teenager, Jacob, who can open portals between locations on Earth and between Earth and alternate dimensions.
First on Holly’s agenda now, before taking on Katherine in their next battle, is figuring out how to get the Suppressor out of Harley before it kills her. In order to find a solution, Harley and the team seek out the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. This involves making some very risky deals with powerful magical beings, but it is essential in order to balance the forces of Light and Darkness within Harley.
Everything is more difficult for the team now, because a corrupt magical named Leonidas Levi (who is Raffe Levi’s father) has taken over leadership of the San Diego Coven. He is running the SDC as if it is a military installation. He views Harley with enormous distrust and is doing everything in his power to stand in her way. He forbids her and the Rag Team to do anything else whatsoever to combat Katherine.
In the midst of all Harley’s trials by fire, Wade, who is Harley’s romantic interest throughout this series, continues to stand by her side and support her in every way possible.
Similar to Books 2-4, this book is also narrated in the alternating first-person points of view of both Harley and one of her teammates, in this case, Wade. It is terrific to finally have the chance to get to know Wade better.
Given that there are nine books in this series in which Harley is the main character, and given the fact that this book is urban fantasy and not paranormal romance, it is not surprising to me that the author continues to move the romance between Harley and Wade quite slowly until the very end of this book when they, at long last, openly admit to each other they are emotionally and sexually attracted and officially become boyfriend and girlfriend.
Similar to Books 1-4, the pace of this story moves quickly. The author avoids extended, boring exposition, instead telling the story through dialogue and plenty of brisk action. The central mission, stopping Katherine Shipton before she destroys the world, continues to be the main focus of this novel.
I experienced this book both in Kindle and audiobook format. The narrator is Amanda Ronconi, who does an excellent job acting out the dialogue for all the various characters, portraying with equal skill male and female voices and various national accents.
These are all the Harley Merlin books in this extensive series in which Harley is the main protagonist:
Book 1: Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven, 2018 (from Harley’s POV)
Book 2: Harley Merlin and the Mystery Twins, 2018 (from Harley and Tatyana’s POV)
Book 3: Harley Merlin and the Stolen Magicals, 2018 (from Harley and Santana’s POV)
Book 4: Harley Merlin and the First Ritual, 2018 (from Harley and Astrid’s POV)
Book 5: Harley Merlin and the Broken Spell, 2018 (from Harley and Wade’s POV)
Book 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris, 2018 (from Harley and Finch’s POV)
Book 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix, 2019 (from Harley and Jacob’s POV)
Book 8: Harley Merlin and the Challenge of Chaos, 2019 (from Harley and Katherine’s POV)
Book 9: Harley Merlin and the Mortal Pact, 2019 from Harley, Finch and Katherine’s POV)
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Romantic Interest: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Action Plot: 4 stars
Harley Romantic Subplot: 4 stars
World-building: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
Audiobook Narration: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars
Really good series, magical and entertaining with beast and such to conquer. Comfortable read, thoroughly enjoyed this series so far,