Warning: This novel contains excessive humor, a fire-breathing unicorn on a mission of destruction, magic, romance, and bodies. Proceed with caution. Catering to the magical is a tough gig on a good day, but Bailey has few other options. Spiking drinks with pixie dust keeps the locals happy and beats cleaning up the world’s nastiest magical substances. She could live without serving Police Chief … serving Police Chief Samuel Quinn most days of the week, especially after destroying his marriage.
But when she’s targeted with a cell phone bomb containing gorgon dust capable of transforming her beloved home into a stone tomb, she’s tossed head first into a mess with her sexiest enemy. Add in his ex-wife angling for revenge, and Bailey must use every trick up her sleeve to survive.
The last thing she needs is to fall in love with Manhattan’s Most Wanted Bachelor.
Saving Manhattan will be tough enough.
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The world and characters are just so fun and unexpected. Definitely a good read!
RJ Blain is a force to be reckoned with in every story she tells. This one being a part of a series just makes it even better. Never a dull moment and always with a ton of unpredictability and magic, RJ Blain entertains from page one. Highly reccommend!
I loved this. It does have a few minor flaws, but it’s far enough ahead of the rest of the field to earn an A rating in my book.
I’ve read most of this author’s books. I like her style even though most of what she writes is werewolf stuff and that usually doesn’t interest me. I’ve rated most of her stuff at four stars (not five). This one is different because here she’s not relying on anyone else’s tropes. She’s creating her own universe. Mostly anyway. Fairies and unicorns are common stock, but she adds her own twists (at least *I* never heard of cindercorns). I love it when authors branch out into new territory. Creating their own genre instead of just doing what’s already popular.
In a world where fantasy creatures are commonplace. The politics aren’t well defined. Just enough to know that the CDC keeps a registry of magical beings and that some creatures have separate legal systems but others don’t.
The description said romantic comedy. It’s not much of a romance. fine by me, I find romance only just tolerable. And as for comedy… sorta. There are funny moments and a measure of overall absurdity that could be labeled as comedic. It’s not wall-to-wall jokes though, so don’t go in expecting that.
The main character is marred with self esteem problems to an extreme degree. We are also told, more than shown, that she is hard to get along with and drives people away. In spite of this, the light-hearted tone of the book makes it a very enjoyable read. I recommend it highly.
Love this book! So fun and so different. Action packed with really terrific characters.
Book 1 of the Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series. Great characters, high humor, high body count. Read this fun fluff when the real world gets too dark. Can be read in any order, and you’ll definitely want to have more of them on hand for when you need them.
I loved this book!!! I am now addicted to the complete series!!!
This series is hard to categorize – it could be called an alternate history or a maybe a paranormal romance or perhaps an urban fantasy. I think the subheading says it best – ‘Magic romantic comedies (with a body count)’.
Magic has returned to the world and brings the legends, myths, and old granny stories along with it. Lots of the world is normal: people drive cars, fly in airplanes, and use computers. There is law enforcement, both local and the FBI, politics, and religion. There are also supernatural races like shifters of various types, vampires, and elves (these are not Tolkein’s elves, these elves would it eat Legolas for lunch, quite possibly literally.) And there is lycanthropy. Unlike shifters which are born that way, lycanthropy is an infectious disease which brings in the CDC. The CDC has become a very powerful institution assessing and researching lycanthropy and similar related magical diseases, drugs, and transformatives. And that brings us to book 1: Playing with Fire.
The heroine, Bailey, is a contract employee of the CDC which sounds impressive but basically she’s a janitor with hazmat skills. She cleans up a lot of stuff with magical residue such as gorgon vomit. (Apparently gorgons are lousy drunks.) During her training she was tested with a transformative which promptly turned her into a unicorn. No, not one of those sparkly ones, she’s a cindercorn with claws, a preference for a high protein diet and a tendency to snort fire not scatter rainbows. Fortunately cindercorns are tough and can withstand a lot! Which is a very good thing…
Her nemesis is Quinn, the chief of police, for whom she did a favor in the past – a favor leading to Quinn’s divorce as she caught his wife in the act and took the pictures he requested. She figures he hates her. As any romance reader worth their salt knows, this is not the case…
There’s a lot of action in these stories. This one starts out with an exploding cell phone, continues on with explosive contamination of a skyscraper with enough hazardous material to take out all of Manhattan and continues on with assorted other disasters including a kidnapping, a brawl at the wedding, and assorted other events supporting the subtitle’s ‘ Magic romantic comedies (with a body count).’
If you enjoy funny you’ll enjoy this book. There is a sequel out now named, Burn, Baby, Burn and it’s also a fun read.
I admit, I veered a bit out of my using lanes of preferred reading to give this one a try…. And, I am so, so glad I did.
Humorous and whimsical describe this story, as does delightfully unexpected. I became so engrossed in Bailey’s journey – both physically and emotionally – that I read it all in one sitting, chuckling softly to myself as I did since I stayed up late to finish it and didn’t want to wake my hubby! Bailey’s insecurities struck a chord with me, as did her determination and sarcastic sense of humor.
If you’re after an action-packed, mystical-and-magic-filled story with laugh-out-loud moments and a true ‘aww aren’t they sweet together’ in the mix, I recommend this one. I will be seeking out more of Ms. Blain’s works.
All of the books in R.J. Blain’s “Magical Romantic Comedy (With A Body Count) are just a little too ridiculous and over the top for anyone to really take them seriously, but man are they fun. In Playing with Fire – the first in the series – we are almost immediately introduced to a fanged and fire breathing unicorn with sardonic sense of humor. A little later on we find out that it is rather fond of snacking on explosives. I won’t say anything further for fear of inadvertent spoilers, but I will say that book is extremely aptly titled.
One thing that does take a little bit of getting used to, though, is the total lack of world building, which can definitely lead to some initial confusion. Suffice to say that the whole series is an Urban Fantasy/Romance that takes place in modern day, but in a universe where magic and magical beings (all of them. Every one you’ve heard of and even more you haven’t. Gods and Goddesses occasionally wander around, too) exist, and almost all of them are biologically compatible with humans. And they always have been, or at least they have been long enough to go back at least five generations. Considering how long lived some of those beings are, “always have been” is a pretty safe assumption.
I was really looking forward to this book because I enjoy fantasy stories with a lot of humor and romance. At first I really liked it. It was full of funny situations and banter. The romance between the two main characters was also interesting and fun. I liked the quirkiness of the main character and the hotness of his love interest. I enjoyed the fact that the author threw every crazy mythological creature into the fray. Until I didn’t any more. About half way through the book I was tired of the nonstop capers and even the jokes began to be a bit tedious. I really wanted to like it more than I did. So my review is a mixed bag because I did like it a lot at first, but it seemed to go on for far too long when nothing was really happening other than a lot silliness that didn’t seem to take the plot anywhere in particular. I may try another book by the author since I enjoyed her writing style even though I was left wanting more substance within the plot.
I received a copy of this book from the author, and I am so glad that I read it! Blain’s world integrates supernaturals openly with normal society and the things that she sees arises from that integration are weirdly logical. That, together with a socially awkward person with NYC’s snarkiest mouth (seriously, who does not know someone like that?) and unusual abilities combined with NYC’s Finest, can only mean funny chaos and mayhem as only NYC can celebrate. Thank you, RJ!
I normally have issues with books tagged as funny. But this book, hits all the right spot. It is funny, action packed, set in an intriguing world.
This book was thoroughly enjoyable. I expected to be amused by it, with all the magical animals, but it laugh out loud funny in places and had me smiling. It’s a bit zany, but in a good way. Just when I thought the book would end, something else would happen and there were many more pages left to read. I really liked the chemistry of all the characters. It felt like you knew them personally.
Not only was this a female protagonist I could support, but she made me laugh so loud at bedtime I woke my husband!
I had to get this book when I saw the tag line that it was a paranormal romance with a body count. It was funny, and the characters were great. Not super steamy, but the characters and great world building is great.
I absolutely loved it! Each time I read it, it makes me laugh out loud until people around me starts to giving me funny looks or asks me if I am all right!
I really LOVE this book and i would recommend it to everyone who loves paranormal romance. There is tons of humor and some great characters. You will not be disappointed if you get this book. It is a keeper!!
The most amazing thing about this book was the way it was able to elicit true giggles from me. A lot! The hospital scene alone kept me cracking up for half the day!
It is a true miracle to find a book that is simply sheer pleasure to read. No sorrow, no pain, no boredom and certainly no anger! Just sheer pleasure. I don’t want Fi give away the storyline to anyone who hasn’t as yet read it, so suffice it to say mixing humans with Gorgons and Incubi and gods and Angels is bound to produce something hysterical. Or maybe just plain hot. Whichever, it came out just right. Team that piece of perfection with the Queen of Calamity and you have the makings of a giggle fit.
Want out if your head? Want to back away from troubles and unhappiness and sadness and pain? Read Playing With Fire. You will only cry if laughing too hard brings tears to your eyes. I gorgontee it!
Very very well done, RJ Blain! Moving on to Hoofin’ It to keep the feel good feeling good!
Wow, great book! Sucked in on the first page, couldn’t put the book down. Witty, snarky, and downright hysterically funny. You just can’t go wrong with a fire-breathing unicorn that like to eat c-4 and napalm!
This was a lot of fun.