A.J. Locke

Can you imagine living on Earth as a banished witch with a curse which can cause peril to anyone that you may fall for? That is what Malachi has to deal with on a daily basis. Although there are a lot of banished witches with curses on Earth (all by the evil Queen Solenne) they are all kept in line by the WCC.
When humans are murdered and witches framed including Malachi's friends she sets out to prove their innocence.
This is a fantastic read, I loved all of the characters names, they were different and suited them all so well. Malachi is a strong character and she never gives up and I felt for her at the end of the book when she had to make a big decision.
I particularly liked Julian, he was a great help to Malachi from their first meeting although she wasn't sure on him at first she realises he is actually one of the good guys and they make a great team.
There are some bedroom scenes but nothing too explicit.
A.J. Locke has written a fantastic book which I really enjoyed reading, I was hooked from the first page.… (más)

I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Malachi has been banished to Earth with a curse, punishment for having an affair with Queen Solenne’s favorite lover, Knave. Now, when Malachi begins to have feelings for someone, her curse kicks in causing her to butcher whomever she’s in love with.

Iliene has been banished for aiding Malachi and Knave in their trysts. Her curse forces her to eat human hearts in order to survive.

Because Queen Solenne thought Lurian and Xuine were more beautiful than she, she decided to decapitate Xuine’s head from her body but didn’t kill her. Lurian’s body was decomposed and both of them were also banished to earth. But when murders begin popping up resembling their curses or people they were last seen with, Malachi stops at nothing to uncover what’s really going on.

This was a nonstop action novel. I was pleasantly surprised that the romance wasn’t overbearing. You could understand how torn Malachi was between Julian and Knave. One was her past, but he’d given up his freedom for her. I certainly didn’t envy her and the decision that she was forced to make. This was an excellent book filled with action, magic, and love.
… (más)

Magic Dark, Magic Divine by A J Locke
Warrior of the Divine Sword book 1. Fantasy romance.
Pennrae was magically put into a 300 year sleep. When she wakes Magic is mostly gone from the world so she rebuilds her life hiding her skills. When dangerous magic begins to threaten innocents, she exposes herself and friends to threats unimaginable.

Extreme world building that made the first quarter of the book slow and plodding for me trying to follow all the types of magic and what each did. At 28% the action began and all the background started to made sense. Penn and her friends band together to help the world against the evil that would impact the future.
The language and writing was detailed and modern. The overall fantasy was intriguing but for me it took too long for things to happen. They planned and worried for lots and lots of pages before proceeding. I did like those pages as it gave depth to the character relationships but it dragged for inaction in places.
Lots of twist and turns on magical time travel theory.

Two excerpts on the fantasy and romance:
“It was an oval, midnight blue stone, with streaks of black and white. At birth, Diviners used Mortalstones to bind our magic to our souls, to ensure it remained stable. When we died, our souls had to be ascended from the stones, which was why magic users were buried in grounds purified by Diviners. Otherwise, our magic-enhanced souls were susceptible to the machinations of dark magic.”

Excerpt on the romance:
“The couple times a man had taken my hand hadn’t felt right and I’d done whatever I could to extricate myself. Now I realized why. Before, it had felt imbalanced[…]
With Callan, I felt more comfortable because, as much as I wouldn’t willingly lead him into danger, I didn’t view him as someone much weaker than myself.”

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.
3.5… (más)

Original review here: http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/2014/06/black-widow-witch-blog-tour-book-rev...

Black Widow Witch is a story that follows a witch named Malachi. Malachi is stuck in the human world because she has been cursed. Witches are treated like lepers in the human world and Malachi is treated worse than most due to her curse. But given that her specialty is in mixing drinks, she has a bit of an upper hand. Things are going as usual until Malachi finds a body behind her body. If that wasn't bad enough, the body just happens to look like how it would if her curse kicked in. She thought she was able to take care of it until her best friend is accused of murder. Now Malachi is beginning to think that it is no coincidence and she needs to get to the bottom of it.

I had a lot of fun with this book. Locke's storytelling is just impeccable. I really get lost in the worlds she builds and this is no exception. Malachi was a great and complex lead character. Her curse makes her turn into an actual maneater. The queen of their world is evil and insane. Malachi made the mistake of falling for one of Queen Solenne's many lovers, her favorite lover. Now anytime she finds that she is attracted to a man, she turns into a monster and will actually eat them. Malachi keeps most people at an arm's length because of it. But she did have friends that I enjoyed. Her other best friend, Xiune, cracked me up. She is nothing but a head. She was cursed and sent to the human world too. She doesn't let that stop her though. She gets busy... a lot. It was actually quite funny. I love that despite her situation, she still knows how to have a good time.

I also really loved Julian. Julian is an officer sent to shadow Malachi. The human world has their own witch control, the WCC. They keep tabs on all the witches and not much else. Anything happens they are the ones they put the blame on them without caring whether they are innocent or not. Julian, however, didn't see witches the way the rest of the WCC did. Julian treated Malachi like an equal. He didn't see her as a monster and he wasn't disgusted by her. I really loved how well they connected. It was nice seeing Malachi open up because it is obvious she never lets it happen. I did have a bit of an issue on how Julian wasn't at least apprehensive about being with Malachi. I loved that he accepted her, but he knows what her curse entails. It just never seemed to faze him. It would have been nice to see if he at least thought about it.

I really loved the way the story progressed. Mysterious and action packed. I loved the conflict between humans and the witches. It sort of reminded me of the beginning of the Sookie Stackhouse series. It created a lot of buildup in this book because you can see that someone is going around framing witches, but you have no idea who. It could easily be the queen who could be screwing with the witches she exiled or one of the many witch haters. I really liked uncovering this mystery.

I would hate to spoil this, so I won't. This was a great read. There were laughs and a lot of magic. I am a huge fan of Locke's style. I really enjoyed the flashbacks in this book as well. It really gave us a look into Malachi's past with the terrible queen. I really liked the characters. I hope we see more of the in the next book. I don't see a name for this series, but I know there has to be one especially because of the ending. You know there is much more to the story for sure and I can't wait to find out what it is. This is a great introduction into this new world Locke has given us and I am looking forward to visiting it again.… (más)