Enchanted Inc. Book 6 announced!

Just found out that Shanna Swendson has written a 6th book in the Enchanted Inc. series and it will be available - fingers crossed - on 01 October, 2012!

Format unknown, but will update you all ASAP :-P

See Shanna Swendson FAQ for more details

Review: Much Ado About Magic



Much Ado About Magic
Enchanted Inc. Bk 5
Shanna Swendson

eBook Released: 15 August, 2012
NLA Digital Liaison Platform LLC, eBook, 238 p.
Paperback available: 31 Aug, 2012 (B&N)
ISBN-13: 9781620510520

To Do: Manage Magical Mayhem, Save the Company, Save the World

 

Katie Chandler is back in New York and at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. – and just in time. The city’s in the grip of a magical crime wave from spells that wizarding whiz Owen Palmer thinks look awfully familiar, and the rogue firm Spellworks is raising its profile in the magical world by selling protective amulets. It’s Katie’s job as the new director of marketing for MSI to fight this battle of public perception while Owen and the other wizards try to uncover what’s really going on.

 

What Katie doesn’t realize is that her idea to stage a showcase for MSI’s magical achievements is playing right into a devious plot more than three decades in the making. Now Katie has to do damage control that has nothing to do with marketing. To save the magical world, she’ll have to prove who the real enemy is, and doing that will require digging deeper into Owen’s mysterious past than he wants anyone to go. If she fails, she not only stands to lose a magical war, but she could also lose the man she loves.

 

 

I have been eagerly awaiting this book for ages.  As a fan of the series since the release of Enchanted Inc., it has been a joy to watch Katie as she navigated her way around NY, as well as her new found knowledge that magic was real.

 

In Much Ado About Magic, picking up soon after the events in Don't Hex with Texas, and Katie has once again wiped the dust from her boots and is in New York and back at MSI.  However, there seems to have been a shift in power since she last walked the corridors MSI.  No longer working with Merlin, it seems that Katie is now heading up Marketing... yeah, I know!?  With staff throwing parties every day, and Spellworks still cranking out shoddy magic, it's up to Katie to once again haul their butts out of the fire.

 

What I loved...

 

Kate back working with MSI.  Let's face it, New York and MSI is where she belongs.  Katie and Owen seem to be a happy couple now (fingers crossed), and most of our past favourites are back - even if they only say "hello".

 

In this book, Swendson has brought Owen's family history into the storyline, which was a real surprise.  It was totally unexpected as I don't remember Owen ever bringing up his birth mother, Rod only mentions the adoption a few times, but it did explain a whole lot.

 

Although Idris was our major baddie in past books, it seems that it's tiime for him to take a back seat as Shanna has gives us a new baddie.  One so devious that even Idris got sucked in!  I won't give him away, but he's a guy you'll love to hate.  And finally, one of the standout moments was when Idris finally got his comeuppance. It was great!  Unfortunately Owen gets caught up in it too which kind of sucks, but hey, that's for the next book ;-D

 

The Bad

 

Idris is still a gigantic pain in the butt.  Geez, how many times did they have to loose this guy over the series before he got his just desserts?  (P.S., it was awesome though!)  There is also the introduction of a new address for Katie and her roommates, plus the addition of a fourth girl to share the rent.  Oh boy.  It seems weird, but I'm hoping that book 6 explains the necessity of adding another totally new character to the storyline.

 

Our bad guy is great bad guy, but the men who make up the magical communities governing body must have been stupid to ever fall for all of his blarney.  Maybe it's just me, but the arc that covered his interest in Merlin, Owen, MSI and Idris came out of left field.  It works, don't get me wrong, but I think with more hinting in previous books, it could have been even better.

 

Now, I mentioned above how great it was to see some of our favourite characters, but there was one connection that I really missed and that was the friendship between the girls from the office and Katie.  Unlike the previous books, I really missed Katie getting drawn into the troubles of Trix and Isabel.  Remember them kissing frogs in Central Park?  Classic. 

 

Speaking of the girls, what about Ari?  What happened to her?

 

So, should I get it?

 

YES!  For goodness sakes, yes.  If you loved the previous books than Much Ado About Magic is a must.  So far it seems to be an eBook only release (available at all good online retailers), but B&N does list a paperback format available - but they are the only ones.  I'm still going to wait for paperback, but if I can't get my hands on a copy I'll be Kindle-ing it for sure.

 

 

 

How did I miss this?

OMG!  How did I not know that Shanna Swendson had finally released the long awaited 5th book in her wonderful MSI Inc. series?  I feel like such a dope.

For all you readers who love MSI Inc. here are the details.

Much Ado About Magic
MSI Inc. Bk 5
Shanna Swendson

RELEASED: 15 AUG 2012

ISBN: 9781620510346
Available on Amazon Kindle (eBook only)

Blurb

To Do: Manage Magical Mayhem

Katie Chandler is back in New York and just in time to help Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. with the latest crisis. A magical crime wave is sweeping the city and wizarding whiz Owen Palmer thinks the chaos-causing spells look awfully familiar – like something his arch-rival Phelan Idris would create.

When Idris's rogue firm Spellworks starts selling amulets to protect against these spells, Owen's suspicions are confirmed. While Owen and the other wizards scramble to unravel the wicked spells, it’s Katie's job as the new director of marketing for MSI to fight the battle of public perception.

When Katie stages a showcase for MSI's magical achievements, she doesn’t realize she’s playing right into a devious plot more than three decades in the making. To save the magical world, she’ll have to prove who the real enemy is by digging deeper into Owen's mysterious past. If she fails, she not only stands to lose a magical war, but she could also lose the man she loves.

To read an excerpt, head on over to Shanna's website

Back to the Drawing Board

Hi out there in cyberspace...

Well, the time has come to rethink my course in life. After 3 years of great service, my boss (not the manager I work with) decided that ALL the casual staff must go! So I got 4 days notice and yesterday was my last day. Talk about having the rug pulled out from under your feet. I was so shocked that it didn't really register on the Monday. So now I have to decided in which direction I should go. Fingers crossed that finding a new job isn't going to be too hard (no laughing).

But I'm still receiving my amazon.com parcels, thank GOD I'd already paid for them and they were slowing making their way to me.

I've received and read my Lynn Kurland's. The Mage's Daughter, and Star of the Morning were both great. This series promises to be great. Think of a cross between her time travelling Scots and a lite Katie MacAlister. I'm looking forward to many more in the series.

I've also devoured the newest Christine Warren "Walk on the Wild Side", and although while great, I was a little disappointed that some of the other ususal suspects didn't make it into the storyline. I would have liked knowing what was going on with them, even if it was only a mention.

The latest Shanna Swendson was great, with a big family surprise thrown in. Hopefully this isn't the last of Katiebug and Owen. It's such a sweet series, and the ending left such a hole to fill that surely another book or 2 would be needed... hint, hint...

Then there was the great LKH scramble for Blood Noir. I waited with baited breath for this, only to find out that not only did the book take place over a few days... and some of those are not mentioned, but that it only involves a small cast, and no real JC interaction. I was looking forward to Edward being in this book, only to find out he's not. I don't know where the series is headed, but hopefully - soon - something substantial will come of it. I'll keep reading the series as long as LKH writes them, but I wish that Anita & co. would hurry up and get to the point. We have known the big showdown is looming for the last couple of books. Hurry up already!

So now, it's off to look at the jobs section of the paper (and internet). Wish me luck. Happy reading.

Sorry, pardon me, excuse me

I don't know how many times I can say it, but sorry!

It's been about 4 weeks since my last post... I thought that I'd better avoid using the computer at work, and at home we live in an area that is a broadband black hole! We're only within an hour of Brisbane, but still can't get decent broadband coverage!

I've been getting alot of good books lately, and I even took the step and ordered off amazon.com - yes, you heard it right. So now I'll be getting Blood Noir before alot of other Aussie's (and a hell of a lot cheaper as well).

Some of the new books I've picked up recently are:

• Kate MacInerney - Howling at the Moon (#1 in Tales of an Urban Werewolf series)

• Adrian Phoenix - A Rush of Wings

• Lynn Viehl - all the Darkyn books so far...

• Carole Nelson Douglas - Dancing with Werewolves (#1 in the Delilah Street series)

• Deborah Cooke - Kiss of Fire (#1 in new Dragonfire series)

and a few others.

I'm looking forward to the new Silver Dragons series by Katie MacAlister. They are so charming and witty. Her books are perfect for the train or bus... or even for a lunch break read! Playing with Fire is out on May 6th, and is one of the books that will be winging it's way to me from amazon.com. Her second book in the series already has a release date! For more info go to www.katiemacalister.com

Another good series with a new title is the delightful Shanna Swendson's MSI. The 4th book "Don't Hex with Texas" was out on the 28th April (not that we'll see it yet) and deals with Katie's choice to give up the delicious and dreamy Owen, after being told by Merlin... yes, that Merlin, that it would be best if she left without telling him! Sounds like another winner to me!

Rachel Vincent has another title out in the Faythe Saunder's series, "Rogue" follows the wonderful "Stray" where we are introduced to fiesty Faythe, a werecat, who is being dragged out of college to her family's farm. In the first book, they delt with the stray's that were hunting the few tabbys (female werecats) and this book follows on their search for the remaining stray that escaped them, and his boss who hired them to kidnap the tabby's to begin with.

Rachel's style is similar to Christine Feehan, so if you love the Carpathians, or the Drake Sisters, then you will enjoy this.

Ok, that's it for the moment. I'll try to post again soon.... [bloody dial-up!]