Made with love
© Victoria Gryson 2024
She’s ditching her shapewear, owning her hormones, and letting her magic fly free.
Underestimate her. That’ll be fun.
It’s official. Miriam Feldman is killing it in the midlife crisis department. She’s mastered boredom, aced invisibility, and graduated Summa Cum Laude in smiling and playing nice in her post-divorce life. But when a drink with a “good guy” goes sideways, Miriam snaps, and in a cold dark rage unleashes a rare and powerful shadow magic.
To make matters worse, her best friend goes missing and Miri is thrust into a world of hidden magic, vampires, and a legacy of hatred aimed directly at her. Hard to say which is more dangerous, this spiderweb of supernatural power plays, the grumpy French wolf shifter she’s teamed up with, or Miri herself, kicking butt and rediscovering the woman who got lost along the way.
But lines get blurred in the shadows, and if she’s not careful, she could lose everyone she loves. She’ll have to turn her invisibility into strength and pray they never see her coming.
Forty isn’t the new twenty. It’s better.
I can honestly say, I knew this was going to be different from Nava and Ash, but I didn’t think that Miri would be so awesome! 😀 As someone who is getting to that age, she’s my new role model (though not sure that is such a good idea lol)
A great urban fantasy setting in present-day Vancouver. You get a lot of information about the different factions, their place in the world and how they view each other (spoiler -the only one you’re getting- it’s not favourable) but it never feels too much of an information dump, rather, well spread out through the book.
Miri goes all over the place, but the author does a great job of giving us the necessary information so we can stay fully immersed in the story.
At the start of the book, we meet our main character Miriam, a librarian, who is pretty much sick and tired of her life (and some of the people she works for). While she loves her job, she can’t stop envisioning murdering them in the most bookish way possible. I think I loved Miri from that moment on (as I might have done the same on *ahem* numerous occasions 😉 )
Her life really changes when she meets a guy in a bar and things go sour and we meet the awesome Delilah 😀
Oh oh oh and not to forget: Laurent (aka Huff ‘n’ Puff). Our silent and broody (but hella sexy) French wolf shifter.
Throughout the book, we learn more about Miri, her past and her current situation with her ex and daughter. We understand more about her motivation for doing certain things as well as her norms and values.
While we learn more about Laurent, he is still a delicious mystery I can’t wait to know more about in the next instalment!
We’ve met a lot of the players (though I’m sure we’re missing a couple of big ones) and each has his/her own story to tell. As we’ve come to expect from the author, all character feel real and believable.
It started slow and steady, but don’t let it fool you… once it has your full attention you’re stuck till the book is done! 😀
It kept my attention with Miri’s witty remarks and her trying to figure out the grumpy wolf shifter.
There was quite a bit of action but nothing felt rushed. Good balance between conversations and action.
The book itself was well written with no (noticeable) errors. Strangely enough, there is no sex described (which isn’t a bad thing, just not something we’re used to from the author haha) but I’m sure we’ll see more of that in the next books.
The book is 28 chapters long and written from Miriam’s point of view.
It was very different from the authors other series, so it took me a bit of time to get really into it. I must admit I’ve not read many books where the heroine is over 40 years old, but I really enjoyed it! Miri is such a fun (and relatable) character, you just can’t do anything but love her! I mean, she has baggage and a ton of life experience, so it makes sense that she would be able to utilise all that for something greater, no?
Plus, it makes me feel like there is still hope for me as well haha 😉
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book and all I can really say is, well done! Another great start of a new series and one which I will be recommending to many readers.
© Victoria Gryson 2024