Customer Reviews

Blood Magic (Wing Slayer Hunter)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed Blood Magic. It has startling simularities to JR Wards Black Dagger series: "hunter" finding a mate, tough mortal friend (I really like Joe and of course I loved BDB's Butch), group of super hot/powerful men who are a "brotherhood" and "hunt" the bad guys... You get the picture. I think if you took the fangs out of the TV series Sons of Anarchy added a really cool and well thought out witch element, you would have Blood Magic. None of the silly dialogue that I find distracting in JR Wards series, but also not tons of melt your inside moments either (JR Ward is VERY good at melting your insides). I really liked the Wing Slayer Hunters...all of them and I loved the way tattoos were woven into the storyline and made significant rather than cosmetic. The world/story development was interesting and I am really looking forward to Sutton's story. Axel's and Darcy's supporting characters are great. I loved his mother and her friends are great too. Overall, I am going to stick it on my transitional keeper shelf. Not a full keeper, yet.

I struggled hard with just how to rate "Blood Magic" by Jennifer Lyon. On the plus side, she managed to come up with a new twist on witches using a fusion of mythology, lore, and witchcraft. On the minus side, the writing wasn't as tight as I like and the story seemed to 'hop and jump' for me. So I decided to round up in the hope that the next in this series, which I DO intend to read, will sharpen and smooth out some of the rough edges I found here.

Darcy has just buried her adoptive mother when a strange man threatens her life. Twenty four hours later, she's been assaulted by two men, only to be rescued by a third and then held hostage until she agrees to heal his little sister by casting a spell??? OOO-kay.

Axel is the leader of what's left of the witch guardians. Unfortunately, since they were cursed as a group thirty years ago, they now crave the blood of the very witches they are supposed to protect. More and more guardians are killing witches which turns them rogue where they live to kill more and more witches for the blood high and Axel's father is leading those rogues. Then he comes home to find his sister has been cursed by a demon blood witch. That means he only has less than a month to either find a witch to cure her, kill the witch who cursed her which will turn him rogue, or watch his sister die. Alex has no intention of watching his sister die.

Loved the concept and the back story which was revealed in bits and pieces throughout the novel. The heat factor is pretty high and Lyon does a great job writing the growing tension and eventual sex scenes. The only thing I wanted more of was answers. Okay, and smoother shifting of scenes and relationship building and just general plot unfolding. I do plan to buy "Soul Magic" which is scheduled to release in Nov2009 as I'm interested to see where Jennifer Lyon's goes next with this world and if she can sustain my interest.

I read romances, and I read paranormals and I am a picky, picky, picky reader. Particularly when it comes to the first book in a series. So many writers get wrapped up their world building they forget to tell a great story. But not Jennifer Lyon. This isn't just a first book in a series, it's a GREAT first book that makes me so impatient for the next. The witches, the demons, the magic, the sex -- and, oh yeah, did I mention AXEL?!?! Quick -- get me a drool-cover so I don't wreck my book! Can't wait for the next one, Ms. Lyon. WRITE QUICKLY, please!

Darcy has no idea that she is a witch, till some strange events on the day of her foster mother's funeral gets her wondering. Suddenly she is attacked only to be saved by a man who has his own plans for her. Axel hopes that Darcy will be able to lift the curse from his sister, who has the death mark on her. But the problem is that Darcy is a witch and Axel a witch hunter. To make the situation even more complicated there is an undeniable attraction between them and her life is threatened by her real father. Will they be able to find a way to overcome the curse?

Ms. Lyon, has with BLOOD MAGIC written the stunning start of a new series. The story idea of the conflict with the witches and witch hunters is something new and that sets this series apart from the usual paranormal romances. Ms. Lyon gifts her readers with an interesting and intriguing set of characters. Axel is torn between is attraction to Darcy and his loyalty to his family and friends. He is tortured by the death curse that threatens his little sister and the taunting of his father, who plays an important role among the rogue witch hunters, who gave into the bloodlust and lost their souls.

Darcy's life changes within a blink of an eye. She has to deal with the fact she is a witch and that suddenly the life of a small child lies in her hands, as well as the endangerment of her own life from the rogue witch hunters, especially the leader, who is her real father.

I really got caught up in the story as soon as I started reading. I could hardly put the book down and I am so curious about the upcoming sequel Soul Magic, which will be released in December 2009.

Ms. Lyon is definitely an author that you want to keep an eye on. Her book is definitely a keeper and I bet the whole series will find their way to your keeper shelf.

Courtesy of Loveromances and More!

BLOOD MAGIC by Jennifer Lyon was one of those treasures I didn't expect. I'd never heard of this author or this book, but reading about the demons, witches, and magic the back of the book sounded interesting. Plus, there was a promise of romance. I had to give it a try.

The story begins with Darcy MacAlister burying the mother who adopted and raised her. She has no idea there is another world out there. One that is getting ready to open for her, one full of witches, demons, and witch hunters.

When hunters ambush her outside the funeral home, she meets Axel Locke, leader of the Wing Slayer Hunters. He rescues her, but it isn't out of the goodness of his heart. He's there to kidnap her for she holds the key to saving his sister. Problem is Darcy has no idea she is a powerful witch.

BLOOD MAGIC is book one of the Wing Slayer Hunters series and I am hooked. The beginning, middle, and end were all good. My only complaint, if you can call it that was some of the information kept repeating over and over. I think if that had been cut out, the story would have been more intense.

SOUL MAGIC, book two, is next on my list!

This was my first time reading this author. It was fantastic. Great world building. I read a lot of paranormal novels and loved this new world which was revealved piece by piece during an action based plot. Loved the way the sex was both passionate and needed to further the plot progression. Characters were very believable and by the end of the book I cared enough to have tears streaming down my face. Can't wait to read more by this author!

Very very rarely do I give 5 stars to any book, but I loved Blood Magic. It was very easy to get to know the characters and enter a world quite a bit different than any other paranormal books I have read before. Darcy is very likeable and Axel is all you could hope for in a romance hero. If you want a new romance series I would really recommend this book. Can't wait till Sutton's book comes out in November.

I really liked this book. It was a nice change of pace to the different vamp series that I read. This book did had many similarities to the Carpathians series by Christine Feehan. All in all, good read.

STORY BRIEF:
Some witches wanted more power and linked with demons to get it. They became demon witches. Demon witches harmed humans, so wing slayers were created to kill the demon witches. Thirty years ago, a few demon witches cursed regular witches and wing slayers. The result was that regular witches' powers were reduced because they could not have familiars (their animal helpers). Also, wing slayers became like drug addicts craving witch blood on their skin, but not drinking it like vampires. However, if a wing slayer killed any regular or demon witch, he became a rogue. When a rogue died, his soul would wander eternity in an undesirable place.

A demon witch, Linette, put a curse on Hannah, a human. Hannah will die unless another witch removes the curse or someone kills Linette before the next full moon. Axel is a wing slayer and Hannah's brother. He believes Darcy may be able to remove the curse. If she cannot, Axel is prepared to kill Linette, become a rogue and lose his soul. 26-year old Darcy was adopted as a baby and never knew she was a witch. All of a sudden rogues are attacking her. Axel takes her to his hidden home and tells her she is a witch. She must learn a lifetime of magic in less than two weeks in order to help Hannah.

This book is the first in a series. The second book "Soul Magic" is about Sutton, another wing slayer.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
Most of the story is Darcy trying to learn and gain witch powers. She's having difficulty, and it takes a long time. Parts of the story are repetitive, talking about the problems and worrying about solving them. I would have preferred less pondering and more action. A few times, I wanted the story to be over. Every story needs conflict between the hero and heroine, but I didn't enjoy their conflict in this story. It wasn't logical. I describe it in Spoilers below.

The plot reminded me of parts of Harry Potter and Twilight. Darcy the witch was placed with a human family to save her from an evil rogue, and she didn't learn she was a witch until she was an adult. The wing slayers are like the Twilight vampires, craving witch blood but having to restrain themselves. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, it's ok with me to use these ideas. I'm just pointing out that as I read the book, I was thinking about the similarities.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
I didn't buy the major conflict between Darcy and Axel. She gains witch powers when she has sex with Axel or when he touches her. This is what happens when she has a familiar, an animal who is bound to her. Since the curse won't let her have a familiar, Axel's presence solves the problem. She lies to Axel by not telling him this. When he is with her, he is choosing to be with her. He is not bound to her. But later, when he learns that she gained power through him, he is angry, and he leaves. He claims she has turned him into a familiar and lied to him. My problem is that his goal was to help Hannah. He wanted Darcy to gain power to save Hannah's life. He was willing to lose his soul for Hannah. Why was he not willing to be a helper (or a type of familiar) to Darcy?

Another scene bothered me as creating artificial conflict. When Hannah was in pain, Darcy was able to use her witch powers to reduce the pain. Hannah then asked to sleep with Darcy, but Darcy said Axel won't allow it. I don't understand. Axel wanted Darcy to save Hannah's life. Why wouldn't he want Darcy to spend time with Hannah if she could help Hannah's pain? I am also confused because I don't recall Axel saying anything about staying away from Hannah.

DATA:
Story length: 364 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 6. Total number of sex scene pages: 19. Setting: current day Glassbreakers, California. Copyright: 2009. Genre: fantasy romance.

Blood Magic was a pretty good intro to the well thought out Wing Slayer world of earth witches and witch hunters. Witch hunters were originally the immortal guardians of the witches but, running afoul of a demon and some witches gone bad, the now mortal hunters suffer from a curse which overwhelms them with lust for sweet power laden witch blood - the curse has cost many witches their lives and many hunters their souls. The only way for hunters resisting the curse to gain a brief respite from the gnawing hunger is to sate the blood lust with sexual lust - which means hunters need lots and lots of theraputic sex.

However when you add to the brief voyeuristic glimpses of hunters slaking their lust, to little sensual snippets outside of the bedroom where physical contact with the aroused hero provides additional fuel for heroine's magic, to numerous actual loves scenes between the starring pair, the sex starts to detract from the story a bit and actually lessened the overall sensual impact of the witch/witch hunter romance for me. But even though I thought that there were just a few too many love scenes between the leads, author Lyon did avoid what would have totally turned me off to her hero - Lyon never shows Axel following through on his lust with anyone besides the heroine Darcy and since this story is a romance, this wins Blood Magic points from me.

I really liked both of the leads, Darcy, who discovers that she is a witch only after she is saved from death and then kidnapped by the hero who needs Darcy's magic to save his toddler sister from a death curse, and Axel, who cares for his mother and sister, and who has kept his honor and held true to his vows to the Wing Slayer god by continuing to protect innocent witches despite the burden of the curse which challenges his control. I liked Darcy's compassion which moves her from prisoner and motivates her to get a crash course in the powers she didn't know she had - powers which suddenly make the oddness and isolation of her childhood make sense. I also liked Axel's whole crew of sexy witch hunter buds, and I really really liked Axel's wings (I am on a winged shifter kick and he fits the bill).

Although I really didn't care for the 'big secret/betrayal theme' between the hero and the heroine, it was the catalyst for the big finish and I really liked parts of that, so overall Blood Magic was a pretty good read. And with the cosmic loophole for the hunters and witches, there a several more of these steamy reads on the horizon - starting with Soul Magic out later this year.