Customer Reviews

Endangered by Magic

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Pixie Allegro Soprano reluctantly agrees to help her friend Largo rescue his missing fiancée. That would seem noble except that to do so the two fairies must join forces with the evil Shade Lord. The malevolent being simply demands that the bungling twosome help him destroy Europe, a small price to pay to rescue one's fiancée. They do have an alternative: finding the Shade Lord's enemy Sheridan who could save the human realm and two misguided fairies.

Meanwhile Earl Nolan Monroe believes he killed his spouse during one of his mysterious blackouts. Filled with shame and self scorn, he wants to die so he asks for the most malevolent being to kill him because he cowardly cannot do the deed. However, spy Tessa Ballard saves his wretched life though she detests him because she believes like him he cravenly murdered her friend his wife. As she struggles to uncover who plots to kill the Prime Minster, Tessa feels abashed that she desires Nolan, who feels guilty to want her so soon after killing his spouse. Soon the realms of fairie and human will collide with Nolan the key ingredient to stop the Shade Lord.

In her third "by magic" tale, Gloria Harchar provides her audience with a whimsical Regency fantasy romantic suspense with the world at stake. As usual whenever Allegro and Largo team up, nothing goes right as they are the epitome of chaos theory. Readers will find them amusing, but also believe that England is in peril from a supernatural malevolence. The human romance between Nolan and Tessa enchantingly intertwines in a fine thriller that will leave readers wanting more from Ms. Harchar.

Harriet Klausner

Gloria Harchar's newest book ENDANGERED BY MAGIC is wonderful! Such a fun read. I laughed and so enjoyed the book.
I have read her others but I believe this one was even better. The fey and all the characters were well thought out and I found myself relating to the heroine.
This is a book I will NEVER give away and will reread many times.
THANKS GLORIA for a terrific book! Can't wait for more.

If you have been reading Gloria Harchar's other books, Kissed by Magic and Enchanted by Magic, you will love Endangered by Magic because this novel reveals so much more of the fantasy world of Quelgheny.
She uses techniques very similar to J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series, which is wonderful fun because you get to see how the three books intertwine and hook together. Plus now Quelgheny is in serious danger and this threat spills over into the human world. The hero, Nolan Monroe, (who we met in Enchanted by Magic and is a total mystery as a minor character in that book), is actually a shapeshifter with powers that he's finding harder and harder to control -- he doesn't know he's a shapeshifter and he thinks he's going mad.

The heroine, Tessa Ballard, a British spy, is a brave, unusual woman for a Regency setting, but we know why she became so good with swords and knives. She had to in order to survive as an adolescent traveling with the gypsies, (she's half-gypsy, btw). She thinks the hero killed her best friend and when I started reading the story, I couldn't see how on earth she could ever overcome that strong conflict. She is a wonderful antagonist for our strong hero and constantly challenges him, all the while fighting off an unwanted attraction, even as she's starting to understand there's more to Nolan than she realized, and he's truly a tortured hero, but his ordeal isn't over yet. He must come to grips with who he is and what he can do so he can save Great Britain and Europe, not to mention Quelgheny.

This was a fabulous read. I couldn't put it down and had to read far into the night a couple of nights to finish it. The book was hilarious and delightful with thrilling suspense added in. And boy, what a surprise at the end. You will never guess who the villain is. Thanks to Ms. Harchar for such fine entertainment, and I can't wait to see what other books she comes up with!!

I picked up this book Saturday evening and put it down again only when I had to go to sleep. I've read all three of Ms. Harchar's books and can only say that she's getting better with each one. Tessa is a great heroine -- competent and capable, and with good reasons for being so -- and Nolan . . . what a great hero. Handsome, tortured, honorable, sweet and sexy. What more could you want?

I really enjoyed the pixies this time, too. Largo and Allegro have always been great (and I love all the musical references -- so clever!) but now my favorite is Dulce. They add a wonderful layer of whimsy to the romance and make for a most satisfying read!

I can only hope #4 is in the works!

The fairy's Allegro and Largo are back. Just when it looked like they would be able to return home to the magical world of Jubilant, the duo are forced into servitude by escaped trolls who have kidnapped Largo's fiance. This time they are looking for the Sheridan heir-a shape shifter, who is the last of his family and would have also been dead if not switched at birth with a stillborn mortal child. With the magical harp getting fixed, he is the final barrier with the ability to keep the world safe from the sordid underworld!

However, what really has me hooked is the fact that our hero Nolan Monroe, the Earl McFearson thinks he killed his beloved wife Selena during what he calls a "black spell". In his grief, he has been thwarting the most unsavory of criminals, attempting to get himself killed. When our heroine Tessa Ballard, who is also a spy for the British crown steps in, he suddenly has a reason to live because maybe he really didn't kill Selena in one of his momentary lapses of madness.

Gloria Harchar has written another fantastic book. We have fairies, shape shifters, worlds insides worlds and magic all put into a regency setting. The villain was a surprise, and it actually made me cry for our heroine, Tessa. But I think what really makes ENDANGERED BY MAGIC for me is the fact that our leading couple really had to embrace a foreign world (of magic) in order to solve this mystery!

Nolan actually had the ability to be a weak character. Instead, he caught me off guard with how complex he truly was. He is your ultimate troubled hero. Tessa is his perfect match. Raised as a wild gypsy child and then sent to an English school for girls, she is strong both of will and body and determined to get to the bottom of her best friend, Selena's, murder. The romantic tension between the two is extraordinary, especially since Tessa is doing her best to deny it, with some very creative results.

The only thing that really troubled me about ENDANGERED BY MAGIC is that they fell in love so quickly after Selena's death. After thinking about this and learning about Selena as a woman I actually think she would have wanted them to come together. Reading the book, this will make more sense. But it is the chemistry between Tessa and Nolan that makes them seem like true soul mates.

ENDANGERED BY MAGIC can totally stand alone as a novel that I have to recommend to anyone who loves the fairy world mixed with a historical background. I HAD to put this book down half way through and it drove me nuts! Gloria Harchar has a wonderful writing ability and I am anxiously waiting for her next story!

Two worlds collide in this third Magic book. In one world, two hapless fey are forced to work with a demon lord to save one's fiance'. The price of salvation is to destroy the world. However, Largo and Allegro may find help in preventing this devastation from two humans. Nolan Monroe is on a path of self destruction to atone for the death the woman he loves by his own hand, or so he believes. Tess Ballard would be only too happy to make sure he pays, until she gets to know him and finds herself falling for a possible killer. Both dilemas may be solved by finding the demon lord's enemy's heir and thus saving both sets of lovers, England, and Europe from eternal darkness and thus will love save the day.

** The two stories come off as being artificially meshed and have a bit of a disjointed feel. Seperately, they might have worked, but combined, they fail to make music. **

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.