Customer Reviews

Magic And The Modern Girl (Red Dress Ink Novels)

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

 

 

I'm a huge fan of Mindy Klasky's Jane Madison series. I was eagerly awaiting the release of the third, and for now, final book "Magic and the Modern Girl". However, I felt the story was a bit iffy for me. Hence, the three stars. Believe me, I would love to be able to give it more. I just didn't love the book enough to give a higher rating.

In the beginning, Jane hasn't been using her powers as a witch and has only been getting into fights with her familiar, Neko, so she let's him move out. But then she comes to realize that she's at risk of losing her powers all together so Jane recruits her warder David, Neko, her mother, and grandmother to help her get the powers back. She creates anima,Ariel who is supposed to help Jane's power come back but something goes wrong when Jane creates her. There is also a problem in Jane's love life that needs sorting out.

The story was a okay but seemed to go on a bit longer than necessary. Also in this book, I found Jane to be a bit annoying. She become slightly whiny to me and I don't remember her being like that in the other two books. I had one more problem with the book. The overuse of the word 'arcane'. I felt it was used on almost every page and I wondered if there were other words Mindy Klasky could have used instead.

I did, however, love the ending. It was the ending I was hoping for and it made me happy to read it. And although I was a bit disappointed by the story, it was really a joy to be able to read another book about Jane Madison. Mindy is starting a new series next year with a book called "There's the Rub" but there is also a hint on the last page that shows that Mindy may not be done with Jane's story. That would make me happy because I would love the series to continue.

I really enjoyed this book, however, I was kind of confused at the change in Jane's behavior. I agree with someone else who stated that in this book, Jane seems a little more whiny than in the other books, and it's true. Part of it I understand. This is the book where Jane truly needs to decide if witchcraft is for her and where she has to learn from past mistakes, namely, her love life. And she needs to do it. How will she truly appreciate what she has if she doesn't dabble in a life without it? She lives sort of a double life, trying to recover her powers, while also dating non-magical Will. She sees the pros and cons of both lives, but seems mostly swayed towards a normal life without magic until the end of the book. And having Jane realizing what she is giving up by being a witch is totally fine by me, but I get slightly irritated at her behavior. In the previous book, Jane worked so hard to prove her magic to the Coven. Even though she didn't join, I would still think she would use her magic here and there. She didn't want to lose Neko and the books then, but in this book, she is well on her way to doing just that. The Coven was hardly mentioned in this book, and I thought that her not joining the Coven was a pretty big deal. So to begin this book to see she hasn't used her powers at all in 6 months makes me wonder what she is thinking, and you can't help but feel sorry for Neko and David, especially since Jane sees them more as nuisances. She kicks Neko out and David is forced to go back to being a file clerk. I wish there was more of her thinking about others than whining about how witchcraft can be too much of a burden. I also wish Jane would just communicate with David. Even in the end, they both never really sat down and said "This is how I feel..." or "This is why I act like this..." However, it was still a fun and easy read, as Jane has to hunt down her anima Ariel and figure out what went wrong with her spell. Jane begins to teach magic to Gran and Clara, and figures out new ways for magic to be performed. You do learn more about David, which is great since he's always been so mysterious. The ending was great, very romantic, and paves the way for another book in the series. I feel there is still more to learn about David and Jane's relationship, as well as what Jane plans to do after leaving the Peabridge and coaching other witches. Maybe there will be some sort of "war" with Teresa Allison's Coven and Jane's Coven she has already started to form? I hope so, because I feel like there is a lot more to be uncovered in Jane's world and so many questions still unanswered. A great book to read as we await more from Mindy Klasky!

Magic And The Modern Girl is the third book in Mindy Klasky's series. Book 2 started to go downhill for me, but this book was just as good as the first. It was fast paced with some romance. Im looking forward to the next magic book.

Mindy Klasky first two books revolving around newly discovered witch Jane Madison were better than average. However, this latest offerings of Jane's misadventures in Washington, D.C., was not good at all.

I hate when authors have their characters constantly make the same mistakes over and over again. Believe me your characters can grow, learn, not come to a understanding at the end of a novel and swear they will never be naive or foolish again but in the next novel progress to do the same! Infriuating.

In this novel, Jane discovers that she is losing her ability to do witchcraft since she has not practiced with David (her warder) or Neko (her familiar) in some time. Due to this Jane summons a servant that will help her restore her powers, however, this servant ends up stealing them from her (of course) and also Jane is once again dating someone that everyone else can see is not right for her and she is torn between him and David.

I did read this novel in order to complete the series, but all in all was very disappointed by Klasky's ending to this character.

I have Purchesed all of these books through amazon and I love them all. They are a great read when you just need to escape for awhile

I love the Jane Madison books and I'm really sorry to see this trilogy come to a close. I feel that Ms. Klasky could easily extend this series... As it is, the third installment leaves us with all the "warm fuzzies" we're supposed to have at the end of a typical romance novel, but I felt like the story in the middle fell short. It was disappointing to me that so much of this novel didn't deal with Jane's magic, but rather her lack thereof. However, for anyone who was a fan of the first two novels in this series, I certainly recommend reading this one too, just to get closure on Jane's story.

though i have enjoyed the last two books in this series, this one is not keeping my intrest. too many words not enough action. i still love the characters though their issues are annoying. lol. i'm hoping things kick up. real quick.

Started out great, then people forget there was a plot

Jane Madison is a witch, but she hasn't been using her "witchy" powers in so long, she's losing them. After whining about this to her friend, Melissa, her ward, David, suggests she performs a big spell to bring back her magic. She chooses to create an anima, but this turns out badly when she realizes that the anima hasn't given her any of her powers back!

During these last days of Borders' Going Out of Business Sale, I've been continuously perusing the racks, hunting for books that A) I've been meaning to buy and B) books that might be interesting. This book I spotted, with its cute cover, on one such trip. And since I knew that it would be fluffy and light-hearted, I figured I'd snatch it up and read it on a flight. So when I found myself flying, I made sure to squeeze this book into my luggage.

The first 100 pages or so are more or less solid. Sure, the book is completely fluffy, more chick lit than paranormal, but I liked the refreshing change of pace. No major baddies to fight. No worlds to save. No Messiahs to protect. Just a simple woman living a simple life.

The next 150+ pages are when the problems start to arise. The whole story comes to a complete halt as Jane tries to figure out her feelings for this great guy, Will. Gone is her desire to retain her powers. Gone is the urgency to find the damn anima. Instead, let's be a b!tch to this great guy and totally drag him all around the place.

In the beginning, I liked Jane. She was fun, she was pretty realistic, and she wasn't omnipotent. However, as the story progressed, I disliked her more and more, until I wanted to start clubbing her. She whines continuously to her friend, Melissa about her stupid, solvable problems and almost completely ignores Melissa's problems. After seeing her anima, she breaks up a date with Will, doesn't say why (only that it deals with "David"), and then proceeds to MOPE the REST OF THE NIGHT. Oh, sure, she calls David, doesn't get an answer, but if she is going to cancel a date, why not chase after anima? If she wanted to call David, use the cellphone! Go to a corner, make a quick call, if he doesn't answer, then proceed with the date! Why make life more miserable for yourself?

I don't see how Melissa put up with Jane. She has her own problems, but she seems to always have time to listen to Jane whine about her messed-up life. I guess after Melissa gets the amazing Rob, she can put up with anything Jane gives her.

Neko is such a hideously stereotyped gay character, I cringed. Fashion savvy? Check. "Girlfriend" at the end of each line of dialogue? Check. Can steal away boyfriends? Check. Hypersexual? Check. Smarmy and smart alecky? Definitely.

Will was a great guy, and I definitely wanted to see Jane happy with him. David, on the other hand, felt like a control freak. After he dumped her the night after they bumped uglies, I was totally ready to let him fly. But, of course, I am just a reader, not the author, so this wasn't my story to dictate. Let me just say that I have NO IDEA why Jane went back with this guy (even though he did say he was wrong and sorry, both of which did give me a wee bit more respect for him).

The story started out good (even with the truck loads of unnecessary backstory and recapping of the previous two books), but then flew off the tracks. Jane loses her powers, tries to regain them and fails. But then, instead of pursuing her anima, she proceeds to whine and gripe and make her love life miserable (AND drag Will around by the nose, poor guy). We have Gran's wedding, which appears out of nowhere, disappears, then reappears to be hastily and suddenly tied up at the end (it makes NO SENSE why Gran suddenly decided to go from huge wedding to small wedding). The last 50 pages or so finally returns to the plot, but by that point, I was mad at the book and very close to not finishing it (I did because I hate quitting the book).

In the end, what started as a nice, relaxing, frothy read turned into a 1000 piece unfinished jigsaw puzzle. What could have been a good story got swamped by other, unimportant plotlines, stupid actions, and stupid characters. By no means the worst book I've read, do not open this book without expecting a LOT of chick lit and you will probably enjoy it. Otherwise, just skip it.

Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*

Third in the series, Jane hasn't used her magic in quite some time - six months and now she's in danger of losing everything. She had no idea that this could happen to her, now Jane must desperately stop the reversing loss of her magic. With her warder's help, she creates a magical servant to regain her power. However, the spell backfires as she loses concentration while weaving the magic. Even without her magical problems, her personal life is a complete disaster. She's dating a man who doesn't know she's a powerful witch, her mother is leaving again, her grandmother is getting married, and her job's slowing dissolving before her eyes. Could her life get any worse?

I love this series (and not just because the main character is a librarian), mostly for the magic, the friendship, the romance, and overall good feeling once I've finished the novel. The third novel is right up there with the first two, leaving me hanging for the 4th book.

I wish I could review this book. I've loved the first two in the series, and read them both on my Kindle. So, I must ask the question: why is this book not available on Kindle? I've 'requested' the title be made available multiple times, stretching back to more than a year ago, but it's still unavailable. Please...help a sister out!