Caffeinated thoughts about Embracing Magick

• Carmella is continuing her work as an IPEU officer and finds herself on one of it's most significant cases. Entire families are just disappearing. As they investigate Carmella and the others realize there is a potential threat to all of humankind. This thread was intense and had us once again entering the world of the djinn.


• Cassidy outdid herself with twists, suspense, and djinn court scenes. Poor Carmella is tested. I adore (except when it comes to romance) this snarky, smart, and witchy Asura.


• Training with Vritra continues, and suddenly I want to hit the gym and wrestle. Like Carmella, he can shift to a dragon, but instead of being half witch like her, he is a demigod. The two have a little attraction thing going. It's sexy, filled with tension and complicated thanks to the Asura side of Carmella. I was excited about this possible romance, but the djinn whose committed to marrying another (Royal connection and alliances) has come sniffing around offering Carmella an arrangement. She does make a decision, and I admired her for it, I just don't trust her. She waivers and has self-doubt. I seriously wanted to kick Carmella or at least shake her.


• Secondary characters enjoy more page time in Embracing Magick. Marina, Aaron, Honey, and Urvashi are all colorful and developed. Their side stories and involvement added depth to the overall series and world.


• We get updates on ongoing series arcs and even get a brief encounter with Carmella's biological mother. Garnet and the High Witch Elora offer up more information about Carmella's binding. I for one am eager to learn more. Cameos, updates and little side-threads fleshed out the story.


• Cassidy continues to flesh out the world offering up tidbits I thoroughly enjoyed.


• Remember that possible threat to humanity? The only way to stop it might kill Carmella, and better yet we are left with a HUGE, you have got to be kidding me CLIFFHANGER!


• Zehra Jane Naqvi continues to narrate the series and does a fantastic job with the character voices, emotions as she enhances the suspense and tone of the storyline. She has become the voice of Carmella Hunter.

This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

And this book is exactly why I really do not like love triangles in a series. There is always one book that the relationship angst just becomes ridiculous and I end up mad at multiple characters and wanting to tare my hair out. This is that book for this series.



But we will start with the good. Carmella is a fun character when she is doing her job. I really liked the plot arc with the missing families and finding out the story behind the disappearances. I also think the villain is an interesting touch and appreciate the world building in this area. With Gods, Demi-Gods, witches and many other supernatural creatures running about it is a lot of fun and this is the part of the story I’m the most interested in.

Carmella is great at her job and I like the girl power of her and Mira together, looking for who is responsible for entire families disappearing and playing the bate. Carmella and her inner dragon are also a big area of interest for me too. How they are like two separate individuals and learning to cohabitate her body.

Now to what I didn’t like. The drama llama that was the relationship between Carmella/Vitra/Paimon. Arggg, it got a bit ridiculous. Vitra and Carmella have been hanging out for months and he is training her, building a friendship with her getting to know her. But Paimon is the forbidden fruit and the safe one to give your feelings to because one he is in a different realm and not even around and two he is engaged to someone else. There is no way that is going to happen. But still Carmella is all kinds of hung up on him and won’t let herself love Vitra because of it. So it becomes a tangles teenage hormone ridden mess.

Spoiler

Carmella can’t chose, Paimon want her to be his mistress, Vitra sees them together with Carmella nakedish and assumes she has picked Paimon so he kisses (maybe did something more with, but I hope not) someone else and that is just makes Carmella hurt and Jealous

*sigh* and yes I know that was a big run on sentence. It deserved to be.

Still I loved the double crosses that came in the story and I’m completely invested in the fight against the invading entity and the possible apocalypse of the horizon. I’m pretty sure that the entire love triangle is resolved not and Carmella knows what she wants but I’m thinking she has some stuff to prove and might try a little wooing of her own to get the man that I knew she should be with since book 2. I’m completely interested in how this will resolve so on to the final story in the series.

3.5 stars