It’s hard to believe how much trouble Magical And Undead Creatures can get into. My name is Lynlee Lincoln. I'm a witch and a Neutralizer, and it’s my job to keep MAUCs out of those sticky situations. I love what I do, but sometimes a girl just needs a break from the supernatural chaos. When I get home after another busy Halloween night, all I want to do is collapse into my bed and forget the day… until I discover two children scavenging through my refrigerator. One look at the motley pair and my heartstrings get a good hard tug. Imagine my surprise when I learn their father is the man I’ve spent years trying to forget. Beck broke my heart long ago, but when he asks me to help save his daughter I know I’ve landed into a whole heap of trouble.
Also Included in this book - The Werevamp Diaries: Moon Dust
I might not be a Neutralizer like my friend Lynlee, but that doesn’t mean I get to take it easy for Halloween. When Magical And Undead Creatures cross paths with humans, sometimes they get hurt. That's when Rhiannon, doctor to the paranormal world, steps into action. What I never expected was to get an urgent call from my secret crush.
Risking my life to grant him a favor might not be the smartest decision I’ve ever made, but sometimes love means taking chances.
Author's Note: "Lynlee Lincoln PG" is a version of the Lynlee Lincoln Series for younger audiences or for those who prefer their fantasy without strong language and sex scenes. The storyline is the same as The Lynlee Lincoln Series.
Where are the endings? The order in which these novellas appear is a bit odd. The prequel is last, when it would make much more sense (both sequentially and for reading "enjoyment") to have it come first. When I first started reading each of these novellas, I was struck by the originality of the stories. I liked the whole idea of Lynlee being a Neutralizer (which is basically a witch who "handles" the messes made by her charges (the MAUCs- Magical And Undead Creatures). She appears in the prequel (The Trouble With Holidays) and the named story (Trolling for Trouble). Lynlee's friend Rhiannon stars in the second novella (The Werevamp Diaries: Moon Dust) as a doctor to the paranormal.
In Trolling for Trouble, we meet Lynlee as a functioning Neutralizer, and we see the tiniest description of what her job entails and the author had some really interesting ideas. I wanted more. There was such potential for an interesting story there! Then Beck (a former love interest of Lynlee's) enters the story with his two children, and I was left wondering what happened. The story says that Beck left Lynlee after an awful break-up because he couldn't handle having a relationship with a witch, and supposedly Lynlee is still extremely hurt and upset over this. Apparently all it takes is one scene in Lynlee's kitchen where Beck breathes into Lynlee's ear to make her want to hop right back into a relationship with him. Huh? I guess Beck isn't as broken up over his wife's passing as he states he is. Additionally, he doesn't really bat an eye at finding out that his wife wasn't a regular human as she'd claimed to be, while he'd dumped Lynlee for this. Beck was an extremely shallow character. Lynlee helps the little family deal with their issue (and the way in which she convinces the troll to leave is actually rather blah and doesn't even involve magic!) and then the story just... ends. No explanation of what happened between Beck and Lynlee in the past, no actual depth, and no resolution.
In The Werevamp Diaries, Rhiannon is called upon by her friend Sandy (a Sandman) to help when a child he is babysitting becomes ill. I liked this story the best of the three, as it felt like it had an actual plot. Unfortunately, it also suffered from the same ending fizzle. I wanted to know more about Rhiannon and Sandy!
In the prequel The Trouble With Holidays, Lynlee is a Neutralizer-in-Training. She is watching over a young were on a college campus when she meets Beck. The two of them begin a steamy little romance, and I thought, Aha! Now I'll get to see what actually happened between Lynlee and Beck. Did I? Nope. The story leads right up to where Lynlee is going to talk to Beck about what she actually is and does, and then it just... stops.
There is a preview of the next novella in the series at the very end (Tangled up in Trouble). I read that one, hoping to finally see an explanation of what the author keep alluding to as the great break-up between Lynlee and Beck. Alas- all I got was a cutesy domestic scene where Lynlee is beginning to begrudge Beck his kids, and a "Well, that's another story altogether" to describe the actual break-up. Ahhhh! These stories could have been the start of something great if the author had given the characters a bit more depth, and had actually written in some endings and explanations. Sadly, I don't think that I'll be continuing on with the series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
This was a really short read. I did enjoy it but I wished there was more meat to the story. I had a hard time believing Beck was all of a sudden wanting a relationship with Lynlee when he left her so abruptly years before.
Lisa's review of Trolling for Trouble : MAUCs Series one By Olivia Hardin
I have followed the writing of this great author Olivia Hardin with her first series Bend-Bite Shift Trilogy with book one being Which Way Bends and book two Bitten Shame and she has a short story in the anthology Cupid Painted Blind and in new release Once Upon a Midnight Dreary. Olivia takes great care in giving each of her characters a 3 dimensional life. The story is always on a fast pace where it makes the reader unable to put down in fear of missing something. I have to say I usually hats novellas because it is like sending a kid into a all you can eat candy buffet but telling them they can only have one. Olivia made that bite so tasty and tantilizing that she made me droop for the next full length book in the series that will come out in spring of 2013. I for one cant wait. In this book Lynlee is witch who's job it is to police the supernatural community in order to keep them safe from humans knowing about them. In walks a man from her past Beck. Can she help Beck's family without tearing herself apart in the process? Does Beck's kids awaken something inside her. I highly recommend everyone follow this amazing writer in her current series and future ones. Thank you Olivia Hardin for giving us readers an amazing escape to our everyday lives.
This might have had potential but I'm not exactly sure what it was supposed to be....a non-linear, loosely connected book of short stories with commentary inserted? Normally I would move to the next book in the "series" to find out more, but I feel like this just isn't for me if the next one is going to be in the same format. Might be helpful for readers to frame the format up in the description so we know what to expect.
This short was freaking awesome! I am really glad that I made the choice to read it because now I will be stalking the authors website to find out when the next book in this series comes out. I loved the new fantasy world that she has created and can't wait to read more!!
Troubled! is all the Lynlee Lincoln Series without the vulgar language and explicit sex scenes, which I greatly appreciate. If these stories were better written about the women actually acting as strong and independent and with their actions, and thoughts, proving that, I would recommend this series to my great-grandkids.
Table of Contents was poorly done. The individual titles are either labelled as Trivia (the author's comments) or not listed at all.
Trolled! #1 - This is my first read by this author and I liked and disliked it. I liked the children and the family unit. I disliked that there was not much to the plot and characters. The ending and Beck's love were rushed and his flip flop about magic was not believable. 3*
Mooned! #2 - This short story picks up on the same day as Trolled ends, October 31st. Better storylines and descriptions and more in depth characters. Rhiannon is my favorite character so far.4*
Tangled! #3 - A longer story but I found it a bit boring with both strong female characters acting weak and one constantly full of self doubt. When she loses control at the end, she's full of guilt. How can she feel that way when she was battling evil and trying to save lives?
This book had too much stupidity about being independent and strong women and acting like a doubt filled moron. This theme is too common nowadays and defeats the preaching of being strong and independent but acting the opposite. Even Rhiannon is shown in a poor light. 2*
Spelled! #4 - Picks up months after Tangled ends. I found the wildfire scene hilarious. One wildfire covering both AZ and TX, burning for weeks. Not familiar with either state, huh, and what happened to NM? There's a stick in the spokes for both to cause jealousy. Not much of a story to interest me. 3*
Reaped! #5 - Picks up months after Spelled ends. This story paces too quickly and with the total immersion into the story, the end is too soon. Several events happen making it difficult to put the book down. Emotions run alongside characters of all sorts. There's a bit of a cliffhanger but the reader knows what happened. The trivia bit following the story is interesting, but I am a history fanatic. Seeing the difference between the population of Texas then and now is a sad eye-opener. 5*
Dreamed!#6 - Starts before the fight and is seen through Rhiannon eyes. I did not finish this story. Too much of the same, in too little time. It started out well and the part I read is four stars.
Vowed! #7 - Although I did not chain read this series, I saturated with too many, too soon. For me, perfect with a couple months spacing in between stories.
Olivia Hardin has a good imagination and has created a world of creatures that don't necessarily follow the old rules that we're used to. Having a neutralizer is a great idea. Lynlee Lincoln is basically a fixer for the world of the magical people. I don't know if Daywalkers exist in any other vampire myths. This was my first introduction to these wonderful chlorophyll eaters. The world of the mafia house was fun to imagine and the sexual tension between Beck and Lynlee made for some interest. What I had difficulty with is the disconnected way that the stories went. Having the Prequel in the middle made me feel I had a great deal more to go after finishing the prequel. I felt the first section of the story was cut short. The little section about the auto accident seemed like a preview of another book. Perhaps it is and I just got confused and felt it was part of this book. The story was interesting as it went but needed to be developed more. It would be good if we could get to know the characters better. Guess it was just too fast a read and a bit disconnected. The section on the author's thoughts was interesting. It added more to some of the ideas that popped up in the story i.e. the game with the score of 222-0. The origin of the Mafia House concept. Perhaps my greatest disappointment is that I felt I had been given a sample of a story rather than the complete story. Keep writing with your marvelous imagination, Olivia. Just give us more of it in a sitting and don't hold back from developing your characters. Your world deserves to be written in a nice long novel. Instead of having the two shorter stories of the magical friends, you might have expanded on each story. Rhiannon's story could have been expanded to be the entire length of this novella. Lynlee's story could have been a second novella. Probably the biggest thing to make this a less confusing read, would be to have the prequel in the beginning and then just go on smoothly with the story without a cut in the middle. I'd be interested in reading more about your characters at a later time. You're an interesting, imaginative author.
DNF Interesting premise. Unfortunately I couldn't get past a couple of things.
First, one minor character is a vampire who liked to party on Halloween and harass young women, assaulting them by touching them inappropriately. (Really? In this day and age when we know better? When we speak up against sexual assault?) Both of the main female leads had a laissez-faire attitude about it.
Second, this same vampire was described twice, once with each main female lead in different parts of the story, and almost word for word exactly the same. It was pointless.
Third, at the beginning of chapter six, one of the characters is in her wolf form, and another character places her clothes on the ground and turns his back, presumably so she can revert to human form and get dressed. All of a sudden it reads: "She didn't say anything else, just scooped up the last of her fried rice into her mouth then went to the sink and cleaned her plate." There's a bit more but what the actual heck? Was there no one reading this book for accuracy or editing purposes?
This is the perfect happy, light, and fun read I needed. I read a ton of true crime and sometimes it almost puts me in a bad mood. This series was the perfect break from my regular reading. We meet Lynlee, who basically protects magic beings secret identity. But before she is a Neutralizer she is a girl who fell in love. The only problem is her love may or may not be crazy about her magical abilities. We are also taken through Lynlee’s social life where we meet her friends and the charges that depend on her as neutralizer. I enjoyed the first installment so much I bought the first four books! If you want some light hearted fun, wholesome adventure, and just enough romance this series will be absolutely perfect for you.
With two main characters, the authour chose to chop and change from one to another. Throughout each persons time the authour also chopped and changed locations, people being talked to, situations and more. This didn’t make any sense to the story and I’m wondering if it was proof read at all. At one point I wondered if I had mixed up the characters or the authour had, I didn’t bother to go back to re read to find out.Add these things to the book seeming to start a 1/4 of the way into the story and finishing 3/4’s before the finish of the story. No doubt to get people to purchase the next in series. I’m definitely not going to bother. Glad it was a freebie and I didn’t have to pay for this…whatever it is.
I read the Nook version and it had a lot of formatting issues... a chunk of text would appear randomly several pages before it was suppose to. This occurred in at least three or four places. When you add that to the format of the story bouncing back and forth between two different characters, it made things rather confusing. Also, other than the two characters being best friends, their two storylines didn't actually connect. It felt like there should have been two short stories instead of just one. Just made it feel like a contrived marketing ploy to get people to read more of the series. That said, the stories themselves weren't bad.
Lynlees job is to smooth over supernatural stuff ups and to keep them hidden from humans
Lynlees job is a neutralizer, but halloween is supernatural hell especially when neutralizers have to clear everything up and keep sups secret. She discovers two children scavenging through her refrigerator. Beck pleads with her to help save his daughter, This is the man she loved with all her heart who dumped her. She decides to help them , its not the kids fault there father ran from her. While helping Lynlee gets thrust into a heap of trouble. A good book that flows well, where you really feel what the characters are going through emotionally 🥰
The book was a fun, fast read. I skipped over the part about sex, but I think there was only one section about it. I had a hard time getting into the characters when it flipped back and forth, and then it went back in time and then back to the present. So while I didn’t appreciate the structure of the story, the story itself was interesting enough. It was a bit too fast paced and hard to really connect with, but if you’re just looking for a simple paranormal read (and don’t mind the sex), this could be the book for you!
Lynlee Lincoln is a witch that fixes problems involving the paranormal. It keeps her busy on certain holidays such as Halloween when ghosts, and other magical creatures get into trouble or cause trouble! She works alongside other paranormals that fix things. She has never fallen in love until now and the difficult part is the man she has fallen for appears to be a normal human that doesn't like witches. This is a short book that has promise but could be a little less frenetic! A fun read nonetheless with a bit of romance to go along with all the rest!
“Trolling For Trouble” is set a decade after “The Trouble With Holidays” - not to put too fine a point on it Beck Hale and Lynlee Lincoln didn't last. Now he's back in her life, along with his two children, one of whom is a magical nymph. Turns out there a Troll who need re-locating fast from near their home. Done and dusted in a couple of pages. Again there is a problem with dodgy editing, oddly enough involving the same misspelled word - “That was enough to peak my interest.” It's piqued I tells ya! It's very short but it does have some nice emotion and a good heart. 3 Stars.
I received a copy of this book from Booksprout and I voluntarily leave my review. This is the 1st book I’ve read and reviewed for Olivia Hardin and I loved it. This story is about Lynlee and Beck, Lynlee is like a cop but she deals with the paranormal community. Beck is a man from her past who has a couple of kids. This is a short story but it had everything u need in a really good story, I enjoyed the characters and the storyline. Really good read and I recommend this book.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. This is a new author for me but it was an interesting read. The characters are well written and the book is an interesting mix of characters that blend together.
What a fun and fast paranormal read. This was full of some awesome paranormal creatures and the characters were so fun. I loved Lynlee, she was a feisty and determined witch that worked to keep order among the paranormal. Chaos is a plenty in this book and in her life. What happens when she comes home to find two children in her home and discovers they are from a ghost of her past.
I was kinda lost. I think the 3rd story should b 1st since it was the beginning of the relationship between beck and lynlee. And the 1st story should b the 3rd. I don't understand what exactly happens 2 Jack's wife other than she died. And it needs 2 say what kind of nymph they r since there's a few different kinds. So far other than those it's pretty good.
I like the unique job that Lynlee has. Having clients is a unique way to be a neutralizer/Witch. I understand breaking ties with family over personal choices. This story was funny and snarky. Just about anyone will enjoy reading about Linked and her supernatural clients.
This book must be targeted towards horny teenage girls. The plot and story line are thin and poorly developed with way too much space spent on the "hunky" love interest and their sex life. Good thing it is short or I wouldn't have been able to force myself to finish.
The flow of this book was just so odd. It’s essentially 2 peoples viewpoints but they regularly overlap each other and repeat the same information. Then there’s Beck. I hated this guy. He was a complete jerk. So after we see him acting like a jacka$$ we get a little of the before story. I could have cared less. Everything just felt so disjointed.
I was a little confused about the novellas and wasn't expecting two but they were both enjoyable. Lynlee is a neutralizer by trade, like a paranormal fixer. She is called upon to put her emotions aside and help her ex-boyfriend and his children when a troll terrorizes his daughter and their home. Their story is sweet and humorous.
Awesome quick read. Very entertaining, captivating, and interesting read. Wonderfully written with strong characters. I want to read more from this author. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I downloaded Trolling For Trouble as a free 60pg novella from Amazon. The stories were written well, but this novella was a compilation of three short stories--containing interlinked characters and a timeline--but nothing heavy or complex.
A powerful witch coming into her power with all the ups and down that is possible! Good story line with great characters. This is a definite must read!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Novel is cute - a little overly cute in fact - and a fast read. The characters have experiences that feel distant with a 2-dimensional feel. Nothing is wrong with this book and I finished it, but it's not enticing that I want to read more by this author.
This book held my attention to the very end. I liked that the book had so much action and description that I could not put it down. I read half of the book on the first night. This book made me purchase the sequel to find out what happens next.
The only thing I didn't like was the flipping between to main characters in every new chapter. Some lines didn't make sense as the characters weren't kept straight.
I will actually continue to series to see if it gets better and I want to know what happens now.