This is book one of the Magical Midlife Death series and the main character is Raven St Clare, a witch with seemingly very little magic, whose main use is helping plants to grow in the floristry shop she works in with her friend Deanna. Their shop Powerful Petals is in Black Blossom County, but she has little to do with the local coven or the coven leader Brigid, after being told how completely useless she is! Brigid even tries to tell her she better get this latest requested job done asap, considering all the support the coven has given her, which is a complete lie and makes her mad. Her daughter Jana is due to come round to the shop shortly and Deanna waits to get order for dinner until she arrives. Once Jana arrives and she is left alone with her mom, a vampire comes into the shop, which is a bit unexpected, as the shop is known to be witch owned. The vamp had followed Jana into the shop and is paying her a lot of attention and states she would make a stunning vampire! Not something Raven is very happy to hear, although her daughter is a bit more understanding of different cultures, especially since her father is a drag queen and owns a popular club. The vamp doesn’t like Raven’s comments about him not drinking her daughter and calling in the death dealers to deal with him, and he tells her that Cassara, a very well-known death dealer, won’t be around to see what happens. And it will start with Raven’s death! Raven tells her daughter to run and pushes her towards the back door.
The vamp moves faster than Raven can see and grabs her and starts ripping into her throat and gets his fangs into her neck. He tells her she was just part of a job and was selected because she was so weak and her death would start a war! A former war saw the lycans wiped out, so war is not something most races would consider! Humans have far too many weapons that could wipe out any opponent and would ally with the witches easier than with vampires. Her daughter had thankfully escaped his reach and she could allow the blackness to take her, expecting death as vampire venom was toxic to witches and can’t be turned. That is until her unusual awakening in the mortuary, which almost gives the mortician, Dr Derek Johnson, a heart attack! He has to notify the vampire and witch leaders, as well as the human delegate William Francis, since her turning must mean she was mundane rather than a witch, but that isn’t true at all. Raven was definitely a witch, even though her daughter was human, having been tested by the coven leader herself. The ancient vampire leader of the Shadow Bone clan is Rene Roth and comes with the local leader Dimitri, whilst the witch high priestess Ursula Kane has come with Brigid. Both leaders fight to have Raven come back with them, but the witches would rather see her dead or experimented upon, whilst Dimitri would love her dead as well. Rene is somewhat surprised that Raven doesn’t succumb to his orders and is able to talk back at him, which as a new vampire, she shouldn’t be able to!
Rene is the overseer of all the vampires in the country and has taken Raven under his protection, and made his lead death dealer, Cassara James to be her mentor and to ensure she is trained and kept safe, or more importantly that humans are safe from her! Everyone wants answers and the fact she was a witch and has been turned successfully, has made a unique problem for the rest of the covens, in case it could happen again. It never has, the witch always dies, and so what is different about Raven? There is a group of vampires out there trying to start a war and hers was only the first death they were to expect, except it hasn’t gone exactly as they wanted. There was to be a conclave meeting of all the leaders in the next day or so, but Raven’s transformation has brought it forward and Raven is asked to attend with Rene. She feels something is wrong and they will soon find out what High Priestess Ursula has planned and who she considers Raven to be, from a prophecy of the witches. Rene has been changed by meeting with Raven and Cassara is amazed at his reactions, something that is hard to even see, but she knows him well and he was on his way to being completely inhuman and needing to be ended, before he would kill without control, as happens to many that live really long lives. Something has shifter within Raven’s magic and attempts to attack her have led to some unexpected surprises. Those that start all of this, have not given up yet the fight and bring it to Rene and his clan, with weapons that can harm vampires and would probably kill Raven. The fight isn’t over and it is clear those heading the attack are not the ones who are behind this plot and they must figure out who is responsible, to be able to stop their plans! So much more to go and I can't wait to read the next book and find out what Raven, Rene and Cass get up to and how her powers expand and affect those around her. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.