A Trinket for the Taking

Magical Trinket Mysteries #1

by Victoria Laurie

This mesmerizing mystery series debut from New York Times bestselling author Victoria Laurie introduces the captivating Dovey Van Dalen, once the belle of 1840s Copenhagen, now charged with recovering magic property from mortals—whatever it takes.

Dovey Van Dalen has a gorgeous day planned for her 200th driving her new Porsche, admiring the cherry blossoms abloom in her adopted city of Washington DC, and a little pampering. But her boss has other ideas. A powerful artifact has been stolen, and he fears it’s causing chaos in the unmagical world . . .

The rich and connected Ariti family has suffered a string of suspicious deaths, with no signs of foul play. Yet each member has died in the way they feared most. As the enchanting agent most skilled at blending in with mere mortals, Dovey must find answers and retrieve the dangerous trinket.

There’s just one unexpected by the time Dovey arrives at the art gallery where the Ariti patriarch died, FBI agent Grant “Gibs” Bartholomew has taken control of the scene. Dovey needs his cooperation to investigate—but she’ll have to hide her abilities, and her true objective, from a man who uncovers deceptions every day. And as they inch nearer a deadly truth, both will face danger even the spellbound would be lucky to survive . . .

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Magic, Mystery Thriller

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 26, 2024

About the author

Victoria Laurie is the New York Times bestselling author of 32 books and counting. Over the past 16 years Victoria has created several series and a few stand-alone novels. Her mystery series include: The Psychic Eye Mysteries, The Life Coach Mysteries, and The Ghost Hunter Mysteries. She's also the author of two YA books, When and Forever Again, as well as a middle-grade series called The Oracles of Delphi Keep.

Currently, Victoria is working on the 17th book in both the Psychic Eye Mysteries and the 3rd book in the Life Coach Mysteries, along with also working to produce a brand NEW series called Spellbound set for release winter/spring 2020.

Victoria loves to connect with her fans, and you can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/Victo...

Reviews

[Billie's Not So Secret Diary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Trinket for the Taking
by Victoria Laurie
Spellbound
Mystery Fantasy Urban
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2024
Kensington
Ages: 14+

Dovey Van Dalen is a Mystic, transformed by Elric in 1840 after given to him by her own father to settle his gambling debts. Today, she is still tied to him by the spell, and not only does she still love him, she also works for him, and after a very powerful trinket, (a magical item), is stolen from a visiting diplomat, she is put on the case.

When investigating a suspicious death, Dovey runs into FBI agent Grant Barlow.


I requested this because the blurb kind of made it sound like vampires... It's not. This is about magical people who can turn humans magical and age really slowly. BUT... when a person is turned into a mystic they are usually 'owned' by their creators, who can release them. So Dovey is in love with Elric, the man who won her from her father in a card game, then turns her magical, and while they are intimate, he also has other women, including a wife that he hates, (and his wife hates Dovey and has tried to kill her,) but Dovey isn't allowed to have others because Elric is a possessive, violent, powerful Mystic.

Yeah, I did not like this ownership! (But I can see why and where it could go.)

The attraction between Dovey and Grant is typical especially since he is 'absolutely gorgeous', as it seems are all of the Mystics and main characters of this story.

But the story, the world, and the magic were interesting, and I wish there had been a little more backstory of the how, why, when, so to better understand how powerful and old some of these Mystics are. Then there is Dovey's pet hedgehog. Even though he's cute, I have suspicions about the real purpose of this little creature.

This is a good story with an interesting plot, world, characters, and a quick read at just around three hundred pages, but I have no interest in reading the next book in this potential series... Why? Because these people are materialistic.

I don't want to have to read pages about the fancy clothes; color, shape, fabric, brand, fit, etc that are in their closets and how they look wearing the outfit. I get having nice things, but this much filler was over the top and boring. I don't care about the struggles of looking for the perfect outfit in a closet filled with clothes that probably cost more than my house, cars, and what my family makes in a year (or more) put together. (I thought we were supposed to reduce our carbon footprint not encourage it.)

There is some violence and death, but not gory, and there is romance but not descriptive, so this book is suitable for readers fourteen and older. BUT I have suspicions there are going to be scenes in upcoming books that will change the age range.

(And it looks as if, according to GR, there is another book in this series already out, called 'A Spell to Unbind', and takes place at the same time as this one does.)

3 Stars

[Lauren Rymer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starting off with thanking my mom for seeing this book and thinking of me because of the cute hedgehog on the cover and the word “trinket” in the title. I do love my trinkets and the hedgehog was definitely the best part of this book.

I considered giving this book 2 stars! but as I told my friend, I can excuse bad writing when the story is good and vice versa. therefore, I cannot in good conscience NOT give this book 1 star. the writing was so repetitive and hyper detailed while still giving us almost nothing in the plot. it was so clear at some points that this book was a self-insert for the author, especially with the painstaking descriptions of every single outfit and “fashion as a language” or whatever. the plot was sloppy and the ending/reveal felt like I had tripped down a set of stairs and blacked out before waking up when the story was somehow over.

also, this was one of my first fantasy books where the female main character is the magical, multi-centuries old one in a relationship/situationship which I was like okay cool but just kidding we still had to have the strange, barely-of-age, patriarchal power dynamic relationship!! with like a weird, forced, one-sided open relationship?? and if she doesn’t age she presumably stays looking 18 forever?? but the descriptions/reactions others have to her imply she looks reasonably closer to 30??

maybe this will go on to be a series but this thing was full of random threads and infinite loose ends. like I don’t even really think 1 loose end was resolved. the attempt to tie up the mystery felt so lazy and retroactive. the relationship didn’t make sense, the mystery didn’t make sense, even the friendships barely seemed worth it. this is the longest review i’ve ever written and yet I still don’t think it encapsulates my disappointment and confusion with this story.

1.5 stars for Bits.

[meghann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I am hooked. I love all of this author's other series, so I was super excited to start this new one. This was such a fun and unique story. I really liked Dovey and the magical characters in her orbit. Dovey recovers stolen artifacts, balancing her use of magical objects with keeping the mortals unaware their existence. She's the best at what she does and truly enjoys her life. Until her most recent case has her questioning if the life she's lived for the past two hundred years may no longer be enough. The mystery kept me guessing, and ending had me on the edge of my seat. I am so excited to see what comes next for Dovey as the series continues. My absolute favorite thing about this book is her pet hedgehog named Bits. Absolute pet goals.

***Thanks to the author for the advanced copy and perfect Bits inspired bookmark***

[Library of Dreaming (Bookstagram) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I waited the whole book for the MC's super creepy relationship with her "binder" to be addressed but guess what! It never was! I guess the author thinks it's super chill for a thousand year old immortal to win an 18 year old girl in a card game, sleep with her, and then magically bind her to himself for eternity? And for him to insist she stay faithful to him and do his bidding while he cheats on her for two hundred years? Or it's only going to be addressed in the next book? I'm not sure I'll stick around to find out, unfortunately, although I enjoyed the writing and the world-building.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it so much ❤️

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love all the other Victoria Laurie books I’ve read so I thought I would love this one, too. There’s good structure here and the mystery itself is interesting, but the characters come off as shallow and vapid, with too many references to the clothes they wear and the cars they drive. This made the pacing seem off, with more time spent of this than the actual development of the mystery and the eventual finding of the killer. I haven’t warmed to the characters yet but there is another in the series so I will try but this wasn’t my favorite by this author.

[Caro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superficial, vain, self-insert "rich girl" pinterest board aesthetic Mary Sue FMC with an equally superficial, vain, dreamboat, trust fund love interest. Quite a bit of, more or less, racism (?) against non-magical people who are just less than and stupider than and useless compared to magical people. FMC was "bound" to an ancient mystic when she was 18 after her father sold her to satisfy his gambling debts that the prehistoric sugar daddy magically forced him to accumulate, which definitely isn't predatory grooming, and her binding prevents her from ever going against him or lying to him, or and he can physically harm her at any time if he pleases. And this isn't questioned at all. She's the other woman but somehow still upset that her dinosaur age daddy is married to an equally fossilized wife and has several over lover-victims on the side throughout the ice ages he's lived. But! Grandpa won't let her have her side piece Martha's Vineyard boy toy and she knows he'll be killed if she does, but it's okay because that's just how her jurassic lover is and she loves him for it *swoons*

The story itself needed a few editors. A better summary would be "somehow, something happens and Dovey somehow manages to put it all together" because nothing is explained and it all comes together right at the end, literally, when her PET HEDGEHOG THAT SOMEHOW STAYED IN HER POCKET FOR SEVERAL HOURS DURING A MAGICAL FISTFIGHT ACTIVATED HERMIONE'S TIME TURNER TO THE EXACT MOMENT SHE NEEDED TO INSTANTANEOUSLY DEVISE A NEW PLAN TO SAVE THE DAY.

There was fr a lot of potential and it was entertaining, but the plot as it stands, the characters, and the writing are sooo unbearably ridiculous.

[Sherri · Rating 5 out of 5]

***I received an ARC from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review

Dovey Van Dalen, a mystic who is charged with recovering magic property from mortals no matter what it takes, plans to spend her 200th birthday pampering herself - once she has dropped off her latest recovered object that is. However, once she arrives at her place of employment, her boss assigns her a new task. A powerful artifact has been stolen, and he fears it’s causing chaos in the unmagical world. The trinket is a ring which, once a person has opened the box and looked at it, will die in the manner in which they fear the most. When the rich and connected Ariti family suffers a string of suspicious deaths, with no signs of foul play, Dovey knows that the ring is involved. She will have to race against time to find the culprit and the ring before more people die. The only problem is FBI agent Grant “Gib” Barlow, who has taken over the case. She will have to coordinate her efforts with him without revealing her magical abilities.

This is the first book in a new series, and I am already anxiously awaiting the next book in the series. I LOVED this book. I couldn't put it down. Everything about this book - from the premise of a group of mystics who work in plain sight in the D.C. area while trying to keep their magic hidden, to Dovey (who was delightful by the way) , to the potential romance between Dovey and Gib, to Dovey's pet hedgehog Bits, who quite frankly, stole the show. This book was so much fun, and the mystery kept me guessing until the very end. I highly recommend it!

[Sally906 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply A-MAZE-ING!

A TRINKET FOR THE TAKING is the first book in the “Trinket Mystery series” which is a new paranormal mystery series by Victoria Laurie, and I have to confess I am already hanging out for the next one.

The story starts with the MC celebrating her 200th birthday! Dovey Van Dalen lives in a scary, very brutal magical world that coexists unknown alongside “the unbound” (none magical) humans. Dovey was born human but on her 18th birthday in the 1840s, she was handed over to Elric to wipe her father’s gambling debts. Elric took her to his home that night, and took her to his bed, the next day he bound her to him magically, transferring into a mystic. Turns out that Elric was one of the most powerful Mystics in the world. Since then Dovey has been Elric’s “…constant companion, his concubine, his trusted advisor, his spy, and his loyal and faithful servant...” What she can never be though, is his wife. He is married to Petra, who is a cruel and heartless piece of work. Petra and Elric loathe each other, but their marriage was bound by an unbreakable enchantment which means they can’t kill each other; and have to protect each from being killed by other powerful mystics. The two of them are the leaders of the North American Mystic Court.

Elric assigns Dovey the task of finding a powerful artifact that has been stolen from a representative of the Russian mystic court visiting the USA. It’s believed to be behind the death of the head of the non-magical Ariti family. His death is followed by two more family deaths, and an attempted killing. Whoever is exposed to the stolen trinket is magically forced to kill themselves in a way that they fear the most. When Dovey starts investigating she meets a human FBI agent, the drop dead gorgeous Grant. He is investigating the deaths, and is equally attracted to Dovey as she is to him. This can’t be, as an unbound Grant is not magical and can’t be allowed to find out there is a magical world. Also, Elric doesn’t share, he may not be faithful to Dovey but that doesn’t mean she can stray.

Dovey is on a mission to uncover the truth behind why a non-bound family is being targeted. She must find the killer, retrieve the powerful trinket, and prevent Grant from discovering the magical world. Along the way she starts to question her world and her role in it.

The mystery was really, really clever! I honestly had no idea who the murderer was until the reveal. I was surprised, but in hindsight the clues were there and it all made so much sense. I loved the magic used in the story - no waving of wands, just the clever use of magically enhanced trinkets. I’m definitely going to be keeping an eye out for that silver dollar! The magical world was well imagined, both scary and appealing. And the most appealing magical thing? Her pet hedgehog named Bits - chief wardrobe advisor and all-round cutie.

Well done Victoria Laurie - I love, love, LOVE your new world

Thank you Kensington Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own

[Kara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a DNF for me.

It felt very Sookie Stackhouse, but we didn't get the slow door open into the world because Dovey is 200 and has been in the world for a while.

I was about 50 pages in when I just got the ick because Dovey casually references her sexual relationship with her master, Elrick (it's as close to Eric as you can get without being Eric) and says something like, I shouldn't be as cool with all this but it's never bothered me. I also didn't like how into fashion and cars Dovey was. I think it's fine to be into fashion and to like cars but I would hope that after living 200 years you wouldn't be as superficial as Dovey is, at least the parts I read. Like, you're old. You've seen some shit, you know that having stuff is nice but it's not the only thing that matters.

I stuck it out to about page 85 but I just couldn't come back from the ick.

[Becka Cloud · Rating 1 out of 5]

This started as a “it’s okay just not my style of writing” and quickly got to the point where I was asking myself if I really wanted to finish it. The author puts so much detail into things that aren’t plot relevant that it muddles the story and makes the characters seem annoying. It also suffers from name-brand syndrome, where the “high class” details are so now specific they will be dated in less than a year. Definitely not for me but I finished it.

[Jen (That's What I'm Talking About)]

Started January 11, 2025
Stopped January 16, 2025

A Trinket for the Taking is a paranormal mystery set in world with secret mystics and magic. Dovey works as a thief who obtains magic-infused objects for her powerful boss and lover, Elric. When a rival family reports a dangerous trinket stolen while in Elric’s territory, he tasks Dovey with finding it.

A Trinket for the Taking should be an interesting and exciting story; however, by the 16% mark I had to give up. One of the biggest problems is that Dovey tells the listener an immense amount of world-building information. She’s not contemplating or experiencing it; she’s just dumping it on the listener. It’s not breaking fourth wall, but in reality that’s exactly what’s going on. It’s an overload of information that could have been gradually dispensed instead of being told to the listener.

Narration: The other big problem I had with the audiobook is the narration. Dovey is a confident woman; however, the way Lewis portrays her makes Dovey come off as an arrogant know-it-all. Lewis draws out words and sentences, possibly trying to sound sexy or seductive, and it is just annoying. (think “dahhhlinggg”) Lewis adjusts her dialogue based on gender and ethic origin, but her males are not overly deep or different, other than the accents, which are not very good. Her performance comes across as overly dramatic.

Between the overly dramatic narration and the constant info dump, I couldn’t keep listening and DNF’d A Trinket for the Taking at 16%.

Rating: DNF

[Carla Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, and very entertaining. magic, magical thieves, magical killers. The FBI gets involved. A prominent family is being murdered one by one. Both a magical world detective and an FBI agent are both on the hunt for the same killer. The hard thing is the Magical agent Dovey Van Dalen has to do this while keeping the magical world of mystics a secret from the FBI while trying to work towards solving the case. Lots of action and emotional highs and lows throughout the book. If you love a great mystery then you should give this one a try.

[Christine Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unputdownable! The book is set in a world where immortal mystics live alongside unsuspecting humans. Dovey Van Dalen is one of them and is celebrating her 200th birthday when her boss and lover, the powerful Elric, is asking her to retrieve a magical object, which belongs to another court and was unfortunately stolen in Elric’s territory. This trinket is so powerful that it will kill anyone who looks at it in the exact way they fear most. Sure enough, it doesn’t take long before members of a prominent human family turn up dead in mysterious ways. During her investigation, Dovey runs into the handsome FBI agent Grant Barlow, and they join forces.
I was drawn to this story from the very first pages all the way to the end. I loved the writing style. The story is creative, suspenseful, funny and wittily told from the POV of Dovey. I adored the characters, especially Dovey’s pet hedgehog who made me laugh out loud. With the magical world woven into the ‘real’ world, I didn’t feel like reading a fantasy novel but rather a perfect blend of mystery, magic and romance. This book exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to the continuation of the Trinket series.
Thank you Netgalley, Kensington Publishing and Victoria Laurie for the opportunity to read this advance copy. The above is my honest review and my own opinion.

[Shawna Borman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It currently smells really good in our house. Be jealous. But anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of November, so it’s book review time! This month, I went with something more on the fantasy side. It’s a mystery, but with a pretty detailed magical system and some extra world building even though it’s mostly just a real world setting. A Trinket for the Taking by Victoria Laurie was released on Tuesday the 26th by Kensington Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

A Trinket for the Taking follows Dovey Van Dalen as she sets out to celebrate her 200th birthday in style. Unfortunately, work gets in the way when a super powerful and deadly trinket (magical device) goes missing. She’s tasked with finding it before the unbound (non-magical) world gets suspicious. It doesn’t help that the thief seems to be targeting a prominent unbound family. And to complicate matters further, she keeps running into a ridiculously attractive FBI agent and she can’t seem to escape him. Nor does she really want to, which is a whole problem within itself. Can Dovey figure out the case and retrieve the trinket before it’s too late?

The plot was pretty good. Entertaining. Standard combination of mystery and fantasy. Magical item must be found before death and destruction ensue. Oops, too late. Magical person teams up with plucky non-magical sidekick. Weirdness happens. Last minute saving of the day. Happily ever after… until the next book. But the pacing was off. The first two thirds of the book was loaded down with world building and character histories and it dragged. A lot. Especially when the same info was repeated two or three times. And because of all this excess information, the last third of the book felt super rushed since it didn’t have any. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of the information was necessary. It just could have been incorporated more strategically. But the three scenes when her hedgehog helps her pick an outfit are completely unnecessary. The first one was cute and by all means keep one scene for fun. But three? During which nothing important is conveyed? No. Either utilize the other two scenes to pass on relevant and new information or cut them. Otherwise, it makes the story drag. Aside from that, there were also a couple of deus ex machina things that made me roll my eyes. One of them made it apparent that a particular character was thrown in as an afterthought just for that moment instead of utilizing any of the existing characters. And the hedgehog in the pocket thing was random and not really necessary when the reader was already told that she had what it gave her. If it had been a surprise, it would’ve been cool, but she literally brought the thing with her in case she needed it. No hedgehog needed.

As for the characters, there were a lot and so many of them did nothing. For instance, there’s a perv at the elevator within the first couple of pages. He literally does nothing but ogle Dovey, then let her take the elevator by herself. And he never shows back up. It was weird. A lot of the characters could have been combined into a one or two. Mostly they do one thing then disappear. It’s annoying. But I mostly liked the main characters. Dovey is interesting. I don’t understand why she randomly falls in love at first sight. It’s creepy. But otherwise I like her. Gib is fun. Ursula could’ve been utilized more. And Elric is just a gross old dude. But overall, I enjoyed most of the characters.

The writing itself was fun. Despite the pacing issues and iffy characters, I read the book pretty quickly and didn’t dread picking it up after a break.

Ultimately, A Trinket for the Taking was entertaining while I was reading it, but not particularly memorable. I will pick up the next book if I see it, but I probably won’t go looking for it.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. A solid three. If you’re into magical mysteries, it’s worth checking out.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a resident of the DC Metropolitan region I was looking forward to a mystery and a book set in this area. I found the first couple of chapters engaging, but after diving in to more of the investigation I was struck by how incomplete the setting manifested in the story. Many places in areas local to DC or the names they are described as representing do not remind me of the DC region.

In the end, this plus the behaviors of the individuals in the story took me out of the story.

Second, I did not find the actions of the main characters to be entirely realistic or reasonable. The main character is one of those women’s whose entire purpose and motivation is in service to a man. That’s not bad if the writing and setting makes sense for that relationship. However, I don’t feel that the author did a good enough job establishing the why and how of the magic to make that reasonable.

I don’t think this book was for me. I love a cozy mystery, but I doubt I will continue with this series as I found the main character exhausting after the 7/8th chapter. I If someone is looking for a cozy fantastic mystery, there are others I would recommend before this one.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish. Did not care for any of the characters and the story wasn't engaging enough to keep my attention.

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this. There was so much that felt promising. I was excited by the idea of magic conveyed through trinkets, the potential animal companions (portrayed by the prominence of the hedgehog on the front), and the mystery in the background served by the coziness of those other aspects.

Unfortunately, the execution just didn't work for me. There was more detailed description of clothes, apartments, and cars than the magic system or any of the characters. The pacing was completely off, to the point that I noted at 93% in, with two chapters remaining, the main character still had put together zero of the dots re: the mystery. The rushest of rushed endings. And the very last scene has the main character and the unbound/human man that she's been lusting after the whole book apparently in love and returning to each other forever? Haven't even been on a date, but she'll "always come back" to him? After 200 years of slobbering over the man who basically enslaved her, she's finally gotten over that, in the span of a few days? Relatedly, got the ick that we never seemed to interrogate the main character being essentially sold at 18 to a magic man centuries/millennia older than her, slept with, and magically bound to him forever.

More than anything, just a bit disappointed that expectation was so far from reality, but that may also be a user error issue.

[Jaimes_Mystical_Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent cozy mystery! It took me a couple chapters to get into this one, but then I was hooked. I loved the overall concept of this book and all the magical trinkets. I really liked all the characters, and I loved how main character, Dovey, has a pet hedgehog. This book had a unique magic system that I appreciated and I really enjoyed the mystery that Dovey and Gib were working together to solve. This was such a fun and captivating read and a great start to a new series.

Read this if you like:

🦔 Magical trinkets
🦔 Mysteries
🦔 Unique magic systems
🦔 Complex characters
🦔 Pet hedgehogs

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.

[Ranjini Shankar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounding down. There’s promise in this series but this first book felt like it was trying to do too much. We are introduced to a whole host of characters that play no real role in the actual mystery, we get an introduction to the world but not deep enough to understand it, and a teleporting hedgehog who apparently is mostly used just to pick out her clothes.

The plot itself is interesting but the villain kind of comes out of left field because there’s not too many pages left for an actual investigation with all the explanations. My guess is as the series unfolds we will actually get more depth so I’ll be back for more

[Sue Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25⭐
First in a new series that's as entrancing as Dovey Van Dalen, the female lead in this modern day cozy fantasy. As the gorgeous 200 year old mystic, charged with retrieving magical trinkets from mortals, sets out to find and return The Promise, a trinket that makes someone kill themself in the manner that scares them the most. Along the way we learn about the magical world and meet plenty of interesting characters, including an ex-model FBI agent. Lots of fun and very entertaining! Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Paige :0 · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was entertaining, but I found it really hard to connect with Dovey, and because of that, I wasn’t very hooked. I wish that characters like Hermia and Elric, specifically, had more development and motivation because they had so much potential that I don’t think was reached. I also wished there was more to the relationship between Lavender and Dovey because it just felt like filler to me and added no purpose. Plus, I found many typos which took me out of the story.

[Doriana Del Pilar Cruz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

“A Trinket for the Taking” by Victoria Laurie was just okay for me. There were definitely parts I enjoyed, but the ending felt a little rushed and left me wishing for more explanation. It was an easy, quick read overall, but at times the details felt overly repetitive, which made some sections drag a bit. Still, it had moments that kept me interested. I just wish the conclusion had been stronger.

[Veronica Lavenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I loved how it was a mystery-fantasy, with the magic elements a major part of the story. Super unique, a totally random find, and so worth it.

This just came out late in 2024, so I know any future books aren’t on the horizon, but I hope there are more. I need more closure!!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probs a 3.8. I started/finished this on a flight. Super light and easy read. It was fun with magic and adventure. Mystics but not witches. Enjoyable but I had questions at the end of the book, not major plot holes but definitely feel like it leads up to a second book. Not a ton of character development with the MC but she wasn’t cringy so it was fine.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Victoria Laurie is my favorite author. I’ve said it 100 times and I’ll say it 100 more. I was lucky to receive an early copy that I will treasure forever. Victoria has a way with words and every one of her books completely engrosses me. I’ve never read a book with mystics but I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it. A mystery and a pet hedgehog I mean what else do you need?

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Victoria Laurie’s Ghost Hunters and Psychic Eye series, so I was so excited to see she has a new series out. But, it definitely didn’t live up to the other two series by her. (I don’t even put the Cat life coach mysteries in the same universe. I read them all, but they were just ok.)

I liked this book. It held my attention and I was invested in the characters and story. However, I didn’t love it. It fell flat in a few ways—it needed more world building. Yes, I know it takes place in our world, but I felt like I needed to know more about the world of the mystics. I also felt like other than Dovey and Gib, the characters were not very well developed.

I will say, though, I did not see that ending coming. I honestly had someone else pegged for the murders the whole time. And, I’ll definitely read the next book in the series. It’s a 3.5 for me, but not rounded up.

[Cara Conway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but not great kept me engaged but felt like their was a loss of potential.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light and entertaining, but not enough to make me want to read the next in the series. Most upsetting part was when she decides it's a good idea to wear suede in the rain.

[Lanina · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me longer than expected to read. I really wanted to like this book, but after finishing it and going back looking for the hints leading up to the twist I just...got more confused and frustrated.
It had a lot happening, but also somehow very little.


Very long, very spoilery rant ahead. I had to take notes for myself while trying to explain this book to a friend because the more I thought about it the more I found that bothered me.


Long sections of the book are spent talking about what she's going to wear, what other people are wearing, the decor of the places she visits, the food that she's eating, general gossiping with her friends that doesn't amount to anything. Then halfway through she's surprised that the FBI is a step ahead of her despite her being the 200-year old tracker and not having really looked at any of the locations or interviewed anyone at that point. All the way up until that last 20 pages with just two short chapters left she repeats ''I realized I was no closer to discovering the location of the Promise''

The explanation of how trinkets work is done twice only three chapters apart. A reminder when it becomes relevant later in the story makes sense, but so soon and so detailed in such a short amount of time feels like the author forgot they already talked about it.

There's an entire side-quest spent making a watch that never actually gets used, and doesn't really confirm even being received since he drops it before everything explodes.
It introduces a new enemy, who in the most hysterical way, shows up to kill her where she's been kidnapped, accidentally saving her, and then appears again during the big reveal moment wanting to fight over her issues that are completely irrelevant to the rest of the plot or anyone else in the room with her.
Lavender felt unnecessary, taking away a lot of time from the main story with her showing up at the most inopportune times, and was mostly just there to get a proper witchy battle into the finale. It was unintentionally funny. Her and Dovey interacting gave me some real Scott Pilgrim/Roxy Richter vibes.
''Can we not do this right now? I've had a really rough day''
''I'll see you later, but you won't see me, because next time I'll be deadly serious next time.''
The sidequest was mainly just a way to indirectly obtain the locket MacGuffin for one free do-over when everything goes bad.

Bits showing up in her pocket to save her after spending the entire book hanging out in her home picking out her outfits felt a bit deus ex machina, and while the moment was cute it had me going ''Are you serious?'' It wasn't really required, since the locket was already with her, and despite his little blips around at home, just showing up at the exact perfect time so far away was unprecedented and random.

There's an off-hand mention of Petra's son going missing and the girlfriend dying in an explosion that's never followed up on.

Petra in general is introduced as a villain of sorts in the beginning and then never heard from again.

There's an off-hand mention of Rasputin dying and the faberge egg that kept him alive going missing that's never followed up on.

There's an off-hand mention of Sequoia [or Sequoya, the spelling is a bit inconsistent] not being trusted and she goes off but we don't follow her or hear from her again [but the sneak peek at the end for the next book claims she 'retired/died' mysteriously so maybe that's a story for book 2?]

We're introduced to a girl interviewing for Elric, who later we learn survived the interview and was hired, who Dovey is suspicious of at first since she's new, but we later learn is Dex's partner, and...that whole thing just kinda happened and wasn't relevant beyond showing that Dex isn't actually into Ursula and we never really get to meet her...

I can't tell if these are meant to be red herrings that are never resolved, loose plot threads to setup a future book introduced way too early in the story to be memorable, or just world-building that sparks more interest in what's happening in the background than what's happening in the main story.

Her relationship with Elric is creepy and not really addressed, though you do you if you're into the whole teenager dating and basically being owned by a 2000-year old man I guess. Those dynamic kinks have been around for ages but they're just not for me. Ick. Very ''sell the devil your first-born'' vibes. At least she got to use magic out of it, even if she keeps mentioning how scary he is and how he's a huge threat, but only once confronts her about Gib to inspire her into getting the watch and then just kinda mopes at the end when he sees her...

There are moments where the whole plot felt like it could have been solved if the right questions were asked, looking back on it.
Kallis lied about anyone other than him knowing about the Promise and having access to his hotel and was just bringing an unbound girl into his world in secret teaching her little things, like evading his wards. Not sure how she of all people supposedly removed all of the return spells on it that were claimed to be difficult for even higher level mystics to remove and required a lot of time and effort. For a normal human seer that's a wild skill to have.
This all happening at the same time he's attending an event about keeping the existence of mystics a secret. He sure will have hell to pay for letting all that happen. If we ever get any sort of followup in the next book.

She used her little brainwashing coin on Hermia to be let in and was told to tell her about her aunt and uncle who died and at that moment had every opportunity to explain how they died, but that would be too easy. Hermia only works for a moment but she could get all the gossip from Gina pretty easily. I guess I'll chalk that one up to Hermia being more resistant to magical manipulation or something not explained.

Going into these kinds of stories my biggest fear is usually the romance, because a poorly written romance can ruin an otherwise good plot.
The romance itself is fine; not as clunky and forced as other stories I've read, but I'm still bored with the constant fawning over how hot a guy is.
In this case though it was the actual reveal that disappointed me.

You have a world of magic and...the crime is normal human drug smuggling.
You have a world of magic and...she's killing her family off so she gets a bigger cut of the money.
Hermia, for being a suspiciously great assassin, seems incredibly shortsighted and silly.

Is this meant to be a case where chess masters lose to complete amateurs because seasoned players know all the plays and are anticipating what their opponent will do next, but someone new who doesn't know what they're doing will do things that are totally unexpected and throw them off their game? Did Dovey truly suck as an investigator because Hermia was a fool, causing them to both bumble around each other the entire time?

I could forgive her if she was a normal human who stumbles onto a magic weapon that solves her problems. I can't really forgive someone who had close ties with a powerful person, who taught her all about magic, introduced her to the concept of magic weapons, and then uses them in the most uninspired ways.

The stepmom she hated and thought was a gold digger, I get that.

A bit weird to be killing off the members of the family who don't actually want anything to do with the business and aren't even living in the country you mainly operate in. Was Augie even aware the ex-husband was opening up business in the US? Was she just killing him as an excuse to bring the family into the country in a way that doesn't seem suspicious?

The estranged aunt blackmailing the rest of the family to reveal the secret I get wanting dead, but then why did they beat her up and demand money from her? And why did that assault seem unrelated to her actual death? And then why proceed to kidnap random Dovey and demand money from her? What money? Weren't you paying her to keep quiet about your business or something, why would she owe you?

We never get a followup if Kyrie and the cousins are caught after Dovey tells them to run.

I liked the reveal, but we had been introduced to so few characters, many of whom didn't survive, and so many side things that didn't get developed in any way to feel like possibilities, that it wasn't exactly surprising. I think she was a good choice, and could have been pulled off really solidly, but the explanations behind her motivations and the way the story builds up to it being her felt unorganized and incomplete. I can see why other reviews mention Dovey 'just stumbles into the answer'.

I generally avoid mysteries around drug cartels as they're just not my thing and I don't find them interesting. I somehow stumbled into this one, as nothing about it would ever lead me to suspect that's what I was getting.



I didn't dislike Dovey. I think the story being from the perspective of the 200-year-old magic user is an interesting take. I do think there's a reason why these types of characters are usually depicted as the villains rather than the heroes though.
Her personality is fine it grew on me more when she acted seriously, but she's not the type I really enjoy reading about. She comes off as vain and aesthetic-focused, and while she's smart enough to put the pieces together in the end, she flounders a lot of the time. She doesn't really seem to present those hundreds of years of experience and tracking skills, and it's easy to forget she's not just a young fashion snob who stumbled into a murder mystery. She judges people on how expensive their clothes are and how tall the men are. Why are the men all so tall?

This all sounds pretty negative, but I did finish this book. I wanted to finish it. I wanted to enjoy it. It has a lot of aspects that are really interesting. I just think this story didn't utilize its biggest strengths and introduced a lot of things that were left as dead/loose ends, abandoning a lot of the magic for a very typical human greed plot.

I'm giving it a two, because despite its flaws there are fun ideas here and the characters are decently written, even if the story is just not for me.
I'm debating on reading the sequel. Part of me wants to see if anything at all gets followed up on so I don't feel like I'm yelling into the void about loose threads here, but I'm also nervous it'll be more of the same things that frustrated me in this one.