She’s got a lead to find her missing mother. But she’ll have to marry a vampire to follow it. Will it lead to happiness or death?
Struggling to wade through the false leads, Paige Turner and her teacup dragon partner, Dewey, finally stumble upon information that could lead straight to her missing mom. The problem? She’ll need a magical artifact that she can only secure by marrying a vampire.
As she grapples with the idea of a loveless union, a rival challenges her claim on the handsome vampire, igniting a fierce conflict that spirals into an all-out war.
Torn between her longing for answers and the perils that line her path, Paige is thrust into a deadly game where marriage might be lethal. Will Paige and Dewey vanquish their goes and claim the key to her mother’s whereabouts? Or will her forced walk down the aisle lead to her undoing?
Fans of Warehouse 13 and The Librarians will love this comical caper in contemporary fantasy.
Buy Shadow Witch now to continue the search today!
Nellie H. Steele lives in the South Hills of Pittsburgh with her family and her many fur-babies. When she isn't writing, she enjoys teaching Statistics at a local university or watching her dogs and cats play in the yard.
Nellie is the author of the Cate Kensie Mystery Series, a cozy mystery series following the adventures of Dr. Catherine Kensie, a history professor turned Scottish Countess, and her beloved dog, Riley, as they navigate their new lives in their quirky Scottish highlands castle, solving mysteries along the way! She is the creator of the Shadow Slayers series, a suspenseful series with a supernatural twist! Follow the Shadow Slayers through time as they fight to banish darkness from the world. Nellie also writes an adventure series, Maggie Edwards Adventures. Follow Maggie Edwards as she travels the world solving mysteries and finding unique treasures!
The story would be interesting without the constant repetitive bickering between characters. Paige the main character keeps repeating the same old sentences. A woman in her thirties constantly cries or chews her lip or wrinkles her nose. As much as I think the story has potential it is not executed well. I’m not sure if the author’s intention was to make the characters this annoying. The little dragon has changed from a lively companion into an annoyance very quickly. Not sure what the benefit is of the repetitive bickering between Dewey and Paige apart from taking up the space. They constantly argue the same points, even the same sentences. Needless to say it is a struggle to finish
Great Premise, Terrible Execution, and Somehow It Gets Worse
Full disclosure: I only listened to this series because it was available for free on Audible for a while, and I wanted some cozy fantasy/cozy mystery fluff between more intellectually challenging reads. Had I paid for these books, I would have been even more disappointed. I would not recommend spending money on this series.
I am giving each book one star. Had the series gradually improved, I probably would have landed somewhere around 1.5–2 stars overall. Unfortunately, the things that annoyed me in Book 1 did not disappear or improve. In many cases, they became more pronounced and more irritating.
For readers who love the immersive world-building and character development of authors such as Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, Matt Dinniman, Leigh Bardugo, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Neil Gaiman, and She Who Is a TERF and Shall Not Be Named, this series may be especially painful to get through.
I do not recommend these books. I am posting the same review on each installment because my criticism applies to the series as a whole. And yes, I listened to all 8.5 books, fueled almost entirely by sheer, unadulterated hope that the next book, or eventually the series as a whole, would somehow get better.
It did not.
So Much Potential, So Little Done With It
The premise had the potential to be fantastic. A magical library filled with dangerous artifacts? A tiny dragon sidekick? Supernatural mysteries and adventures? Sign me up.
Unfortunately, that promising idea is buried beneath stagnant plots, underdeveloped characters, lackluster world-building, simplistic and repetitive writing, and an increasingly formulaic storyline.
Instead of becoming more immersive as the series progresses, the books recycle the same handful of conflicts, jokes, character traits, and plot devices over and over again.
Eight and a Half Books With Very Little Growth
This entire 8.5-book series could probably have been condensed into three well-written, immersive books with stronger character development, tighter plotting, better world-building, and significantly less filler.
The writing is simplistic and painfully repetitive. The same descriptions, adjectives, mannerisms, jokes, phrases, reactions, and conflicts are recycled so often that they become distracting. Why expand the vocabulary or find a new way to describe something when the same one or two descriptors can apparently carry you through eight books?
The library puns also wear out their welcome quickly. I like a good pun. I do not need eight books of them.
But the repetition goes far beyond the prose. The biggest problem with this series is that nothing meaningfully changes.
I can forgive a flawed protagonist. I can forgive an inexperienced protagonist. I can forgive characters making terrible decisions.
What I cannot forgive across an eight-book series is characters who repeatedly make the same mistakes without ever meaningfully learning from them.
Paige begins immature, reckless, argumentative, clumsy, and inexperienced. Eight books later, she is still immature, reckless, argumentative, and clumsy, and somehow behaves as though most of her previous experiences never happened.
Dewey begins sarcastic and irritating. Eight books later, he is sarcastic and more irritating.
The plot begins formulaic. It stays formulaic.
The world begins shallow. Throwing more creatures, magical objects, portals, curses, and supernatural problems into it does not make it deeper.
That's not character development. That's hitting the reset button at the beginning of every book.
And that's what makes the series so frustrating: there really was a good story buried in here somewhere. A magical library protecting dangerous artifacts is a genuinely fun premise. With tighter writing, stronger world-building, actual character growth, less repetitive banter, and about five fewer books, this could have been an entertaining and immersive cozy fantasy adventure.
Instead, I finished all 8.5 books because I had already come this far and kept thinking, Surely this gets better.
It did not.
Paige Is a 34-Year-Old Woman Who Acts About 13
Paige is supposedly a competent, intelligent, 34-year-old professional woman who becomes a super-special magical librarian.
Unfortunately, she has the emotional maturity of a spoiled middle-schooler.
She throws fits. She pouts. She whines. She cries. She stomps her feet. She bickers with literally everyone. Her reactions are so wildly disproportionate that there were times she seemed less like a woman in her mid-30s and more like an overtired toddler who had just been told she couldn't have a cookie.
I have three daughters. None of them were ever as whiny, immature, or ridiculous as Paige.
And this isn't simply an early character flaw designed to give her room to grow.
That's the problem.
She doesn't grow.
The same behavior continues book after book after book.
Paige Is Also DUMB
And I mean capital D.U.M.B.
This is especially frustrating because the story repeatedly tells us Paige is intelligent, capable, increasingly experienced, and uniquely qualified for her magical role.
Her actions tell us something entirely different.
Nearly every book follows some variation of the same pattern:
Paige receives information or a warning. Paige ignores it. Paige makes an obviously terrible decision. Paige ends up in a dangerous or life-threatening situation because of that decision. Paige escapes through some combination of dumb luck, someone rescuing her, or an incredibly convenient solution.
Then she does it again.
And again.
And again.
Repeat seven or eight times, end the book, and start the exact same cycle in the next one.
Her recurring incompetence never turns into mastery. Despite supposedly gaining experience, she continues ignoring explanations, walking into obvious traps, failing to communicate critical information, and behaving recklessly in situations where she absolutely should know better by now.
Eventually, it becomes difficult to believe this woman should be trusted with a library card, much less magical artifacts capable of destroying the world.
And then there's the clumsiness.
Good grief, the clumsiness.
We get it. Paige is awkward.
But seriously, how many times can one person's glasses fly off their face and leave them practically blind because they tripped over something?
What starts as a quirky character trait becomes another joke beaten so thoroughly into the ground that I wanted to bury it there permanently.
Dewey Somehow Gets More Annoying, Too
Paige's "partner," Dewey, is a teacup-sized dragon whose character arc appears to have been built around the challenge of making him progressively meaner and more insulting toward Paige.
The two of them bicker constantly.
And I mean constantly.
Their exchanges can go on for pages. Paige says something. Dewey makes a sarcastic comment. Paige gets offended. Dewey doubles down. Paige tells him to stop. Dewey says something else. Paige snaps back.
Repeat indefinitely.
Archie Bunker would eventually tell these two to knock it off.
The sarcasm stops being funny very early because the "snark" keeps circling the same handful of arguments. Instead of witty banter between characters who genuinely care about one another, they frequently sound like two people who simply cannot stand each other.
Most stories use a sidekick or secondary character to complement the protagonist, offer another perspective, contribute a useful skill, or help drive the story forward.
Dewey mostly exists to screw up magical concoctions, insult Paige, make sarcastic comments, and behave as though he's intellectually superior to everyone around him.
After eight books, I still couldn't tell you why these two supposedly enjoy spending time together.
Every Fantasy Creature Ever Invented Apparently Lives Here
The world-building is another enormous missed opportunity.
Rather than choosing a smaller number of supernatural creatures, magical systems, cultures, or threats and developing them into something interesting, it feels like the author looked up "List of Fantasy Creatures" and started checking boxes.
Dragons? Sure.
Vampires? Throw them in.
Witches? Obviously.
Ghosts? Why not?
Time travel? Absolutely.
Portals? Yep.
Some other supernatural creature we haven't used yet? Toss that in too.
Instead of making the world feel expansive, it makes it feel random.
There is an enormous difference between building a rich fantasy world and simply filling one with fantasy things.
Shadow Witch is Book 7 in the Shelving Magic fantasy series by Nellie H. Steele. Our heroine, paranormal librarian Paige Turner, and her trusted research companion, teacup dragon Dewey, are on a mission to find Paige’s mother, who has been missing since Paige was born. A reliable lead has surfaced to locate her mother, but Paige must first acquire a magical artifact to help locate her missing mother, and to do that, she must marry a handsome vampire prince. The anticipation of marrying a vampire prince soon gets even more dangerous and complicated for Paige when she finds that another woman has laid claim to marrying the prince, and a fateful contest is required to determine the bride-to-be. The situation spirals out of control as Paige’s quest to find her mother becomes more complex and the dangers more deadly. I was captivated by the storyline as it progressed. The inter-character relationships were fascinating and well-written. The plot was gripping and held me hanging on to every word. The suspense built as the story took place, with mounting emotions of every kind being present, even romance to my surprise. This was a page turner for me, with action on every level and never knowing what was coming next. If you are looking for a fast-paced, action-packed urban fantasy, Shadow Witch is the book to read. I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Readers Copy
I enjoyed this penultimate book in this series and found the action much more exciting this time round. The bantering/bullying from the previous book had died down a little - it wasn't quite as constant as before, although there still was some!
In this one, Paige and Devon have finally agreed at what is to come of their relationship in order to help Paige find her missing mother. The only way they can really do this is to get their hands on a soul compass and the only one of those they know of is owned by none other than Devon's father, the day walking vampire king! Now they have to convince Dominic that they are willingly going to get married in order for him to hand it over. But...someone else doesn't want Devon to marry Paige and will do anything to stop this wedding! Paige has to prove herself and her love for Devon in order to win his hand. Not an easy task when she doesn't love him, or does she and she doesn't yet know it?!
This was a great read, with lots of travelling here and there to different realms, different places with lots of dangers and fun along the way. I loved all these little side quests they had to go on and although they bumble their way through most situations, Paige and Dewey make a great team. I does surprise me a lot though how forgetful they both are. Paige seemed to not take note of what Ivy's mother said about her powers and didn't do anything about it; she forgot that she could control beasts with her bracelet even when facing a dangerous foe; she forgot that she seems to suddenly suffer with Snow White syndrome!
I'm looking forward to reading the last book in this series to finally see what happens now Paige has found what she was looking for! Not long to wait either!
This is an entertaining urban fantasy adventure series. Great cast of characters and an entertaining storyline. Paige Turner is a librarian. Think the librarians warehouse 13 and thrown a twist of paranormal beings and creatures. It’s a mixture of all three. Page goes out and six out mystical objects to keep them out of the hands of people that could do major harm around the world. She is one of many librarians around the world and her and her partner go out and chase down these artifacts. She’s also searching for her mother when she was just a few weeks old. Her mother was also a librarian. With a help of the librarian and a few other friends she is on the hunt. Read and follow the adventure.
Paige Turner and Dewey Decimael are determined to do anything possible to find Paige’s mum but does that include Paige marrying a vampire?
As always things do not go exactly as planned for Paige and her teacup dragon partner, Dewey.
I love these characters and their adventures, they are so well written.
This is a really good read but be warned, as with the other books in this series, you will need to set aside some time to read it as it’s difficult to put down.
I can’t wait for book 8 to see how everything turns out.
Shadow Witch: A Magical Library Urban Fantasy Novel is book #7 in the Shelving Magic series by Nellie H. Steele.
Fake a marriage to a vampire you don’t love, get a magical artifact as a wedding gift, and go find out whether your mom is truly dead or alive. What could go wrong? This book was a wild ride. I expected there would be obstacles but never could have guessed everything Paige and Devon would go through. I enjoy the humor, especially the clothes shopping for Dewey. He is a treasure. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the next one!
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Ok, we are getting somewhere. I am looking forward to see where we end at. They are so close to finding her mom all the way to the end, they find her and now what? Where is the happy ever after? I love how there is competition for the hearts of the characters. I think we can all predict where this leads Paige and Devin lol.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
No tak tenhle díl byl zase slátanina. Paige je naprosto nesnesitelná, Duwey už mě teda taky začal pěkně štvát, a vlastně jediný důvod, proč to pořád poslouchám, je, že jsem zvědavá, jak to dopadne s Reed a jaké další magické nesmysly si tam vymyslí... :-D