Shelving Magic Complete Series Boxed Set

Shelving Magic #0·5–8 omnibus

by Nellie H. Steele

Magic runs in the family. Unfortunately, chaos is Paige’s specialty.

When Paige Turner inherits her mother Reed’s knack for attracting magical disasters, she also inherits her mother’s unfinished business—protecting a library of dangerous magical artifacts and keeping the world safe from things better left shelved.

Armed with quick wit, questionable luck, and a snarky teacup dragon named Dewey, Paige faces an ever-growing list of magical artifacts, vengeful undead, interdimensional mishaps, and more surprises than she’s ready for.

But it’s not just about survival. Somewhere in the chaos lies the key to rescuing her mother, Reed, whose mysterious disappearance left Paige to pick up the pieces. As she fends off magical calamities and shadowy enemies, Paige learns that protecting the world isn’t just about wielding power—it’s about finding herself along the way.

This complete series includes all eight laugh-out-loud books and the prequel novella that started it all. If you love slapstick humor, quirky characters, and fantasy worlds brimming with unpredictable magic hidden just below the real world's surface, Shelving Magic is your next binge-read obsession.

Grab your copy, and get ready to laugh, gasp, and cheer as Paige turns magical mishaps into heroic triumphs—one disaster at a time.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Paranormal, Magic, Fiction

2806 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 27, 2024

About the author

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!

Check out all Nellie offers at www.anovelideapublishing.com/novels, sign up for our newsletter to get the latest news about book releases or like us on facebook (facebook.com/anovelideapublishing) to keep up with us!

Reviews

[Jo]

why did I read this

The constant to and fro between the two main characters is incredibly annoying, to the point I skipped whole pages to move along with the plot more quickly. I found that some plot features had a lot of detail and others were just skipped over at the expense of the dialogue. All in all I’m not really sure why I read all the books in the set, but I won’t be revisiting this author.

[Michele M]

Was very cute but there a few things that got on my nerves... like the constant use of OMG and Dewey and him kinda being 2 faced

[Mary Ann]

Honestly, it was a fluff read, albeit a long one! I had to skip along sometimes because the banter between Paige and Dewey was just plain annoying. I did commit and finished all 8 books in the series, so yay for me! Silly and childish at times, but made for easy reading before bed.

[Dawnetta Ltlbit]

Lovely books

So much better than I thought it would be. Wonderful change of pace. Light hearted fun. Great change of pace for me.

[Cathy]

Overall good storyline but the bickering between the main characters was annoying and repetitive

[Leslie Schnelker]

Such a fun series!

[Amy McIntosh]

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.

[Liz]

I listened to the whole thing to find out how the story resolved. I did have to listen to the last couple of books at 1.7 times speed which was a general improvement.

The writing was very repetitive with lots of over use of phrases ("Sometimes, Paige... Sometimes" and "Oh em gee") and weird uses of uncommon turns of phrase: no one nods in this world, everyone bobs their head. No one frowns, their face pinches. No one blinks, they all flutter their eyelashes. No one has their mouth drop open, their jaw unhinges. These phrases became gratingly annoying throughout the course of the books.

Despite this, it wasn't terribly written and there was enough mystery and pacing to keep me listening. However it got a bit old how incompetent the main duo were, how many times Paige lost her glasses when she could have got contact lenses. I didn't get any chemistry between Paige and Devon, I really can't see how we're supposed to believe she really liked him.

The main storyline was wrapped up ridiculously quickly, in the last 1-2 hours of the whole 8 book series, and we never got an answer about Paige's magic that everyone seemed to be so scared of at one point in the book , wasn't she supposed to discover her magic and become super strong? Well we'll never know if she did.

I also didn't really enjoy the crossovers with Nellie Steel's other book series as I'd never read them so it just seemed self indulgent and pretty rushed. They had a lot of unlikely luck in finding the things they needed to find in each place - I kept thinking it was going to be something Paige's magic was influencing, but no.

Basically I feel like the writer was rushing to finish and so the pace of the last few books was all wrong and kind of just there to allow the story to end. Everything after the wedding basically.

Three stars because the story and writing were generally solid even if I found some bits annoying, and the ending was disappointing after investing all that time into it.

[V]

S vypětím všech sil jsem překonala všech osm dílů téhle série, která se mi zdála tak slibná a která má vážně hezkou obálku! No jo, nesud knihu podle obalu. Myslela jsem si, že to bude přinejhorším podobné jako ta čarodějnická cozy mystery série se špetkou knihovnictví.. No, tak ta knihovna tam byla fakt taková okrajová. Vykradený Flynn Carsen. V prvních knihách to ještě zachranoval Dewey, docela mě bavil, ale pak se z něj (v mém vnímání) vyklubal strašný smrad, který nechápe sarkasmus a furt má nějaké rýpavé připomínky. Možná na mě působilo jako trigger, že pořád říkal Paige, aby nejedla, nebyla tlustá, nestárla, aby si vzala Devina, který ji přes victim blaming a neustálé nerespektování "ne" dohnal k manželství... Achjo. Já vím, že je to jen příběh, ale jaké zprávy tohle vysílá? Že ženy si vezmou nějakýho "bad boy" týpka jen proto, že má pekáč buchet? Že největší projev "silné ženy" je, že se střemhlav pustí do nebezpečí, aniž by si rozmyslela, co vlastně bude dělat, jakou má strategii... Po čase už to bylo fakt vlastně docela nudné, pořád se něco dělo, ale jednak to bylo předvídatelné a druhak to příběh nikam neposouvalo. To, že se celých osm knih (bez prequelu s Reed) odehrává v rozmezí asi 4 týdnů, během nichž Paige tak stokrát uteče hrobníkovi z lopaty, vezme si Devina, kterého si vzít nechce a kterého ani nezná (jen je otravně "galantní" a furt jí něco podsouvá)... No, jsem ráda, že to mám za sebou. :-D Ted zas chvíli nějakou kvalitnější literaturu prosím. A já vím, že to má být oddechové. Ale stojím si za tím, že i tak se ty charaktery dají napsat, jako že mají mozek, srdce a vůbec všechny orgány na svém místě...

[Linda]

Okay folks, I read the reviews so I have only myself to blame. I'm not going to go into the reasons this series is bad. The reason being that I suspect this was AI assisted writing. Why? Not only the shallowness of the dialogue and oddly missing details of the plot and characters but the time frame of publication is a strong indication. The initial release date of the first books was July 14, 2023. The release date of the last books including the final book, was January 1, 2024. That's 6 months folks! I listen to audio books and they were released more recently but the boxed set is clocked at 81 hours & 21 minutes. Counting the prequel novella, that makes the main books nearly 10 hours each. Does anyone really think that a person could write a entire quality series in that amount of time. Well, yes, maybe she wrote them all over a number of years time and then published but that is not how it works. We all know how long we have to wait for the next book in a good series . . . Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong about the AI but it doesn't really matter since the dialogue in these books is so annoying, that they are torture for me to hear.

[Susan Wilson]

These have so much potential. They remind me of ‘The Librarian’ TV movies. But…….
When I Google searched these books Google said they did not use foul language, but it often uses “what the he**”, “OMG”, “D*mmit”, “sh**”. The books would have been so much better without this language.
But I'm also taking stars because there is so much filler that is not needed, it is really flustering actually and I just want to scream when are we going to get back to the actual story!
The two main characters Page, and Dewey, are really annoying!!
Honestly, I would not have kept reading if I wasn't curious about what happened to Reed (Page’s mother). It was also an included read on Audible so thank goodness I didn't actually spend money on these.

[Elura Coren]

I rated this 3 stars because the writing isn't that bad, and the story may very well be fully intriguing to someone who is not me. Unfortunately, I only made it 5 chapters into Origins before I just could not continue. Parts of the premise reminded me too much of the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, a series that went on long past when the author should have let the characters go and moved on to something else. It also felt a little too 'breaking of the 4th wall' among the characters. So, again, my DNF has nothing to do with the author's writing style. This particular story was just not for me.

[Kimberly Gordon-Bercich]

This an adorably sweet mystery series about Paige Turner and her sidekick Dewey Decimael (pronounced De-se-mall). A funny combination of Indiana Jones, The Librarian and Amelia Badelia. Paige is on a journey to discover the world of magic as a Librarian Archivist, herself and her family history. Nine books, including the prequel are part of this boxed set. I listened to the audiobook version. The love interest was awkward to the very end, there were jumps in the stories that were glossed over and yet it was still delightfully funny. Great for a light reading night.

[Aղցela W.]

This was a good box set that I found myself laughing out loud. When Paige Turner inherits her mother Reed’s knack for attracting magical disasters, she also inherits her mother’s unfinished business—protecting a library of dangerous magical artifacts and keeping the world safe from things better left shelved. Every book in this series was enjoyable the characters were fun and snarky. This was my first time reading this author and I did also listen to this series on audio. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling.

[Hans-Peter Drexel]

Suspense, action and lots of fun

Incredible heroine and unusual friends have one fantastic adventure after another. Wonderful detailed storyline of an accident prone heroine and her sidekick solving problems and fighting anyone and anything standing in their way to save her mum while getting helped by people which they meet along the way in one way or another. Totally awesome with lots of fun included this series is for anyone able to read a book.

[Susan Gail]

Meh.

I really tried to like this but it was just too childish. I felt like I was reading a series for young kids. I got tired of Paige very soon-even Dewey started to grate on me. I skipped to the end to see how it turned out. The writing and characters were the same at the end, so I wrote this review and will delete the books from my Kindle app to make room for something better.

[Susan Stevens]

Fluff - not a lot of content. Simplistic plot, minimal character development and the dialogue between the characters is annoying most of the time. The author states that this is not AI writing and is being certified as human, but how do you write 229 books in a lifetime? If not AI, it is formulary at best, and not a good one. I gave up half way through book 3.

To note, I had the audiobook. Thank goodness it was free!

[Sheri Cohen]

Action packed and full of fun!!

I really enjoyed this series. It was constant entertainment and action packed! I liked how she developed the characters' personalities, and she even included characters from her other book series. I even read some to my husband who isn't even into this genre, but he liked it! It was exciting and fun. I recommend it highly!!

[RoseLabyrinth Reviews]

I really wanted to give this a try. The prequel sent a low bar, and honestly even getting teasers of Ronnie in book one and the potential to see Lu again doesn’t make this worth my time. Too many other books to read! I gave it a good couple of chapters to catch my attention, but it didn’t land. Not a series for me.

[Alicia A]

Too much

The book was cute but the main character was unbelievably dense and often mean and overly snarky. I become tired of her antics early on but finished the book out of curiosity. I wanted to know if she ever gained any confidence or realized that the vampire was meant for her.

[D BEAUMONT]

Shelving Magic

This series was a fun, interesting read. The characters were a lot of fun, Dewey would drive anyone nuts but Devon was great, would have loved more about him and Paige together. The reason I only gave 4 out of 5 was the grammar and spelling errors made me a bit crazy !

[Rosalee Tabor]

Loved ones

This was the most enjoyable series I've read in a while. It was funny, exciting, sad, and full of adventures with twists. Thought that it kept you wanting to keep reading to know what was going to happen next. Great series.

[Lynette Gilbertson]

This is youth fiction

The plot, characters, writing level are all geared for young readers. They would find the silly bickering & repetition amusing. As an adult reader, it got old quickly.

[John Thompson]

Decent book overall
Enjoyable fantasy series with another of the authors series thrown in the mix too with the characters from the other book appearing and her name mentioned too, 4th wall stuff
2 main characters are incredibly annoying though

[Gravin]

Book had alot of potential but never fulfilled it. Wondering just how many times someone can be told to shut up when you're sneaking around so you don't get caught and fail before it stops being funny... Answer is around book 2. Dragon is beyond annoying by the end.

[Laura Mada]

I really enjoyed Paige and Dewey's story. All the magical creatures and adventures were fun and/or exciting. The final book in the series was a bit weirder than expected, and I wish it hadn't ended so abruptly, but overall, the series was good.

[Jessica Ney]

Cute series. Did I get tired of listening to the main characters argue and bicker all the time? Yes, yes I did. Did I continue to listen to the series because I enjoyed the plot and wanted to see how it ended? Also, Yes!

[Janice]

Ok, but dragged on

The series was on, but dragged on for way too long. Some of the storyline wasn't even wrapped up well.

[Shelly J]

Entertaining read

Loved this series. I laughed out loud many times and the authors imagination was amazing! The little dragon made it very funny.

[Michelle Baker]

Lots of assumptions about what we know as readers, and honestly, I got to chapter four and I was bored. DNF