Unpredictable Magic

Everhart Investigations #1

by Faith Hunter

Witches Angelina and Evan Everhart-Trueblood take a case that spirals out of control until the whole city is at risk in this exciting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Faith Hunter.

Angelina Everhart-Trueblood and her brother Evan run Everhart Investigations Inc., a PI firm in Chattanooga that solves paranormal crimes committed by supernatural beings. When their new client wants help finding her friend who supposedly disappeared during a reception at Angie’s aunt Jane’s winter residence, things get . . . complicated.

The client is not who she appears to be, and demons strike the city for the first time since the Demon War. On top of that, evidence is pointing toward the involvement of an overly ambitious vampire—who just happens to be Angie’s ex-husband.

As Angie and Evan team up with the CPD, they will have to dig deep into their magical reserves—and rely on some friends in high places—to rid Chattanooga of the danger creeping into their city.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Vampires, Magic, Paranormal

Kindle Edition

Expected publication July 14, 2026

About the author

Faith Hunter's Junkyard Cats novella series is available in Audible, eBook, and "ridiculously expensive" (her words) trade paperback books at this time.

Faith's Jane Yellowrock series is a dark urban fantasy. Jane is a full blooded Cherokee skinwalker and hunter of rogue-vampires in a world of weres, witches, vampires, and other supernats. 15 books and several compilations of shorts

The Soulwood series is a dark-urban fantasy / paranormal police procedural /para-thriller series featuring Nell Nicholson Ingram, an earth magic user and Special gent of PsyLED. 6 books

Her Rogue Mage novels—Bloodring, Seraphs, Host, and the RPG Rogue Mage—feature Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage in a post-apocalyptic alternate reality.

Faith is a full time writer who finally hired a housekeeper when the dust bunnies multiplied, She loves tea, Japanese Maples, and loves to cook.

Faith researches in great detail, and tries most everything her characters do. Research led to her life’s passions – jewelry making, orchids, Japanese maples (she has managed to collect over thirty), white-water kayaking, and writing.

She and her husband RV, traveling to whitewater rivers to kayak all over the Southeast. Whitewater Kayaking is her very favorite sport, discovered when she was researching her (Gwen Hunter) mystery book, Rapid Descent. She took a lesson and—after a bout of panic attacks from fear of being upside down trapped in a boat—discovered she loved the sport.

Under other pen names, notably, Gwen Hunter, she writes action adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. As Gwen, she is a winner of the WH Smith Literary Award for Fresh Talent in 1995 in the UK, and won a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award in 2008. As Faith, her books have been on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, been nominated for various awards and won an Audie Award with Khristine Hvam, among other awards. Under all her pen names, she has more than 50 books, anthologies, and complications in print in 30 countries.

For more, including a list of her books, see www.faithhunter.net . To keep up with her daily, join her fan pages at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/official.fait... and see her website blog at
www.faithhunter.net

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come upon release. Hopeful this continues in more books. I didn’t realize until I read the acknowledgements at the end that Faith had seemingly planned to stop writing after the last Soulwood was published and that someone convinced her to write for fun and not for deadlines again. I’m so glad they did, because this was such a great story.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars ⭐️

Okay. I actually took an entire day after finishing this ARC to try to figure out how I could put my feelings into words. The first, and I think the most important thing was that this book was MUCH too long. Seriously too long. I do not usually even know how many pages books have unless it gets to the point where I am reading and start to think, "How many more pages are left? " In my experience, that is NEVER a good sign. At almost 600 pages, this became a continual thought for me as I was desperately trying to finish this book.

But, to be fair, I do also need to mention that I am a huge fan of Ms. Hunter and I think that I have read every single book that she has put out. So yes, I had read the entire Jane Yellowrock series prior to this, and I was THRILLED to discover that there was going to be a spinoff with the Everheart siblings - a grown up Angie baby and her also grown up baby brother E.J. YES!

Where I began to have issues was with the fact that this entire storyline was EXTREMELY complicated. The magic system, the world building with the siblings, and the entire plot with the EEB's (demons) just got more and more confusing as the storyline unfolded. Honestly, as someone who has read at least 30 books in this already established world, it was really frustrating.

There were so many times that I had to reread entire paragraphs because I had no clue what I had just read. The storyline. The events happening over and over with these demon containers, branded vampires, elixirs, and crazy plots that seemed over the top and not really realistic in the way that people just “figure out” these crazy plots through no actual logical basis. I mean, I get it if that happens every so often in a new series, but this happened A LOT. Much more than I wanted to admit. I was LOST most of the time it I just decided to run with it.

Then there were the additions of the crazy amount of secondary characters. Oh. My. goodness. I had to severely concentrate to try to figure out who was who and when things did hit the fan, that became quite a big deal.

Okay, now the good. Ms. Hunter has created this well established world with characters that we have come to know and love over so many books, and it was so wonderful to have these characters drop back into this new series. While they were not at the forefront of the story, I loved getting snippets of Jane and Molly, the Consort and Alex and Eli. That made everything worth it.

At almost 600 pages, this needed to be edited down quite a bit but even with the length, I am still excited and eager to continue on with this series and see what is in store next for the Everheart siblings :)

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Ace for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. This book will be out for publication on July 14, 2026.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unpredictable Magic by Faith Hunter is the first book in her Everhart Investigations spinoff series and features Angie Baby and Little Evan all grown up. Twenty years have passed since we last looked in on Angie and E.J. Everhart-Trueblood and a war that threatened survival of the entire world has changed everyone. Jane Yellowrock is still the Dark Queen, Edmund is Emperor of Europe and Angie and E.J. are trying to distance themselves from vampire and witch politics and live their lives as autonomous people. Then in walks a client into their private investigation firm and the world is once again turned upside down. There is someone using demons out there and it takes everything their magic possess to figure out the endgame of their enemies. Their bodyguard, Walter, assigned by the Dark Queen is somehow mixed up in the mystery and as with most vampire plots, the threads are tangled and many.
I really enjoyed stepping back into Jane Yellowrock's world. It took me a minute to get used to the witch side of things. Jane had magic, but witch magic is different. We knew Angie was a magic savant when she was a small child. Now we get to see her come into her own. E.J. was a baby when we last saw him. Now he has trauma and secrets galore. The book was long, but it did not seem so because the story was so effortless. Faith Hunter fans should go buy this one right now.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Ace for the eARC in return for an honest review.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Ace for the chance to read this ARC!

I have mixed feelings about this book. There are things I liked: the characters, the setting and elements of the plot. There were also things I didn’t like: too long, too many characters and a complicated world.

So, first things first, I haven’t read any of the Jane Yellowrock books in a while. According to my Goodreads, I read 1-8, but that was years ago. I recall liking them, but I don’t remember much of the world. But since I did like them and I love Urban Fantasy, I figured I’d give this one a try. I finished it and once I got about 75% into the book, I did get into it. I think the author is a great writer and the world is so well thought out. I find it easy to love the characters.

This book was just so long. So, so long. And parts were repetitive. Also, I didn’t love the switching from 1st person for Angie and 3rd person for EJ. Very confusing. There were also so many characters to keep track of, I kept forgetting who was who. I think the main characters: Angie, EJ and Walter were great though. There is potential here for a great series. I just think the story needs to be trimmed down.

I’m giving it a 3.5 rounded up to a 4. Although I didn’t love it, I do think avid readers of Faith Hunter and Jane Yellowcard books will enjoy it.

[Abbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suspect I'm one of the few who have read this ARC from Netgalley without reading all of the Jane Yellowrock series (I read the first book in 2017, apparently, and didn't read any of the rest of the series).

I liked Unpredictable Magic a lot, though! The sibling bond between Angie and EJ was great. EJ's magic in particular was really cool, being based on music. Never thought I'd see the phrase "attack flute" in a book, but here we are. I liked most of the secondary characters (except Shiloh) and hopefully we'll see more of them in future books.

Also, Hunter did a great job of giving enough information about the world throughout that I didn't feel like I had missed out by not reading the Jane Yellowrock series. Sometimes when authors do spinoffs, you get lost because you haven't read the prior series, and that wasn't the case here.

I do think this book was too long. There were SO MANY BATTLES and a ton of moving parts. I get that it was a convoluted plot - maybe too convoluted. It could have used some editing down. And while I liked switching points of view between Angie and EJ, I wasn't clear on why Angie was written in first person, and EJ was written in third person.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed the ride, and I'm looking forward to seeing more in this series! And maybe I'll go back and try Jane Yellowrock again...

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ready for magic, vampires, witches, demons, supernatural beings, battles, unbelievable weapons and more, the urban fantasy Unpredictable Magic by Faith Hunter has it all. The story is built around Angelina (Angie) and Evan (EJ) Everhart-Trueblood who appeared as children in an earlier series. They are the godchildren of the Dark Queen. As witches their magical skills are out of sight, as you will discover as you dive into the story and now, on their own and hoping to stay that way, starting a PI firm to solve paranormal crimes. This becomes a big job as they find themselves at war when demons and crooked supernaturals attack their city of Chattanooga. The story holds many plots, many characters, and oh so many unique magical tools and weapons. You’ll marvel how the author develops how their abilities allow them to use these tools. Yes, as some say, so many characters and unbelievable plots might be confusing but the author really brings it well together and you’re invested in the success of the characters and the final event. It’s a great introduction to the planned series. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed. Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC and the introduction to the author.

[Margaret Lemus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love when authors do things like this. I love continuous worlds with multiple series that are connected. You do not have to have read the other series in this world (but they are fantastic and you should!) to read this one, though! The FMC and MMC are brother and sister, and witches both with unique ways they use magic. They have almost royalty status through their family connections, but left them behind for a normal life after a war. Together, they opened up a PI firm. If you’ve read the Jane Yellowrock series, the MC’s will be familiar as the children of her best friend, Molly, Angie Baby and Little Evan as adults.

Fast-paced, chock-full of magical action and battle scenes with witches and vampires alike. In this world, vampires mean complex politics and long-game style maneuvering and we see some of that planning come to fruition throughout the plot. Some found family starts to build and there are some fun side characters. Plus, a small romantic thread starts to bear fruit, but this is a straight urban fantasy (not paranormal romance or romantasy). Magic, battles, politics, investigation, mages, and vampires — yes, please.

[Amber Graves · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy via Berkley Publishing Group via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, especially as a fan of fantasy and intricate magic systems. The magic was complex—though at times, I found it a bit difficult to follow. About halfway through, I realized the story is connected to the author’s larger series set in the same world, which helped explain some of my confusion.

I occasionally struggled to keep track of the many characters and references to events from the other books, which made parts of the story feel overwhelming. That said, it also sparked my curiosity, and I’m now interested in going back to read the earlier books to better understand the full context.

The novel is packed with action, featuring numerous detailed battle scenes. If you enjoy vividly described magical combat, this book will definitely appeal to you. I would recommend it—with the caveat that readers may have a better experience if they start with the earlier books in the series.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been a good long while since I’ve read this author, but I was excited to see a new series by her and requested this title. First off, overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was good to see characters from the books I’d read by her before. Now comes the parts I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about. This book didn’t have to be so long. It took over a page to describe the items Angie took into battle with her. Over a page. And this wasn’t the only time there was an excess of description. I know some people like that much detail, but I really don’t. I was almost overwhelmed when that happened, and it took me out of the story. That was a shame because I really enjoyed this and kept wanting to read it. LOL! Even with that, I will definitely read the next as I did overall really enjoy this. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

[Kathy Kennerley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! I am so grateful that the author brought this Urban Fantasy world back. Getting to know Angie and EJ between then and now took time but I didn't want it to end. They'd learned vampire intrigue and battle planning from the best so there was no hesitation when called upon. Angie though, you need to call your mother more; EJ there is hope for you yet; and to the relative that literally dropped by, you are a kick. ARC netgalley.com

[Rebecca Goss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell into the world of Angelina and Evan and didn’t want to leave. Both siblings are powerful witches that work together in a private investigative agency. They work to solve the case while keeping clients and themselves safe which is no small feat in their supernatural world. I love the relationships that exist and those that strengthen. I look forward to reading more in this series!

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faith Hunter writes amazing stories. This one was no different. The complex of stories does not take you away from the story. Its exciting to read about the next generation of characters, and read about old characters. It is the same world as Jane Yellowrock but things have changed so much. I can not wait to keep reading this series.

[Yodamom]

I got the ARC

[Karen Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read! The cursing problem was hilarious. I went from chuckling to heart pounding throughout the story. The "Leviathan" was a terror. Such a creative entertaining book.