Shadow Magic: The Complete Series: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure

by Melissa Delport

Half-witch. Half-vampire. One hundred percent badass.

Tired of the same old urban fantasy story? Welcome to your new addiction.

Seattle isn't just sleepless, it's a ticking time bomb as the conflict between witches and vampires escalates to all-new heights.

For Grayer Morgan, a half-witch, half-vampire, the conflict becomes all too real when she discovers her own grandmother has created a weapon that will eradicate the vampire species, forever.

Torn between love and loyalty, she enlists the help of a motley crew to find and destroy the weapon before it can be used, but in a world of magic and shadows, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

And in the war that’s coming, Grayer will have to pick a side.

The Witchborn Curse is the first book in the urban fantasy Shadow Magic series, adored by readers around the world.

780 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2026

Reviews

[Blake · Rating 1 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)

Re-posting because two versions of the boxset are up and the one I had rated says 'doesn't meet guidelines' so don't know if that means it'll be removed.

2.5 1 star = Books 1-3 (didn't finish book 3)

I deleted multiple paragraphs I wrote as I read, because things kept annoying me in the book.

By the end though the author actually made me want to move onto the second book rather than dumping it. I'd stupidly purchased the entire series. It's rare that an author actually fixes what I dislike so I usually end up wishing I'd just DNF'd a book.

I'm not going to go back and finish all the DNF books, even if I'm missing out on actually good series, because of a one in a million book!

Book 1 = not fixed She saved evil abusive grandmother. This was stupid, but I do sort of get it, she doesn't want to turn into her evil grandmother and also as the victim of her abuse from being under her thumb as a baby to 18, the need for approval to not be abused has got to also come into play. So that's understandable and you can hope she'll get past that in next books.

Book 2 Wow dad of the year, blaming the child, who was under a witches thumb, (who can mess with minds), for refusing to visit him & the doormat takes it & agrees that it was her fault that he abandoned her as a child! It's not up to the child to keep contact going, its up to the absent parent! Why was it on the MC as a child to travel all the way to New York from Seattle, why couldn't her so called father go to her. But no, she just takes the blame when anyone with a spine would go 'if you wanted me that much, why did you give my custody to my grandmother?'
Deadbeat excusing his loving her maternal first cousins twice removed (who she only just learnt existed even though they're the grandkids of her evil grandmother's beloved sister & only 3 years younger than her) & being in their lives as a loving 'uncle' but abandoning her, "they don't look down on vampires."
Gee daddy dearest I wonder why, could it be that the abuser you left her in the 'care' of hated them & the child grew up being ostracized for being a hybrid by everyone so of course she's going to try to gain her abusers approval in the hope of not being abused by her!
Also as soon as she turned 18 she ran & didn't keep up the 'snubbing' & didn't even think to not date one for 3 years & only dumped him after he had his minion stab her in the heart! (He just missed & they got her to the hospital & loads of blood in her so her vampire genes saved her.) So yeah deadbeat she really looked down on them. I mean its not like she almost died twice within a couple of days trying to get hold of a formula to stop it being used to cause their genocide.... oh wait.
Also, his own 'pet' name for her is witchling, so who is ignoring her vampire half & if he cared that much about her being raised with both sides of her heritage, don't abandon her to be raised by her grandmother who hates vampires! (I don't care that it's 'plot' plot needs to be logical there are logical ways to have the same story without making the MC into an illogical doormat & the people we're supposed to not want dead actually be likeable & their actions understandable.)
He blames her for Maven (said vampire who turned out to be a baddie. Hmm abused child abandoned by daddy, abused by granny who had custody of her, ignored by both sides of the family barring a great aunt who tried to show her kindness, who died when she was 12 & ostracized by society because she's a hybrid. Gee I wonder why she was easily manipulated by the bad guy!)
I'm sorry but of course someone who escaped an abusive home at 18 & is scraping by, is going to be more happy for the $2,000 tip deadbeat dad gives her when he finally turns up where she's waitressing than being overjoyed to see him. Stupid MC actually feels bad about that when deadbeat complains she was only interested in the money (she didn't ask for that much as a tip, just said 20% of the bill, not his many times that!), but if deadbeat had actually been a loving father, he'd have had custody of her so no need to get a child to agree to visitation however many 100s of miles Seattle is from NYC! Dear old dad couldn't even be bothered to be the one to go to her a few times a year, but expected a child to get out from under her vampire hating abusive grandmother's thumb to agree to visit him!

Also since her 'magic' doesn't work, she's hardly chosen the witch side over the vampire side, she just didn't drink blood & try to follow that side of her nature because you abandoned her with a vampire hating abusive grandmother! (Yes this has really got me annoyed -- but then again I hate child abuse & despise those who abandon their children & then think they can waltz back into their lives as if they did nothing wrong. If the plot didn't have the MC deciding that she, the former child, was the one who caused her abandonment & just totally forgiving deadbeat because 'she' is obviously the bad one, & so by that thinking also caused her own abuse, I'd not be so mad at this book)

Daddy dearest wants MC to come out of her room after 10 days of just staying in her suite because all the huge physical & emotional shocks within a short time have finally got to her. He says he's not going to leave her alone. I'd have told him 'just pretend I'm still a child & you'll have no problem leaving me alone!'

Seriously am not happy that the author made the MC take the blame for her father abandoning her! Having her do that & be fine after a few minutes, that all the years he ignored her (he didn't try to establish a relationship after seeing her at 18, because she didn't fall over herself in happiness that he finally deigned to show up), he had a loving relationship with her maternal first cousins once removed doesn't make sense, it makes her a doormat. A robotic doormat who is not allowed to have normal emotions of being upset that her deadbeat dad has always had a loving relationship with her maternal cousins!

I know as an abused and abandoned child she just wants to be loved, but it's not a good look when she just acts like a doormat and takes the blame for her own abandonment.

Her father is a piece of crap who was willing to put in the effort of actually being a parent (up to rescuing kids from abuse / bad situations / raising orphaned son of a friend) with everyone but his own child and its getting annoying that every character thinks he's wonderful for being a deadbeat dad to her.

And there she goes, being a doormat again. Sawyer had no right to be a jerk, accepting his apology would have been fine, but telling him he's forgiven and noting to apologize for = doormat.

& Thanksgiving happens, & there's no emotional trauma for MC about everyone playing happy families like normal only now she's there. Nope, her taking the blame for her dad being a deadbeat, means everything is a-okay now. -- That's just bad writing & so the authors had to throw in external 'stuff'.... angst for no reason is annoying but the MC has plenty of reasons to be upset & resentful of daddy dearest & his family that now finally includes her as well as her twin maternal cousins. To just have her take the blame and shrug it off, its less believable than vampires, witches etc!

I should not be reading & thinking that the MC has nothing to live for, because she doesn't. The only person who actually loved her has had her memory of that relationship wiped.... the childhood cook who was her sanctuary in her evil grandmother's lair, still thinks daddy dearest is wonderful... daddy dearest thinks its his daughter's fault he abandoned her & the rest of the family/ like family are just as bad. -- Why exactly should I be hoping she survives the next attack on her life? She's not even needed plotwise, unless its more of Grayer needs to be a doormat or told she's not good enough or that everything is her fault. I believe in putting creatures out of their misery, and this MC is no exception.

Oh goody, now Greyer is the one who killed her mother.... which doesn't even make sense, how would syphoning magic kill someone it's not life-force and if she had Greyer in a hospital then she could be given blood etc. like a human, when she had no magic to self heal.

Oh & now another example of just why MC is a useless waste of space but her twin cousins are all wonderful & super smart & have fantastic powers... There's making the MC 'human' (although not allowing her to have fully justified emotions re being abandoned & allowing her to keep them for more than 5 minutes negates that) & then there's making her so pathetic that she really would be better off no longer alive.

Um they left you at an abusive home for 18 years and then ignored you for another 6 even though deadbeat knew where you were, darn right they should now be showering you with love and gifts at your first ever (so called) family Christmas!

I don't mind MC having a good relationship with the kids her father deigned to be involved with. That actually makes sense that she'd quickly get past her resentment towards them, because 'they' were not the ones who abandoned her. It makes logical & emotional sense that she can start to build familial relationships with them. That was a good character move to have her negative feelings be focused on the right person, deadbeat dad.
Well it would have been, if the authors didn't decide to have MC be the one who was in the wrong for being the abandoned child & then not falling all over herself in joy when deadbeat walks back into her life at 18. Deadbeat deserves negativity and having to work hard for at least months if not years to actually regain trust etc. But nope, its done in days because MC agrees she's at fault for being abandoned as a child.

When exactly did deadbeat dad teach the MC to "protect family at all costs"? He hardly protected her, quite the opposite and even to a few weeks before that statement having the sheer gall to blame child her for his not seeing her!

MC needs to get some self respect. Being the bigger person would be allowing deadbeat into her life so he can make amends, not rolling over and taking the blame for him abandoning her!

Oh well that's nice, you let her get her best friend back. But if she's still taking the blame for her dad being a deadbeat in book 3, I'm out!

Book 3 = Well that's disgusting to give BFF back to MC, & have her hooking up with deadbeat dad. I'd hoped that was just a wrong guess from the previous book but nope the author went back there. So deadbeat has tainted that relationship to & so no one is just on MC's side.
Also I don't like Sawyer, being amused that Deadbeat & BFF are together.... but sure, he's MC's friend to. An actual friend would care about her feelings. He can be amused, that's fine, its the showing it, knowing that the idea of her dad being involved with her BFF upsets MC, that is the problem.
Deadbeat gets to take yet another thing from MC & everyone is all 'rah, rah daddy dearest, greatest man on earth'.
BFF only has her written and recorded journals of being best friends with MC so she get a pass, but daddy dearest is just continuing to prove he's scum.

Oh how nice, deadbeat doesn't want MC trained in her magic so she finally doesn't feel like a failure & quits being scared she'll accidentally kill people, no its so she can be a weapon for him, the 'ace up their sleeve'.

Of course doormat goes along with it all 'he's right I could have killed everyone' If she'd said to his verbiage 'Yeah I'd like to not accidentally kill people' rather than her doormat thoughts, it'd have made her actually have a spine.
I don't object to her getting training, its how it was phrased 'we need you to be our secret weapon' rather than 'she'll help you learn to control your magic.' Same outcome, just mine treats her like a valued person... but then we all know deadbeat doesn't actually value her or she'd have grown up with him. I don't care if it's for plot, better writers could have still had the same story but without MC being such a doormat re her father! -- She could have lived with him, had visitation with evil grandmother & when a teen due to EG messing with her mind, opted to live with her (the abuse could still have happened from young, just on regular visits - EG's magic works for lil MC not saying anything). That'd actually make more sense of deadbeats words... although even then its on the adult to keep up contact!

No doormat you are not behaving like a spoiled brat, you oddly enough want to learn to control your magic that can 'kill' people./s.
She had an episode that set the power off & it was a self sustaining loop after finding out she killed her mother, her emotions were the cause. To stop the power her 'family' kept knocking her out for weeks until an experimental anti magic device was built to turn the power off. Yet she's the one in the wrong for wanting to get control of this rather than party at Mardi Gras.
Also Izzy (deadbeat didn't park his car properly, killed this 19? year old & so turned her. Guess its only those who share his genes who are out of luck being cared for by him.) being sent there makes no sense, if the point is for MC to lay low as deadbeat had just complained about that being why she couldn't be there for Mardi Gras! In plot it was so bad that MC wanted to stay because she was still learning control, not to party, but lets send Izzy to enjoy Mardi Gras.
But again with the authors, its everyone else's feelings matter more than the MC's and then she's got to be all apologetic for her feelings, her perfectly valid feelings!
Oh and big surprise, its Izzy who is used to try to get to MC...

Wow deadbeat dad actually acted the loving parent to MC & realised the 'BFF' is someone to not bed and told her to tell MC they were not involved because he realised what she thought. I'm shocked that this male actually kept it in his pants for once!

Oh how lovely, the abandoned child who was a victim of abuse, is yet again in the wrong & evil gran isn't evil incarnate, according to the love interest.... IMHO Sawyer doesn't actually love MC (earlier in the book MC is told that his being a lycan in love with her is why he's overly protective.... gee I'd hate to see what his not being very protective of his love looks like, when he's trying to get her to think her abuser's not actually a bad person!)
MC actually had a backbone to remind him that he didn't grow up with her & he said 'fair point' but then it was ruined because then she's snuggling with him.... I'm sorry but how can you snuggle with someone who thinks that the person who tortured you isn't evil! --- If it's blood is thicker than water.... then you need to learn the actual saying 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb', it means the opposite of the bastardized form! -- Even if the shortened version was correct, it goes both ways, so granny shouldn't have abused her granddaughter!

Spoilery, but since it can upset people, I'm only putting specific plot points in spoilers, rather than the more generalised warning below.

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I'm done -- the authors makes the victim the one in the wrong all the time for her 'negative' emotions to the deadbeat dad (she was only allowed them for a while, then she took the blame for being abandoned as a child after she had a totally justified rant at deadbeat). Which was bad enough, then in book 3, the person who supposedly loves & is uber protective of her is trying to make her believe the abusive to her grandmother isn't actually evil.

I'm sorry but I can't keep reading a pair of authors who keep making the victim be the 'one in the wrong' and keep trying to make both abandoner and abuser out to be 'not bad people'. I guess I just don't see child abandonment and child abuse as so easily forgiven, nor those who enable and or condone it as good people... which it seems all the characters around MC in this book do!

Accepting responsibility for ones actions is character growth, taking responsibility for others bad actions towards you, is not.
It's actually a very abuser thing to do, to turn the bad actions by them around onto the victim, making them take ownership of the bad thing that was done to them, because they were 'of course' the one at fault, not the abuser.

The authors did a great job in book 1 of making the original love interest dislikeable, this made sense with how the plot ended and if the reader was not supposed to be iffy on him from the start... well then in my case, they failed.
They did the same great job with deadbeat dad and abusive grandmother, now though for some reason in book 2 they decided to walk it back for dad and then in book 3 for grandmother.... and neither walk-back makes sense plotwise.
Having the main character just accept after deadbeat's totally illogical reason for why he didn't visit, or be told that she's wrong, granny isn't actually evil, about her completely justified feelings towards them, does not a good plot make. Deadbeat should be earning his way through the books into a solid relationship with the child he abandoned for 24 years. That was how it started to look like the plot was going until MC had a justified rant at deadbeat and then decided deadbeat's arguments were right, its her fault he didn't visit her, abandoned her as a child & didn't make the effort again after one visit when she was 18 and on her own. -- Evil grandmother is an abuser, so doesn't get that second chance.

First time read the author's work?: Yes for both. -- realised I've previously read a book co-authored by Kraus & gave that 3.5*

Will you be reading more?: Not of this pairing OR solo works by either. -- Will read books MJ's co-written with JT Lawrence.

Would you recommend?: No


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How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Cheryl Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing, it starts with the Grayer being with Maven and loving him, estranged from her grandmother and her father, she is trying to come to terms with being a witch and a vampire, but is at the start not really either and resentful of it all. She loves Maven. She meets others, including Sawyer, who she eventually falls in love with and Maven loves her, in his own way.
However as the story progresses, Maven has a goal in mind that means using her and she fights him, comes to learn things are not what they seem and eventually reconciles with her father and her grandmother, learns to control what she is and fights Maven. Not always successfully, but when it comes to the final end, she does what she needed to do and gets her fairytale ending. It's a brilliant and fun story.