Boundary Born

Boundary Magic #3

by Melissa F. Olson

Something wicked is at work in Colorado’s supernatural community. Vampires are being paralyzed or killed with poison…a weapon favored by witches. This offense threatens to break apart the already-fractured alliance between witches and the undead.

The state’s cardinal vampire, Maven, summons boundary witch Allison “Lex” Luther to stop the killing before it ignites a war. Lex has barely started investigating when she gets another the biological father she’s never met arrives on her doorstep. He has answers to all of Lex’s questions about her bloodline, but getting those answers could mean betraying the life she’s already built.

Then the next vampire is poisoned—and this time it’s Maven herself. The new evil that hunts Lex is powerful and ruthless enough to stop the strongest supernatural creature in the state. In order to find such a killer, Lex will have to face down her own birthright and call on every ally—both living and dead.

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

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 21, 2016

About the author

Melissa F. Olson is a writer and film professor. Her work includes the comic ARCHAIC, the feminist horror novel The Other Frankenstein, and more than 20 urban fantasy novels and novellas, including the Scarlett Bernard series and the Boundary Magic novels. Her journalism and academic work has been published in The International Journal of Comic Art, the compilation Images of the Modern Vampire, Tor.com,  and the Everyone's Gone to the Movies series.
Melissa has been a writing teacher, English professor, and TEDx presenter, but she now divides her time between writing and conventions, where she speaks about issues related to genre, feminism, writing, and parenting. Read more about her life and work at MFOlson.com.

Reviews

[Terri ♥ (aka Mrs. Christian Grey) · Rating 4 out of 5]

IDK, hard to rate this one. While entertaining, I thought it was a reach that wasn't flushed out as well as it could have. And it resolved itself too easily. But I am happy that Quinn is still Quinn and none of the other potential possibilities happened like Simon and John. Cryptic much? Lol. If you read, you should get my meaning.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The vampires are under attack and Maven, Colorado's Cardinal Vampire calls on Lex to get to the bottom of it. What she discovers is more than just a plot, it's a vendetta and the culprits are closer to Lex than is comfortable.

Boundary Born is brilliant. It's what I would describe as a perfect book. I don't have a single complaint.

Many thanks to 47North and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

[Aisling Zena · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Series on hold. Author will focus on her other series. Which is a bloody shame.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boundary Born by Melissa F Olson and narrated by Kate Rudd is the third book in the series. This book takes a crazy turn into the world of super witches, wraiths, unknown murders, poisonings, deadly crystals, and so much more! These books are action packed, great fantasy, well developed that with thought out plots! I am hooked from beginning to end!
The narrator is a terrific performer! Great job!

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

uhhh real rating 3.5?

Boundary Born had it's ups and downs with me. Whether it was disliking certain characters or everyone.. or idk.. not liking the book. Lex, basically Nancy Drew at this point, is on a mission to find out who the hell is poisoning the vampires. Of course, no one else can do this job or whatever so - yeah, let's do this thing.

One of the twists was finally meeting her birth dad, who was a douche. I don't think I was supposed to like the guy.. but just wanted to mention that I despised the fella. Her past was probably the only thing that kept me interested in this book because everything else was meh. The pacing was slow for me and I kind of just wanted this book to be over with.

Another thing I liked about this book/series.. was the lack of love triangle-ness. It was amazing to just ship one couple.. and to have no drama with it. No anxiety or whatever. Quinn and Lex forever. I was very happy with the ending because of these two but I kind of feel like this book was missing something. Whether it was characters that would spice this book up.. or I don't know.. more romance or action? I liked the book.. but I wanted to love it.

Overall, I probably should finish the scarlett bernard series since this was the spin off - lol sorry for going out of turn but these audios were a lot shorter than scarlett's! Plus, I only have the last book to dive into and that will hopefully make my work day tomorrow go by a lot quicker.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg I love this series so much Book 3 is my favourite so far and although I like the Scarlett Barnard books I like this series even better on to book 4.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this installment of the series, Lex must find out who is poisoning vampires with a deadly strain of a magical plant. There are also animals that have rabies-like symptoms all over town. The two don't seem to be related, so Lex pushes on following leads about the poison. When her biological father shows up right before Maven is poisoned, suspicions increase as Lex's emotions are in turmoil. with the help of Kirsten (head witch in Los Angeles), Lex learns some unsettling things about her heritage and is forced to take some unappealing actions in order to save the people she loves and herself.

I'm really enjoying this series. Lex's character just keeps getting better. The mysteries she has to solve keep me hooked until the end, and I can't help but wonder what she will have to do next.

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. It took a while to get to the really interesting part of the investigation into the vampire poisoning. It went in a direction I did not expect and had an interesting connection to Lex's past.

It was great that Lex learned more about her heritage. It was much more sinister than I would have thought. I hope she will learn more about what boundary witches are capable of. It seems like she has power but doesn't know how to harness it or what to do with it. Lex's devotion to Charlie is sweet, but it would be awesome if she can get to a place in life where it isn't her motivating factor for everything she does.

One of the best things about this series is that it did not have a love triangle. I thought it was going to at first but it just never happened. Quinn is an unusual vampire in the sense that he's normal. He's a regular guy who happens to be a vampire. He's not power hungry or greedy. I hate it that he's under Maven's thumb. It's never fun when the LI is subject someone else's whim. Just because it hasn't been a problem yet doesn't mean it won't in the future. He and Lex are good together. I hope it stays that way.

[Ina · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can tell a lot about a person by how they are with animals, I had learned, and Emil certainly seemed to be passing that particular test.
Then I remembered how everyone said Hitler was a dog person.

I strongly recommend this series to all Urban Fantasy lovers out there. It has a badass main character that doesn't make you cringe everytime she opens her mouth or does something (her choices were usually the choices I could completely understand and would probably make as well), hot love interest (who is not a violent jerk alpha male, but you know, the change is good sometimes), witty comebacks, some pretty dark magic and amazing world building.

5 stars

Lex is finally coming to terms with who she really is when strange things start happening in Boulder once again. Vampires are getting poisoned, people are dying, animals are going crazy and Lex's real father suddenly shows up.

I don't think I need to say that Lex is in over her head. She has to deal with multiple disasters at once, but I think she managed to deal with them pretty damn well.

There were many things I loved about this book - more background information about Maven (she is probably forever my favorite female vampire leader); more background about Quinn's human life as well as progression in his and Lex's relationship; information about the boundary witches (I loved Kirsten's appearance, by the way!), the way Lex's relationship with Lily and Simon keeps growing constantly; the way Lex is finally letting her family get close to her after dealing with the aftermaths of Iraq and many other things.

I liked that whenever Lex or anyone else had a problem in this series (and they had A LOT of problems), they always solved them in the best way possible (in my opinion). They tried to work together
and not take unnecessary risks, but at the same time, they knew when they had to make the hard choices and they didn't throw tantrums just because someone did something they didn't want them to (when it was in everyone's best interest).

There were also the small things, like Lex evacuating her pets when she was in danger - as a dog owner, I really appreciate that even though her life was in danger, Lex still took time to take care of her herd of animals.

I read this whole short series in the matter of three or four days. I fell in love with it almost immediately and even though I enjoyed it thoroughly, now I'm banging my head against the wall, because I read it too quickly and now it's over. In the Acknowledgements part of the book, Olson mentions that she is not done with Lex, but she is giving her a break for now. I really hope she will come back to this series in the future, because I think it has huge potential. We know what Lex's next mission is and I really want to see how she will accomplish it and what she will learn on her journey. Plus, there is so much potential for all of there charactes.

(Hopefully, though, when Olson comes back to this series, she won't break Lex and Quinn like she did it with Scarlett and Eli in the sequel to Scarlett Bernard. Because that would seriously not be cool.)

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Source* Publisher
*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 3.5-4

*My Thoughts*

Boundary Born is the third installment in author Melissa F. Olson's Boundary Magic series. The series features US Army Veteran Allison "Lex" Luther as a powerful Boundary Witch who works for Maven, the Vampire Cardinal of Colorado. This story actually takes place SIX months after the end of Boundary Lines. Things have calmed down for Lex, Quinn, Simon, Maven, and Lily since facing a near revolution intent on destroying the peace. This gives Lex the opportunity to tell her brother in law about Old World and the part his 2 year old daughter Charlie plays in it.

Helluva a way to put the series on hold while she goes back to her Scarlet Bernard series. Ms Lex definitely deserves a nice vacation for all author Olson puts her through in this installment.

*Full Review Posted @ Gizmos Reviews 07/01/2016*

http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...

*Published* June 21st 2016 by 47North

[Melindeeloo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Boundary Born, the third (and hopefully not final) boundary witch book. Our heroine Lex, a boundary Witch and former vet who now works for the head vampire of Boulder, is earning her paycheck - with local vampires being poisoned and long lost relations coming to town adding unexpected complications.

I still think that Lex is a great character and love how her stories take advantage of both her magical heritage and her military training. And I like how her support group has solidified over the course of her books and how the story this time around gave her plenty of opportunities to use all of that. It was also interesting to see Lex find out about her heritage.

I like both of this author's Old Races series, but I think this is my favorite. So I hope there will be more Lex later, since apparently the author is picking back up with Scarlett Bernard and the LA old races for her next book

ARC via NetGalley, release date 6/21/2026

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author stated in acknowledgements, "Although I’m not done with this character, I’ll be letting her do her thing in Boulder while I go back to Scarlett Bernard’s adventures in Los Angeles for a bit."

I look forward to returning to Scarlett's story and hope Lex's truly doesn't end here.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another solid follow-up to Boundary Lines. I LOVED knowing more about Lex's ancestry (the fact that Lex's the daughter of draugr, the first boundary witch!) and the possibility of bigger and badder villain in the next books. I really, REALLY liked Lex -- as well as the siblings witches Simon and Lily -- and it was good to see her developed her power.

I also thought that Lex and Quinn was in a good place as a couple, despite Lex went to the whole 'being a martyr' decision near the end -- but I guess I could understand her motive. Besides she was quite a bad ass afterwards, and I loved the fact that she embraced both her soldier part and her witch part when fighting the villain (with her using the knife instead, to kill Lysander). That ending of Quinn saying that it was time to meet Lex's family was cute :)

[Boundless Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lex, is still learning about her Boundary Magic. Some things have changed in her life. But some are still the same. Quinn is still in her life and loves her more than anything. I just wish I could get more of the both of them. And truly feel the connection between them, that I know is there. 

Lex, is just really one of those kick ass strong female characters. Not to say she doesn’t have any faults. I can tell that Olson, really took her time, that she did research. It’s something I can respect. It all seemed so real, even though it’s fantasy. 

Overall, I give this book 4.5 Boundless Stars. I wanted to connect more to the characters, then I had....Lissa

http://www.boundlessbookreviews.com

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[Sho · Rating 4 out of 5]

the series has been constantly satisfying from the beginning to the end. I really got to know the characters , their magics, their world and their limitations. I really liked that the characters have flaws and they admit it. I was never disappointed and had a really good time reading the series. it might be hard to get into it first but I assure you it's a fun ride.

[Simply Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ 30%. Third book in and I don't care about the characters or the story. The MC "Lex" annoys me and all of the secondary characters still feel flat. I have zero interest in seeing how this story ends.

2 "it's not you, it's me, but it really may be you" stars.

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third (and sadly last) book in the Boundary magic series. This was the best book in this series yet and introduced a ton of new and interesting elements to Lex’s character.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook is very well done. I would definitely recommending listening to this entire series on audiobook if you like audiobooks.

In this book Lex learns a lot about her Boundary witch powers and also learns who her parents are. All of this ends up tying in with a mystery surrounding belladonna poisoning of vampires. The story is very well crafted and comes together beautifully and I really enjoyed it a lot.

Mainly this book is an investigative urban fantasy but there is a ton of interesting magic in here as well. Additionally some new and interesting characters are added into the mix. I was disappointed to find out that more books are being added to this series because there is just so much more that Lex could do.

Overall this was an excellent book in this series and I was really impressed with it. Despite this being the last book in the Boundary Magic series, I plan on checking out some of Olson’s other books because I really enjoyed this series. I would definitely recommend this series to urban fantasy fans.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed getting to know Lex. She loves fiercely and will do anything to protect her family, which she proves time and time again. I love how bad-ass she is and I love watching her overcome the obstacles and dangers that have been thrown at her in each installment of the Boundary Magic series.

In BOUNDARY BORN she does more of what she does best, saving the day! There is ton of action as she fights to save herself and her friends from a foe she never saw coming. Her relationship with Quinn is still pretty present and growing. One thing that I missed in BOUNDARY BORN though was Charlie. We don't 'see' her once. I am not really sure what else I can say about BOUNDARY BORN without giving away spoilers so I will leave my review at that.

I'm not sure if the Boundary Magic series is over or not. Olson states that she is taking some time off for a bit to work on other things. I really hope that it doesn't take long because there is SO much more Lex and friends to be had. I will miss them all until I see them again.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Barbara (The Bibliophage) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thanks NetGalley and 47North!

I've enjoyed the Scarlett Bernard and Lex Luther (Boundary) series from Olson, so I was pretty excited to see this one pop up in NetGalley. And the book didn't disappoint me. It was a solid supernatural thriller.

Allison (Lex) Luther is part military veteran, part introvert, and part recently-discovered witch. She struggles to fit all these pieces of herself and her life together, just like we all do to some extent. This third book gives us another peek at her Boulder, CO world. Lex and the readers also learn more of her life's backstory.

I love the author's use of humor inside the tense narrative. Lex will say an event is like "the beginning of a twisted Dr. Seuss book." Or she'll joke about bad coupons being much simpler to deal with than monsters. This enhances my enjoyment of the book.

I'm definitely looking forward to more about Lex, Quinn, Simon, Lily and Maven!

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lex is back with a brand new case to solve. Somebody has put the head vampire of Denver out of commission and without Maven's protection, Lex's niece, Charlie, is vulnerable.

I liked this book much better than book two. We finally got some forward progression with the storyline and Lex's disturbing discovery of her birth parents added some interest that kept me turning the page.

But as much as I like this series I'm glad Olson is revisiting Scarlett Bernard's world again next. She's my favorite. Well done.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Boundary Born is yet another outstanding installment in the Boundary Magic series! The characters and the worldbuilding continue to rock, and Quinn is seriously the best boyfriend ever. I've read so much run-of-the-mill urban fantasy over the years that I had almost given up on discovering new, amazing additions to the genre, but this series has given me hope that there are still hidden gems out there just waiting to be picked up. I really, really hope Ms. Olson writes more books in this series!

[Meggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I totally forgot about Boundary Magic series and was actually pretty shocked I saw the release of the third installment in this amazing series. I really love the main female protagonist Allison aka Lex in her series. She is truly a fine, down to earth character. Her romance with the vampire Quinn was as always sweet. Still, I admit the slow paced beginning was negative on the atmosphere. It was a bit dragging start. Nonetheless, this was an excellent third book.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series. I own all of them, and relisten. But you can always count on the main character to miss obvious problems, and to make terrible decisions. The "oh a bad person did a bad thing, it's clearly my fault and I'll lie to everyone who could help me, in a foolish attempt to protect them that will backfire completely" plotline can just stop - thanks.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure if it's just because I've now had a little more time with the series, but I became more invested in the characters in this installment. Between that and the fact that the Big Quest has been revealed, I'm enthusiastic about the next book to be released.

[⚓ Basil ⚓ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one a lot, but I felt a little lost early on since it's been a while since I read the previous book. It took me a while to get back up to speed.

[Lissa Rice]

**4.5 Stars** Full Review and Rating will be up at Boundless Book Reviews

[Timelord Iain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This trilogy was much stronger than the first Scarlett Bernard trilogy... this third book was great, and added so much to the larger Old World universe.

[Jumms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awww

I started out reading abt Scarlett and i think I'm reading these put of order or something but i absolutely adore Lex. Her story to me is more captivating. Nothing is perfect but i do think she is a well rounded heroine. She is flawed and relatable but also continues to grow in each book we read. It's been a while since I've found a kickass heroine to love. I like that the relationship w her and Quinn isn't rushed and that even with her 'powers' she is still vulnerable. She makes mistakes you can get behind.

In this series Lex learns abt family. This was abt the past coming back to haunt. What's done in the dark always comes to light. Most of all Lex learns what it truly means to be here. Where she is from and what she can do. Great book and must read if you've read the others.

[Ashley Critchley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book left me conflicted but I still enjoyed it so I gave 4 stars. I loved learning more about Lex and her background but I was missing more time with familiar characters. I loved the cameos from the Scarlett series but I just felt like there wasn't as much story this time and Lex spent a lot of time out of it. She's still one of my favorite characters but I hope whenever we get the next one, she learns more about her craft and more of what she's capable of.

[J.A. Ironside · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Best story in this universe yet. I really do love Lex. This was a gritty and gripping episode in the series for the main arc, and lots of smallers arcs and subplots were advanced in a really satisfying way here too. I almost never like the love interest but Quinn is great. And the monster du jour this time is genuinely disturbing. Great urban fantasy.