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Elemental Mages #1
Air of Darkness
Alayna Blackwell is doomed. A deadly curse will put her in an early grave, if a rogue vampire or shifter doesn't punch her ticket first. Until then, she's determined to use her elemental magic to keep her city safe and the supernatural hidden from the everyday world. On the trail of a powerful serial killer taking out mortal and magical alike, the stakes have never been higher for her team of elite magical creatures.
The last thing she needs is a gorgeous FBI agent stumbling into her investigation.
When his best friend is brutally murdered, Special Agent Alex Martinez vows to find the killer. His hunt for vengeance pulls him into a supernatural world he never imagined, exposing abilities he never knew he had. To survive in this new world, he needs to confront the scars of his past, before they cost him everything he’s worked so hard to rebuild.
When Alex and Alayna are forced to team up, the alchemical reaction is instant. Sparks fly and unexpected feelings develop, but deadly secrets threaten to tear them apart. When love wars with duty, can either survive the dark forces threatening their city?
Cover by Mayflower Studio.
The last thing she needs is a gorgeous FBI agent stumbling into her investigation.
When his best friend is brutally murdered, Special Agent Alex Martinez vows to find the killer. His hunt for vengeance pulls him into a supernatural world he never imagined, exposing abilities he never knew he had. To survive in this new world, he needs to confront the scars of his past, before they cost him everything he’s worked so hard to rebuild.
When Alex and Alayna are forced to team up, the alchemical reaction is instant. Sparks fly and unexpected feelings develop, but deadly secrets threaten to tear them apart. When love wars with duty, can either survive the dark forces threatening their city?
Cover by Mayflower Studio.
394 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 16, 2018
50 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 4, 2022
Kindle Unlimited.
3.5 stars
I liked this. I wish the magic had made a little more sense to me, but I enjoyed the story and the characters. I even like that the next story is about Alayna's brother, not just a direct continuation of her story.
Minor grammatical errors like skipped words or repeated words, but no blatant misspellings.
3.5 stars
I liked this. I wish the magic had made a little more sense to me, but I enjoyed the story and the characters. I even like that the next story is about Alayna's brother, not just a direct continuation of her story.
Minor grammatical errors like skipped words or repeated words, but no blatant misspellings.
March 9, 2020
So this was an interesting and exciting read overall, and a fun way to spend an afternoon. However, I did have some issues with it. I might be too nit-picky and these details might not bother anyone else but I felt I had to mention them, and I’ll try to balance it out with what I did enjoy from the book.
First, I was annoyed by the lack of research, specifically about cardiac arrest. It took me all of two minutes to find out that compressions are used until a dose of epinephrine can be administered. The author fell into the well known media trap of ‘let’s shock them!’ Which only works in ventricular fibrillation, and for asystole would simply cook your heart. I know it’s a minor detail, but it’s such an easy fix! I like authors who do their due diligence, like Penny Reid.
Second, and more importantly, was this whole curse issue. The whole book they mention that the heroine will die of some mysterious curse, only to learn she isn’t cursed at all! It really bothers me that they call this issue a curse when actually, it’s a despotic government saying ‘we will make you commit suicide and if you don’t you will be hunted down and killed.’ How is that a curse? Just because you can commit suicide doesn’t mean you have to. Having this ability is what they call ‘the curse’ but the real curse is being a slave to an authoritarian regime, and having family so a**hole-ish that they would come after you and kill you because the government told them too, and who refused to love you because they know they won’t fight for your life.
It makes it hard to read the sequels, as they are from the sibling’s point of view and their behaviour is reprehensible. I won’t stop loving my cousin and push him away because he has a heart defect and could die suddenly. I cherish every moment we have together. As does his mother, siblings grandparents, etc. This case especially angered me because it’s not inevitable or unavoidable at all! Just stop killing a subset of your people! It’s as if we decided all redheads had to be suicide bombers, utterly insane. Just because they can doesn’t mean they have to.
I was also annoyed that the h & H kept making decisions for each other. Don’t take away someone’s agency. However this bothered me less because no one is perfect and their faults made them more rounded characters. The hero didn’t fall into that alpha male controlling crap we see so much in paranormal and I did think it was an interesting, fun take on a well explored genre. The characters were well fleshed out, the banter sometimes made me laugh out loud and it was a well written story, simply incredibly frustrating at times.
First, I was annoyed by the lack of research, specifically about cardiac arrest. It took me all of two minutes to find out that compressions are used until a dose of epinephrine can be administered. The author fell into the well known media trap of ‘let’s shock them!’ Which only works in ventricular fibrillation, and for asystole would simply cook your heart. I know it’s a minor detail, but it’s such an easy fix! I like authors who do their due diligence, like Penny Reid.
Second, and more importantly, was this whole curse issue. The whole book they mention that the heroine will die of some mysterious curse, only to learn she isn’t cursed at all! It really bothers me that they call this issue a curse when actually, it’s a despotic government saying ‘we will make you commit suicide and if you don’t you will be hunted down and killed.’ How is that a curse? Just because you can commit suicide doesn’t mean you have to. Having this ability is what they call ‘the curse’ but the real curse is being a slave to an authoritarian regime, and having family so a**hole-ish that they would come after you and kill you because the government told them too, and who refused to love you because they know they won’t fight for your life.
It makes it hard to read the sequels, as they are from the sibling’s point of view and their behaviour is reprehensible. I won’t stop loving my cousin and push him away because he has a heart defect and could die suddenly. I cherish every moment we have together. As does his mother, siblings grandparents, etc. This case especially angered me because it’s not inevitable or unavoidable at all! Just stop killing a subset of your people! It’s as if we decided all redheads had to be suicide bombers, utterly insane. Just because they can doesn’t mean they have to.
I was also annoyed that the h & H kept making decisions for each other. Don’t take away someone’s agency. However this bothered me less because no one is perfect and their faults made them more rounded characters. The hero didn’t fall into that alpha male controlling crap we see so much in paranormal and I did think it was an interesting, fun take on a well explored genre. The characters were well fleshed out, the banter sometimes made me laugh out loud and it was a well written story, simply incredibly frustrating at times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 15, 2019
Paranormal romance makes me nervous these days, y’all. It’s always been one of my favorite categories of romance, but I’ve read A LOT of really bad PNR lately. Like, A LOT of it. I don’t know why this is. I blame Twilight. When that book came out and absolutely blew up in popularity, writers everywhere flocked to throw together PNR stories to meet the market’s demand. Probably less than a ¼ of them were any good, in my opinion.
So, when I pick up new PNR from a debut author, I read it very slowly and carefully, sometimes while peeking through my fingers, waiting for some really awful writing to jump out of my Kindle and smack me in the face. Well, I’m VERY happy to report that nothing jumped out of my Kindle and smacked me in the face this time. Air of Darkness was a GREAT paranormal read from a really talented debut author. (I feel like I’ve found a unicorn or something! Maybe I should play the lottery today…I’m certainly feeling lucky!)
First of all, I ADORE reads featuring kick-ass heroines. Alayna is a kick-ass heroine of the highest order. She’s smart, a powerful mage, an accomplished fighter, and she leads her own team of other powerful paranormal types. She’s also feminine and emotionally vulnerable when she’s not working, which makes her a very relatable, well-rounded character. There wasn’t really anything I didn’t love about Alayna.
Alex was a great hero, too. He wasn’t as physically powerful as Alayna, but he still managed to be protective, badass, talented, and smart while avoiding the general assholery that happens with so many heroes in PNR. He was a genuinely nice, caring guy, without being a wuss. I LOVE nice-guy heroes, and Alex fit the bill nicely.
The side characters were fascinating, too. They could all have their own stories at some point in the series, but they never came across as obvious sequel bait, and they all had a solid purpose in the story. (I hate sequel bait characters who serve no purpose other than to let me know I should buy their stories when they become available. The characters here weren’t like that at all.)
The world building in this book is solid, too. Fans of urban fantasy and PNR alike will appreciate the complexity of the world this author created.
All in all, this was a really fun PNR read that I’d highly recommend to fans of the category.
Full disclosure: We received an ARC from the author free of charge.
And feel free to check out the Romance Rehab blog for more rants, raves, book lists and other fun romance-y stuff: http://www.romancerehab.com/
So, when I pick up new PNR from a debut author, I read it very slowly and carefully, sometimes while peeking through my fingers, waiting for some really awful writing to jump out of my Kindle and smack me in the face. Well, I’m VERY happy to report that nothing jumped out of my Kindle and smacked me in the face this time. Air of Darkness was a GREAT paranormal read from a really talented debut author. (I feel like I’ve found a unicorn or something! Maybe I should play the lottery today…I’m certainly feeling lucky!)
First of all, I ADORE reads featuring kick-ass heroines. Alayna is a kick-ass heroine of the highest order. She’s smart, a powerful mage, an accomplished fighter, and she leads her own team of other powerful paranormal types. She’s also feminine and emotionally vulnerable when she’s not working, which makes her a very relatable, well-rounded character. There wasn’t really anything I didn’t love about Alayna.
Alex was a great hero, too. He wasn’t as physically powerful as Alayna, but he still managed to be protective, badass, talented, and smart while avoiding the general assholery that happens with so many heroes in PNR. He was a genuinely nice, caring guy, without being a wuss. I LOVE nice-guy heroes, and Alex fit the bill nicely.
The side characters were fascinating, too. They could all have their own stories at some point in the series, but they never came across as obvious sequel bait, and they all had a solid purpose in the story. (I hate sequel bait characters who serve no purpose other than to let me know I should buy their stories when they become available. The characters here weren’t like that at all.)
The world building in this book is solid, too. Fans of urban fantasy and PNR alike will appreciate the complexity of the world this author created.
All in all, this was a really fun PNR read that I’d highly recommend to fans of the category.
Full disclosure: We received an ARC from the author free of charge.
And feel free to check out the Romance Rehab blog for more rants, raves, book lists and other fun romance-y stuff: http://www.romancerehab.com/
February 22, 2019
This is the first book in the Elemental Mages! If you like sexy FBI agents and tough women who get things done, then you should already have this book in your collection.
I liked how this book begins! The first meeting of the two characters is explosive. The way the author writes both the fight scene and the kissing scene had me drawn into this world in seconds. I had to know all about her and him... and their chemistry was off the charts. I could feel them sizzle on the pages!
I loved that the main female character was both tough, yet a blonde who likes her clothes and is unapologetic for being a woman. I also felt like her love interest really understood her too. He appreciated her as a fighter. That's awesome.
I will admit after eight years in the Army, I do get a little annoyed on the Vet's side of things. When I have characters who are combat medics and blah blah blah (insert whatever military thing you want here) tours in Afghanistan (I did all that myself. Been there, done that.) I do tend to put the book down and pick up something else. I think it's like all things, I've seen behind that curtain, so I'm not into reading about an author's view of that lifestyle. That being said, I liked this book despite my anti-military heroes. Look, that's saying a lot since I have been known to dump a book when the character is something stupid like a Captian-Sniper-Tanker-Special Forces-Black-op.
Anyway, I got off topic. So to sum it up... You should read this. I'm going to be hunting down the next book in this series.
I liked how this book begins! The first meeting of the two characters is explosive. The way the author writes both the fight scene and the kissing scene had me drawn into this world in seconds. I had to know all about her and him... and their chemistry was off the charts. I could feel them sizzle on the pages!
I loved that the main female character was both tough, yet a blonde who likes her clothes and is unapologetic for being a woman. I also felt like her love interest really understood her too. He appreciated her as a fighter. That's awesome.
I will admit after eight years in the Army, I do get a little annoyed on the Vet's side of things. When I have characters who are combat medics and blah blah blah (insert whatever military thing you want here) tours in Afghanistan (I did all that myself. Been there, done that.) I do tend to put the book down and pick up something else. I think it's like all things, I've seen behind that curtain, so I'm not into reading about an author's view of that lifestyle. That being said, I liked this book despite my anti-military heroes. Look, that's saying a lot since I have been known to dump a book when the character is something stupid like a Captian-Sniper-Tanker-Special Forces-Black-op.
Anyway, I got off topic. So to sum it up... You should read this. I'm going to be hunting down the next book in this series.
August 11, 2019
Alex is in the FBI and is going to use his connections to find his friend's killer. On one very bizarre night, Alex learns about an entirely different world than the one he thought he knew. One in which the unbelievable is made real, and that's because of Alayna.
Alayna is a Whisper Mage who can control all 4 elements, a rarity that is feared by other mages for sure. She's never gotten serious with a man before, why bother when your time is limited and you know you're going to die young? But as a force for good, she leads her team of misfits taking down those that would do evil in this world. Alex might just be the missing link the team needs, even if he is only a Sapien.
Air of Darkness was such a pleasant surprise, it had great characters with an engaging storyline. I loved the connection between Alayna and Alex, O'Brien knows how to write steamy, and well. Alayna made a perfect main character as she's strong, assertive, and incredibly talented. I adored Alayna's team, each of the quirks and abilities they had and would love to see more of them. This was well-written and so much fun to read.
Alayna is a Whisper Mage who can control all 4 elements, a rarity that is feared by other mages for sure. She's never gotten serious with a man before, why bother when your time is limited and you know you're going to die young? But as a force for good, she leads her team of misfits taking down those that would do evil in this world. Alex might just be the missing link the team needs, even if he is only a Sapien.
Air of Darkness was such a pleasant surprise, it had great characters with an engaging storyline. I loved the connection between Alayna and Alex, O'Brien knows how to write steamy, and well. Alayna made a perfect main character as she's strong, assertive, and incredibly talented. I adored Alayna's team, each of the quirks and abilities they had and would love to see more of them. This was well-written and so much fun to read.
January 20, 2021
I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I love the characters in this book for they have a depth that made me feel like I was going on this journey with them. Alex is FBI that is looking into the brutal murder of his friend. That is when he learns of a world that exists right along side the everyday world he knows. That is when he meets Alayna who is a mage that can control all four elements. She has never gotten serious with anyone for she knows that she will die young do to a curse or the creatures that she protects her city from. So when Alex comes into her life she is a little reluctant to let him into her life, but that changes when they are forced to work together. I can wait get more stories from this author.
October 23, 2018
Air of Darkness by Rose O'Brien is an amazing story to read. This amazon story is writen by a brand new author I have found. I have fallen in love with this new author and new series. I love reading stories with magic in them and this is one of those stories. This new author I fell in love with cause like a hand full of others she makes her story come alive for me. So I don't feel like I am reading it but am actually living this story. I loved reading this story and I highly recommend it to everyone who loves reading about magic.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
October 24, 2018
She is doomed as she is dying but she will still going to protect her city. Unless a vampire or shifter gets her first. He is after a killer when they meet and they are attracted to each other. He is plunged into a world he never knew existed. What will happen now? Will he find the killer? Will she survive long enough to form a relationship? Follow their adventures
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
July 17, 2019
Great start of a series!
Really like this book and this author style so far. I'm not always a fan of the supernatural themed books, but this one was very engaging and the the end of the book sets up for an even more intriguing series of what I'm guessing is 4 books. Characters were great w/ good depth and none of those moments where you want to pull your hair out from their stupid choices. Loved it!
Really like this book and this author style so far. I'm not always a fan of the supernatural themed books, but this one was very engaging and the the end of the book sets up for an even more intriguing series of what I'm guessing is 4 books. Characters were great w/ good depth and none of those moments where you want to pull your hair out from their stupid choices. Loved it!
December 12, 2019
I loved it!
This book was awesome! The Main characters have their own lifes, their romance is slowly burning but it is very worth it to read it through the end. I liked that the book was written from both perspectives, and both of them have their own thoughts, mind and reasons. The storyline was well thought, I did hope to read a bit more about the side characters but i guess it will be in books to come!
Thank you very much for this great read :)
This book was awesome! The Main characters have their own lifes, their romance is slowly burning but it is very worth it to read it through the end. I liked that the book was written from both perspectives, and both of them have their own thoughts, mind and reasons. The storyline was well thought, I did hope to read a bit more about the side characters but i guess it will be in books to come!
Thank you very much for this great read :)
July 24, 2020
I absolutely LOVED this book! This author knows just how to bring along a great and unusual plot at just the right pace. Characters were an "weird" Austin bunch (and being an hour south of the Capitol of Weird myself, I adored the local references) and quite creative. I can't wait for the next book in this series!
July 26, 2020
This was weird somehow. It is so unusual to read about a supernatural pair, where she is very strong magical being and the hero a normal human. Very unusual. And i don't know in i like this kind of Power dynamic. It was written very well and the action scenes were great. It just wasn't enough steam for my tastes :p
November 9, 2023
Action packed paranormal romance
I really enjoyed this. There was a lot of action and world building which I really appreciated. Quite a unique magic system and really well explained so I was never left confused. I loved the interaction between all the characters. Got to say, Dumeril is my favourite
I really enjoyed this. There was a lot of action and world building which I really appreciated. Quite a unique magic system and really well explained so I was never left confused. I loved the interaction between all the characters. Got to say, Dumeril is my favourite
October 23, 2018
The book is a good paranormal romance read. The story is a good start to the series. The characters are good. The story has a lot of action, adventure, paranormal, and romance read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
June 25, 2019
The first in a series. I read the second book first, and was confused at times. Now, reading the first book, I understand more about different twists in the series which make more sense when read in order.
This one seemed to move a bit faster, and I liked all the team.
This one seemed to move a bit faster, and I liked all the team.
May 12, 2019
Magic Warrior woman
If you love strong female lead and believe in magic this is the world for you. Fastpaced , kept me interested. I'll definitely read the next book.
If you love strong female lead and believe in magic this is the world for you. Fastpaced , kept me interested. I'll definitely read the next book.
February 14, 2020
Holy crap, what an awesome PNR read!! More, please!!! Full disclosure: I received an ARC free of charge from Romance Rehab/Romance Remedy.
September 18, 2020
Nah man, not for me.
May 12, 2022
urban
Good ending point with lead in to sequel. Interesting characters of multiple types. Romance of the slightly forbidden or taboo type.
Good ending point with lead in to sequel. Interesting characters of multiple types. Romance of the slightly forbidden or taboo type.
August 11, 2023
I was reading this until I forgot why I was reading this
DNF 20%
DNF 20%
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews