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Calliope Jones #1-3.5
The Magic Series: Calliope Jones Books 1-3.5
Looking for your next spellbinding Urban Fantasy series?
Visit Salt Spring Island in the Salish Sea, where caretakers of the apples of immortality are vanishing. The earth witch charged with protecting the orchards is on the cusp of losing her magic. And the druid investigating crimes of the magical kind is carrying deadly secrets.
Calliope Jones, novice witch and single mom, must protect her family while fulfilling the mission she never signed up for: to fix the system of magical replenishment that broke long before she was born.
But first she has to survive her Blood Ceremony and a night inside the persnickety Mother Tree; try to keep her sons- and their magic- from blowing up; and save Tanner Marechal from the annoyingly persistent hellion capable of breaking him completely.
Reading order for the series is:
Magic Remembered (1)
Magic Reclaimed (2)
Magic Redeemed (3)
Magic Restrained, a novelette (3. 5)
Visit Salt Spring Island in the Salish Sea, where caretakers of the apples of immortality are vanishing. The earth witch charged with protecting the orchards is on the cusp of losing her magic. And the druid investigating crimes of the magical kind is carrying deadly secrets.
Calliope Jones, novice witch and single mom, must protect her family while fulfilling the mission she never signed up for: to fix the system of magical replenishment that broke long before she was born.
But first she has to survive her Blood Ceremony and a night inside the persnickety Mother Tree; try to keep her sons- and their magic- from blowing up; and save Tanner Marechal from the annoyingly persistent hellion capable of breaking him completely.
Reading order for the series is:
Magic Remembered (1)
Magic Reclaimed (2)
Magic Redeemed (3)
Magic Restrained, a novelette (3. 5)
- GenresFantasy
893 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 24, 2019
107 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Coralie Moss
25 books227 followersAuthor Coralie Moss likes to start her fantasy stories with witches and other Magicals and plunk a surprise or five into their seemingly normal lives.
The Goddess by Proxy Series begins with The Goddess & the Woodsman, and includes the paranormal romance, Medusa's Proxy.
The Shifters in the Underlands Series, set in Manhattan and Ukraine, includes Paper Dragon, Blood Dragon, and Moon Dragon.
The Sister Witches Urban Fantasy Series follows the lives of the Brodeur sisters: Alderose, Beryl, and Clementine. The three meet up in Northampton, Massachusetts for the reading of a will and within minutes, family secrets start messing up their plans.
The MAGIC series is set on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, and features Calliope, a 41 year old divorced earth with two teenage sons. Calli's let her magic wither. Until one day, a seemingly normal investigation turns up a dead... (you'll have to read Magic Remembered to see what it is).
Coralie just happens to lives on Salt Spring Island, the site of much magical inspiration, with her husband and two rescue cats. To find out more, visit her website, https://coraliemoss.com
The Goddess by Proxy Series begins with The Goddess & the Woodsman, and includes the paranormal romance, Medusa's Proxy.
The Shifters in the Underlands Series, set in Manhattan and Ukraine, includes Paper Dragon, Blood Dragon, and Moon Dragon.
The Sister Witches Urban Fantasy Series follows the lives of the Brodeur sisters: Alderose, Beryl, and Clementine. The three meet up in Northampton, Massachusetts for the reading of a will and within minutes, family secrets start messing up their plans.
The MAGIC series is set on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, and features Calliope, a 41 year old divorced earth with two teenage sons. Calli's let her magic wither. Until one day, a seemingly normal investigation turns up a dead... (you'll have to read Magic Remembered to see what it is).
Coralie just happens to lives on Salt Spring Island, the site of much magical inspiration, with her husband and two rescue cats. To find out more, visit her website, https://coraliemoss.com
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 3, 2021
$0.99 Kindle and Kobo sale, March 3, 2021.
August 23, 2020
I'm going to be the dissenting voice among all the praise.
It started out well, with an appealing main character, a woman in her 40s (rather than the usual teen or twenty-something), a mystery plot, a romance plot (the two favourite plots), and editing looking fairly clean. Somewhere along the way, though, I spotted about 150 editing errors, the middle-aged woman fell into the tropes of the foolish young woman, the mystery got muddled, and I didn't understand the anticlimactic resolution to it at all.
I was glad that I had the collected one-volume edition, because the first book is essentially Act 1: get everyone on stage, set up the situation, everything is now prepped for development in book 2, which continues immediately from where book 1 stops. Reading it in one volume, I didn't feel too disappointed in the lack of resolution at the end of book 1, but I think if I'd bought the first volume separately I would have hesitated to carry on.
Because it takes so long on the setup, it does get a little bloated, especially with the size of the cast. I felt that it wasn't necessary to have three almost indistinguishable druid sidekicks for the love interest; they could all turn into otters, they all started relationships with local witches, and there wasn't a lot else to help me tell them apart other than initial (quickly forgotten) physical descriptions. They could easily have been compressed into one character, probably River, who is the brother of another significant secondary character. Likewise, several plot threads started in book 1 don't really end up going anywhere, just muddying the main plot.
Lack of clarity is the big problem that starts to creep into volumes 2 and 3. Things happen that obviously are clear in the author's head, but were not, to me, clear on the page. In particular, the final denoument, which I'll put in spoiler tags:
That moment, to me, was what decided me to label Calliope as a spoiled protagonist (which is my technical term for someone who gets handed help and victories they haven't earned in order to move the plot along). I could kind of accept that her numerous allies were loading her up with magical gifts and making their witchy celebrations all about her, because she had powers that would be useful in resolving a situation of concern to all of them, and because they were nice, generous people. It still took us kind of into spoiled protagonist territory, though. Add to this that Calliope is a Very Special Witch with powers beyond ordinary witchkind (that have been undeveloped and suppressed up until the story starts, when she's 41), and that she has a superhero job (supposedly demanding, but actually able to be abandoned indefinitely while she participates in the plot), and it's getting harder to resist the spoiled protagonist label. That climax finally took it over the top.
Her job, by the way, is working for the government. She doesn't seem to report to anyone; she's the senior person on the island (with an assistant), but she must presumably have a boss on the mainland. No such person is ever mentioned, though, and she doesn't seem to need to account for her time. She's a middle-aged civil servant and a single mother of two teenagers, but she doesn't worry about the financial impact of taking an extended leave of absence from her job, even though her ex-husband is always claiming he's cash-strapped and isn't contributing much towards the kids, and as the plot progresses she's adding on to the house and feeding half an army. I didn't buy it.
She caps off the spoiled protagonist act by going off on her own without telling anyone and getting into trouble and having to be rescued, like every dumb female protagonist ever. It was disappointing.
The author did do decent work on the character side; those characters who were developed (out of an outsize cast) were interesting, likable people with relatable problems. The plot, though, suffered from the lack of clarity and the spoiled-protagonist issue that I've already discussed, and the blurb frankly oversells it in terms of how much tension there is.
The copy editors missed some apostrophe placement issues; quite a few coordinate commas between non-coordinate adjectives; a few commas before main verbs; hyphens joining things that, in context, are not compound adjectives; a small collection of dangling modifiers; simple past used instead of past perfect tense; vocabulary issues; missing words in sentences; number disagreements; and several continuity errors. I suspect it started out a lot worse. There was a different copy editor for book 1, and she seems to have picked up the missing words in sentences and the worst of the missing past perfect, but missed several apostrophe problems; the other editor, other way around.
Overall, then, it had potential, and the trip was fairly enjoyable, but it ended up having some significant issues that left me less than satisfied. I could probably have coped with the borderline spoiled protagonist with a superhero job if the climax hadn't let all the air out of the plot, or even if it had been sold to me in a way that made sense of what had happened. That's what took it down from a low four stars to a mid three stars for me.
It started out well, with an appealing main character, a woman in her 40s (rather than the usual teen or twenty-something), a mystery plot, a romance plot (the two favourite plots), and editing looking fairly clean. Somewhere along the way, though, I spotted about 150 editing errors, the middle-aged woman fell into the tropes of the foolish young woman, the mystery got muddled, and I didn't understand the anticlimactic resolution to it at all.
I was glad that I had the collected one-volume edition, because the first book is essentially Act 1: get everyone on stage, set up the situation, everything is now prepped for development in book 2, which continues immediately from where book 1 stops. Reading it in one volume, I didn't feel too disappointed in the lack of resolution at the end of book 1, but I think if I'd bought the first volume separately I would have hesitated to carry on.
Because it takes so long on the setup, it does get a little bloated, especially with the size of the cast. I felt that it wasn't necessary to have three almost indistinguishable druid sidekicks for the love interest; they could all turn into otters, they all started relationships with local witches, and there wasn't a lot else to help me tell them apart other than initial (quickly forgotten) physical descriptions. They could easily have been compressed into one character, probably River, who is the brother of another significant secondary character. Likewise, several plot threads started in book 1 don't really end up going anywhere, just muddying the main plot.
Lack of clarity is the big problem that starts to creep into volumes 2 and 3. Things happen that obviously are clear in the author's head, but were not, to me, clear on the page. In particular, the final denoument, which I'll put in spoiler tags:
That moment, to me, was what decided me to label Calliope as a spoiled protagonist (which is my technical term for someone who gets handed help and victories they haven't earned in order to move the plot along). I could kind of accept that her numerous allies were loading her up with magical gifts and making their witchy celebrations all about her, because she had powers that would be useful in resolving a situation of concern to all of them, and because they were nice, generous people. It still took us kind of into spoiled protagonist territory, though. Add to this that Calliope is a Very Special Witch with powers beyond ordinary witchkind (that have been undeveloped and suppressed up until the story starts, when she's 41), and that she has a superhero job (supposedly demanding, but actually able to be abandoned indefinitely while she participates in the plot), and it's getting harder to resist the spoiled protagonist label. That climax finally took it over the top.
Her job, by the way, is working for the government. She doesn't seem to report to anyone; she's the senior person on the island (with an assistant), but she must presumably have a boss on the mainland. No such person is ever mentioned, though, and she doesn't seem to need to account for her time. She's a middle-aged civil servant and a single mother of two teenagers, but she doesn't worry about the financial impact of taking an extended leave of absence from her job, even though her ex-husband is always claiming he's cash-strapped and isn't contributing much towards the kids, and as the plot progresses she's adding on to the house and feeding half an army. I didn't buy it.
She caps off the spoiled protagonist act by going off on her own without telling anyone and getting into trouble and having to be rescued, like every dumb female protagonist ever. It was disappointing.
The author did do decent work on the character side; those characters who were developed (out of an outsize cast) were interesting, likable people with relatable problems. The plot, though, suffered from the lack of clarity and the spoiled-protagonist issue that I've already discussed, and the blurb frankly oversells it in terms of how much tension there is.
The copy editors missed some apostrophe placement issues; quite a few coordinate commas between non-coordinate adjectives; a few commas before main verbs; hyphens joining things that, in context, are not compound adjectives; a small collection of dangling modifiers; simple past used instead of past perfect tense; vocabulary issues; missing words in sentences; number disagreements; and several continuity errors. I suspect it started out a lot worse. There was a different copy editor for book 1, and she seems to have picked up the missing words in sentences and the worst of the missing past perfect, but missed several apostrophe problems; the other editor, other way around.
Overall, then, it had potential, and the trip was fairly enjoyable, but it ended up having some significant issues that left me less than satisfied. I could probably have coped with the borderline spoiled protagonist with a superhero job if the climax hadn't let all the air out of the plot, or even if it had been sold to me in a way that made sense of what had happened. That's what took it down from a low four stars to a mid three stars for me.
December 20, 2020
The MAGIC series is set on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, and features Calliope, a 41 year old divorced earth witch with two teenage sons. Calli's let her magic wither. Until one day everything changes when she encounters something strange when she is busy with her job.
I really like a main character who is only a little younger then I am and who is just a really good mom, next to everything else she is. The story starts slow, but I kinda liked the slow pace. It made me see the characters more if you know what I mean.
Each book in this series gets better. I really liked the last one in this box set and will be reading number 4 when it is available.
I really like a main character who is only a little younger then I am and who is just a really good mom, next to everything else she is. The story starts slow, but I kinda liked the slow pace. It made me see the characters more if you know what I mean.
Each book in this series gets better. I really liked the last one in this box set and will be reading number 4 when it is available.
November 24, 2019
Loved this series!
November 25, 2019
I love how Ms. Moss weaves the tail of magic into realism. It's such a well-written take on a intricate world.
August 9, 2020
Good story but not for me
I liked the character development and the story line. I was at the halfway point when the author had an extremely graphic sex act scene. I don't enjoy reading books with graphic sex or other sex acts. I stopped reading at that point.
I liked the character development and the story line. I was at the halfway point when the author had an extremely graphic sex act scene. I don't enjoy reading books with graphic sex or other sex acts. I stopped reading at that point.
May 29, 2021
Engaging
An engaging set of books that chronicles a late-blooming witch's fight to save herself, her sons, her beloved island, and possibly the world. She has quite a bit of help from her magical friends (her druid boyfriend included).
An engaging set of books that chronicles a late-blooming witch's fight to save herself, her sons, her beloved island, and possibly the world. She has quite a bit of help from her magical friends (her druid boyfriend included).
February 25, 2023
I actually did enjoy this series, the first 3 books. Having made numerous trips to Vancouver Island, and some of the other islands, Salt Spring being one of them, The location felt familiar.
The 4th book in the series a novella, just did not jive with me though.
The 4th book in the series a novella, just did not jive with me though.
August 23, 2020
A real treat!
The Pacific Northwest both south of the border in Washington State, Idaho and Oregon as well as the north province of British Columbia is truly magical.
Coralie Moss' writing exudes sensuality and respect as she describes the environment and the people who have active roles in this endangered paradise.
The magical world here is a comf
The Pacific Northwest both south of the border in Washington State, Idaho and Oregon as well as the north province of British Columbia is truly magical.
Coralie Moss' writing exudes sensuality and respect as she describes the environment and the people who have active roles in this endangered paradise.
The magical world here is a comf
June 22, 2021
Very good reading
Story about coming into your own person and learning who
You are. Too many sex scenes and cannot recommend for young people.
Story about coming into your own person and learning who
You are. Too many sex scenes and cannot recommend for young people.
August 10, 2021
Loved it
Really enjoyed this prequel and getting more of. Backstory to the characters I had read about in the other series. The only bad thing is there isn't more books!
Really enjoyed this prequel and getting more of. Backstory to the characters I had read about in the other series. The only bad thing is there isn't more books!
March 6, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this set of book, each with their own story but threaded together with an ultimate plot.
I loved watching the development of the characters.
Looking for more in the series.
I loved watching the development of the characters.
Looking for more in the series.
January 14, 2020
I have to admit, though, I love when I can’t categorize a story into a single box. You’ll remember that a while ago I reviewed Magic Remembered by the exceptionally talented Coralie Moss, however I have been remiss in finishing the series because… well let’s be honest, sometimes life gets in the way of all the things you want to do.
Ms. Moss has recently (although not actually that recently when I look back, listen I am not a good judge of time here) released the entire Magic collection in boxed set form which is SUPER handy for me because I can just binge read. Which is exactly what I did. I’m not a huge TV watcher and am much more likely to binge read than binge watch. Not gonna lie, I am that much of a book nerd.
So why am I saying that this book is hard to classify when it’s listed as an urban fantasy? Well, folks, that’s because Ms. Moss is a much more complex author than that. The entire Magic series (except the bonus novella that comes with the box set which we will discuss later) follows Calliope Jones, a forty-one year old divorced mother to two boys. Something that is very relatable to many out there. Calliope has one thing some mothers, single or otherwise, wish they had: magic powers.
But it’s not that easy. It never really is, is it? I mean, if it was, what would be the point in one book, much less three (again, the novella is a twist, I’ll go over later)?
So our Calli is living her best life. She is working at a career she loves, raising her two boys to be good men, and occasionally scratching a certain itch with a magical hook-up app. Even when it means the massive package attached to said hook-up breaks the condom. No, for real guys, that happens.
But what makes the Magic series more than an urban fantasy about a woman rediscovering the magical powers she carries, is that it follows her as she navigates life. Although the mystical threads are strong and this story can easily satisfy urban fantasy lovers, I also feel like those who love a good women’s fiction would greatly enjoy seeing Calliope as she rediscovers the self she lost to a mentally and emotionally controlling/abusive man.
And then she cuts his hand off.
No, seriously, that happens too. It isn’t too big of a spoiler, but it CERTAINLY got my attention and made me cheer Calli on!
The Magic series has a depth and heart that would appeal to readers across a wide variety of genres as well as an engaging romantic thread between Calli and Tanner. I might be mildly biased since I have a Tanner of my own in my Meant To Be series, but I absolutely adore this man. He is supportive of Calli and helps her as they fight some nasty, dark entities, but he doesn’t push (well, not too much. He’s great, but he isn’t perfect. Who is?) and he doesn’t force her into the background because she’s a “little lady.” He sees her as a partner, friend, and then much more.
And if you like a little extra zest in your stories? Not only does Magic have that covered, but the bonus novella Magic Restrained is an absolutely indulgent addition. It follows one of the side characters from the three full length Magic stories, Maritza and her apprentice/significant other Alabastair. Their chemistry will fog up your ereader in all the best possible ways.
If you love real life issues coupled with a heavy dollop of magic that brings action and thrills with it, check out The Magic Series: Box Set. The best part of it all is that it’s free to read through Kindle Unlimited, so check it out today!
Ms. Moss has recently (although not actually that recently when I look back, listen I am not a good judge of time here) released the entire Magic collection in boxed set form which is SUPER handy for me because I can just binge read. Which is exactly what I did. I’m not a huge TV watcher and am much more likely to binge read than binge watch. Not gonna lie, I am that much of a book nerd.
So why am I saying that this book is hard to classify when it’s listed as an urban fantasy? Well, folks, that’s because Ms. Moss is a much more complex author than that. The entire Magic series (except the bonus novella that comes with the box set which we will discuss later) follows Calliope Jones, a forty-one year old divorced mother to two boys. Something that is very relatable to many out there. Calliope has one thing some mothers, single or otherwise, wish they had: magic powers.
But it’s not that easy. It never really is, is it? I mean, if it was, what would be the point in one book, much less three (again, the novella is a twist, I’ll go over later)?
So our Calli is living her best life. She is working at a career she loves, raising her two boys to be good men, and occasionally scratching a certain itch with a magical hook-up app. Even when it means the massive package attached to said hook-up breaks the condom. No, for real guys, that happens.
But what makes the Magic series more than an urban fantasy about a woman rediscovering the magical powers she carries, is that it follows her as she navigates life. Although the mystical threads are strong and this story can easily satisfy urban fantasy lovers, I also feel like those who love a good women’s fiction would greatly enjoy seeing Calliope as she rediscovers the self she lost to a mentally and emotionally controlling/abusive man.
And then she cuts his hand off.
No, seriously, that happens too. It isn’t too big of a spoiler, but it CERTAINLY got my attention and made me cheer Calli on!
The Magic series has a depth and heart that would appeal to readers across a wide variety of genres as well as an engaging romantic thread between Calli and Tanner. I might be mildly biased since I have a Tanner of my own in my Meant To Be series, but I absolutely adore this man. He is supportive of Calli and helps her as they fight some nasty, dark entities, but he doesn’t push (well, not too much. He’s great, but he isn’t perfect. Who is?) and he doesn’t force her into the background because she’s a “little lady.” He sees her as a partner, friend, and then much more.
And if you like a little extra zest in your stories? Not only does Magic have that covered, but the bonus novella Magic Restrained is an absolutely indulgent addition. It follows one of the side characters from the three full length Magic stories, Maritza and her apprentice/significant other Alabastair. Their chemistry will fog up your ereader in all the best possible ways.
If you love real life issues coupled with a heavy dollop of magic that brings action and thrills with it, check out The Magic Series: Box Set. The best part of it all is that it’s free to read through Kindle Unlimited, so check it out today!
January 7, 2020
I had read the all souls trilogy and this was recommended to me. This is a really enjoyable story, it’s one of those books you can’t put down. A forty something single mum of 2 teenage boys who looks after the apple orchards is also a earth witch. She is a witch who has had no training and when she end up on a farm where the couple are under a spell everything changes . Can’t wait to read next book.
I received a review copy of this from Voracious Readers.
I received a review copy of this from Voracious Readers.
January 7, 2020
This book is a fabulous read about a woman coming into her 40's and getting ready to hit her magical peak so to speak. And finding herself as well as her son's and finding a new love interest. This was a really excellent read, I highly recommend
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2020
I received a copy of book 1 from voracious readers and I quite enjoyed it. I was constantly hoping for Calliope to get with Tanner and I loved how her character was portrayed. If you like magic, romance, and mystery genres all together you should definitely read this book.
November 24, 2019
Loved the whole series. I’ll be reading more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews