This is book four of the Daughters of the Warlock series and this book concentrates on the story of Bella, the bookworm. There are three sisters, Ava, Bella and Courtney, who never knew their father and their mother never mentioned who he was to her daughters. They had lived for years in an alternative and secret realm that their mother had created. Everything in that space was created by their mother and upon her death, everything she had created, disappeared. Luckily one of the sister’s was very good at creating and making items and even the house they know live in. The oldest daughter, Ava, had gone to the Fae realm, wanting to find out more about their father and finding out why he ignored them for all those years. She finds herself in a very complex situation as she and her mother and sisters are all powerful witches and their father is a warlock. In the world their father currently lives in, that sort of relationship is not allowed. Ava had to defend her very presence and position as the daughter of the head warlock, Matlock, in front of their Council of Warlocks and has many enemies. She kept the presence of her two other sister’s secret, until she could get some of the laws changed and members of the council removed who are against her very existence.
She has now married her father’s security guard and half-breed, Tavlor, another action that didn’t go down well with some of the council, who have changed historical laws to suit their own desires. The High Warlock is supposed to have one heir, a male heir only, to take over from them after they die. Matlock’s arranged marriage was childless, but he had three daughters illegitimately with their mother. Ava is waiting to see if they will amend their laws to make her his heir and the next Head Warlock, even though she is female and illegitimate. Matters back at her secret home, are not well, as Bella can cope by sticking her head into a book, but Courtney is beginning to rebel, wanting out of their isolated home, with no other contact. She has started going to the human village, but this could place her in danger! Courtney ends up being poisoned by someone and Bella is left trying to work out how to save her life and what potions to use. Her mother never really helped any of the girls learn any healing spells or potions, so she has to use her books to help.
Her books can only take her so far, as she still can’t find out what type of poison was used on her younger sister. She has done all she can and since Ava and Tavlor are travelling in the fae realms and are unable to be contacted, she has little choice but to travel out of her private and safe realm, to her father’s realm at the heart of the magical realms. Her presence in the magical realm and the offices of the Warlock Council, soon gets her and her father in trouble, as they want to charge her for her very existence and punish her father for keeping her a secret. Once they learn there is a third daughter as well, then matters escalate rapidly. Bella used some unfamiliar magic spells to get her sister to Matlock for his help in healing her. He takes the two of them to a healer in another realm, but are followed and guards try to arrest Bella for multiple crimes. They manage to agree she will go to her father’s office and Matlock threatens them with bodily harm if any of them lay a hand on Bella. Courtney ends up with a cousin of her father, who is an excellent healer, once the poison was identified. Bella gets the chance to meet Matlock’s parents and some of her extended and unknown family.
The Council want her to stay in their realm and insist she is tested for her level of magical prowess and powers. She has no real offensive powers, but is good at shielding and protection spells. The opposite of her other sisters, and especially doesn’t consider herself anything as powerful as Ava, who the Council had already tested when she appeared in court. Someone is still working in the background, unhappy with Matlock’s sudden heirs turning up and want all three daughters dead! Bella is offered a job, but doesn’t want to really stay in the magical realm, preferring to go back to her own private realm with her books. But they offer her a job in a huge library and when she is shown around, she falls in love with the amount of books and the knowledge she could gain. Matlock leaves her there and Courtney joins her there at the end of her day but as they are about to leave, they are attacked. Bella can’t save both of them, as the magic she is facing is more than she can defeat, so must decide to send Courtney for help as soon as she can deflect the killer’s attention.
Bella may be a bit of a bookworm and love the peace and quiet of her isolated realm, but her younger sister is far more like their older sister Ava and wants more from life. But with the sisters facing an assassin, she ends up left all on her own, having to make life changing decisions about her sister’s life and searching for new magic to try and save her life. She has to travel out of their own realm to one where she knows she won’t be welcome, but has no other help she can call upon. Her life will be changed by her decisions now, but she also needs her wits about her to survive as well. A great addition to the series and nice to see the bookworm sister Bella having a huge role to play in this storyline. We got to know so much about Ava so far in the series and this one shows us more about Bella and even a bit about Courtney as well. Each sister has her own personality and magical skills, and we are just learning the basics about Bella and her powers. Nice to see Matlock interacting with his other daughters and I look forward to reading the next book in the series to see more of them all. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.