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Last Chance for Magic #1
Expecting Magic
Marry the tenant and inherit the house.
It could be the worst mistake of her life.
Or the best choice she will ever make.
Dumped by her long-time fiancé and fired from the job she’s dedicated her life to, Catherine Earnshaw spirals into despair as her hopes of raising a family disappear along with her groom.
With a glass of prosecco in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other, she’s ready to leave this life behind until a midnight knock at the door brings a letter with a life-saving proposition:
Her estranged aunt’s dilapidated country estate and generous, life-changing, bank balance will become hers if she agrees to become the housekeeper and look after its peculiar collection of inhabitants.
There’s only one clause: she must marry Witherwood Hall’s tenant and give him a child.
Childless, unmarried, unemployed, and with her biological clock ticking, Cathy decides to take the risk of marrying a stranger. Afterall, what has she got to lose?
Heath has waited centuries for the right woman to become his bride. With the arrival of Cathy, his wait may be over.
Unless The Curse takes her first.
Discover Cathy's fate today!
It could be the worst mistake of her life.
Or the best choice she will ever make.
Dumped by her long-time fiancé and fired from the job she’s dedicated her life to, Catherine Earnshaw spirals into despair as her hopes of raising a family disappear along with her groom.
With a glass of prosecco in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other, she’s ready to leave this life behind until a midnight knock at the door brings a letter with a life-saving proposition:
Her estranged aunt’s dilapidated country estate and generous, life-changing, bank balance will become hers if she agrees to become the housekeeper and look after its peculiar collection of inhabitants.
There’s only one clause: she must marry Witherwood Hall’s tenant and give him a child.
Childless, unmarried, unemployed, and with her biological clock ticking, Cathy decides to take the risk of marrying a stranger. Afterall, what has she got to lose?
Heath has waited centuries for the right woman to become his bride. With the arrival of Cathy, his wait may be over.
Unless The Curse takes her first.
Discover Cathy's fate today!
316 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 20, 2022
35 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 25, 2022
Have you ever finished a book out of spite just because you had invested a lot of your time on it and were too far gone to just leave it hanging or DNF it?
That's what happened with this book.
Spoilers abound from here on out and I am not feeling generous/bothered enough to mark them as so.
==================================
Let's start with the things that were off/wrong and if you did this, in this day and age, you are just looking for death.
A 43 year old, basically educated woman, knows how to use a smartphone, knows about scams but doesn't research where she's going or talk to her mother about the aunt she has (just)lost?
When the 2 victims of the rogue vampire were being chased/hunted down, she was just told, you can't do anything for them, they are already dead and she just accepted it?
Chapter 1-6 is basically the set up. Heath+Cathy don't officially meet until chapter 17.
She can basically feel bad vibes, was warned at the gas station but she's just going forth and not asking the real questions?
Girl, you are in a car, but don't find candles and oil lamps strange in the house you are moving to? Candles in this year of our Lord 2022 crossing into 2023? And not the set the mood/perfume the air type of candles either?
At that point I was like look at this white woman?!
You know what would have made sense? If she reached the pillar marking the property and was transported to 1800s kamande. That would have made sense! But she was still in this time frame, with the rest of the household speaking ye olde English, but she chooses not to put 2+2 together.
Also, I don't know if this is just me, but if I get such a scam letter and I just pull up everything and leave everyone with a vague clue as to where I am/some aunty I remember and you don't feel some great enough apprehension that you are basically taking up a position with no experience, aiiiiiiiii. And yes, at the gas station scene she shows some of this, but not save-your-life thinking level.
And that is what annoyed me most. She isn't a TSTL character. She was just choosing to ignore/not question enough what was right in front of her face.
My favourite characters were Tatwin and cheeky Tatwinson. They felt like genuine characters.
Why are you bringing the Maasai into this? Eh? Some of the conversation segues and repetition throughout that didn't make sense in the book and served more as filler.
Through all this, it is not until we are at Chapter 28 that Cathy is told of her duties. 54% in. And that just made me mad, because she isn't written in as an OMG I don't know how to do this airhead but there are scenes where she is purposefully obtuse in not asking questions/digging up the truth herself.
From Chapter 34, I was tirrrrrreeeeed, but did not want to DNF, as up until this point, we STILL don't know what the full backstory of the Hall is, so I decided to I skim read until the end.
Guess what, they don't kiss until chapter 37. I mean, I don't know if it is Mercurio/Argenon who is like *terms and conditions apply* say you need to have a kid while married, but you can practice and Heath is like I'm not having a bastard. 2022. Never heard of condoms?
And to add even more to that, there were no good vibes between Heath+Cathy. He berates her right from the start for being old, I don't even know if I remember correctly whether he also mentions her weight and then that turns into child-bearing hips. Aiiii, I wanted to throw a heavy, human skinned Grimoire at him.
Then, they have a fade to not-mentioned not even fade-to-black baby making scene at the end of Chapter 46! With the book ending at Chapter 47! And at Chapter 47 is where we finally get the full story of the bad-blood between Heath+Linton.
Then we have my personal pet peeves in books. Pseudo-couples who don't know how to communicate, lies by omission and the fre-nemies clique. The fact that Cathy didn't think to sit down and re-read the original inheritance contract when the vampires started coming out of the woodwork, makes you even re-think how she could have taken over the company position she was passed on.
Apart from hexing the first dude, what was the point of her having a coven if not for the 2 seconds drama they provided throughout?
In short, it was a very run around, pulllllllleeeeeeddddd story with very little actual meat/sense.
That's what happened with this book.
Spoilers abound from here on out and I am not feeling generous/bothered enough to mark them as so.
==================================
Let's start with the things that were off/wrong and if you did this, in this day and age, you are just looking for death.
A 43 year old, basically educated woman, knows how to use a smartphone, knows about scams but doesn't research where she's going or talk to her mother about the aunt she has (just)lost?
When the 2 victims of the rogue vampire were being chased/hunted down, she was just told, you can't do anything for them, they are already dead and she just accepted it?
Chapter 1-6 is basically the set up. Heath+Cathy don't officially meet until chapter 17.
She can basically feel bad vibes, was warned at the gas station but she's just going forth and not asking the real questions?
Girl, you are in a car, but don't find candles and oil lamps strange in the house you are moving to? Candles in this year of our Lord 2022 crossing into 2023? And not the set the mood/perfume the air type of candles either?
At that point I was like look at this white woman?!
You know what would have made sense? If she reached the pillar marking the property and was transported to 1800s kamande. That would have made sense! But she was still in this time frame, with the rest of the household speaking ye olde English, but she chooses not to put 2+2 together.
Also, I don't know if this is just me, but if I get such a scam letter and I just pull up everything and leave everyone with a vague clue as to where I am/some aunty I remember and you don't feel some great enough apprehension that you are basically taking up a position with no experience, aiiiiiiiii. And yes, at the gas station scene she shows some of this, but not save-your-life thinking level.
And that is what annoyed me most. She isn't a TSTL character. She was just choosing to ignore/not question enough what was right in front of her face.
My favourite characters were Tatwin and cheeky Tatwinson. They felt like genuine characters.
“Drained!” Argenon said dramatically. “Drained of blood and life. They live on the blood from the herd. Did you know that there are tribes of humans that do that too?”
She shook her head.
“In Africa, there’s a tribe of cattle herders that live off their blood as they move the herd finding food and water.”
“Are the vampires African?” she asked, confused.
Why are you bringing the Maasai into this? Eh? Some of the conversation segues and repetition throughout that didn't make sense in the book and served more as filler.
Through all this, it is not until we are at Chapter 28 that Cathy is told of her duties. 54% in. And that just made me mad, because she isn't written in as an OMG I don't know how to do this airhead but there are scenes where she is purposefully obtuse in not asking questions/digging up the truth herself.
From Chapter 34, I was tirrrrrreeeeed, but did not want to DNF, as up until this point, we STILL don't know what the full backstory of the Hall is, so I decided to I skim read until the end.
Guess what, they don't kiss until chapter 37. I mean, I don't know if it is Mercurio/Argenon who is like *terms and conditions apply* say you need to have a kid while married, but you can practice and Heath is like I'm not having a bastard. 2022. Never heard of condoms?
And to add even more to that, there were no good vibes between Heath+Cathy. He berates her right from the start for being old, I don't even know if I remember correctly whether he also mentions her weight and then that turns into child-bearing hips. Aiiii, I wanted to throw a heavy, human skinned Grimoire at him.
Then, they have a fade to not-mentioned not even fade-to-black baby making scene at the end of Chapter 46! With the book ending at Chapter 47! And at Chapter 47 is where we finally get the full story of the bad-blood between Heath+Linton.
Then we have my personal pet peeves in books. Pseudo-couples who don't know how to communicate, lies by omission and the fre-nemies clique. The fact that Cathy didn't think to sit down and re-read the original inheritance contract when the vampires started coming out of the woodwork, makes you even re-think how she could have taken over the company position she was passed on.
Apart from hexing the first dude, what was the point of her having a coven if not for the 2 seconds drama they provided throughout?
In short, it was a very run around, pulllllllleeeeeeddddd story with very little actual meat/sense.
August 9, 2023
Fairies, magic, sorcery, witches and a woodland beast. A curse that will forever be if Cathy doesn't choose the right thing to do.... Vampires that need looking after and keeping under control to stop the local village being destroyed. Throw in a very handsome man from the village who works amazing black magic to get what he wants... So at the end does Heath and Cathy find there ever after???
Throughly enjoyed reading this book, never a dull moment and definitely kept my attention. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes magical fairytales.
Throughly enjoyed reading this book, never a dull moment and definitely kept my attention. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes magical fairytales.
February 23, 2024
Wuthering Heights meets beauty and the beast.
An okay read that could have been done much better.
An okay read that could have been done much better.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews