DARK HEART OF MAGIC

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

As a thief, I stick to the shadows as much as possible. But when the head of the Sinclair Family picks me to compete in the Tournament of Blades, there's no escaping the spotlight—or the danger.

Even though he's my competition, Devon Sinclair thinks I have the best shot at winning what's supposed to be a friendly contest. But when the competitors start having mysterious "accidents," it looks like someone will do anything to win—no matter who they hurt.

As if I didn't have enough to worry about, mobster Victor Draconi is plotting against Devon and the rest of my friends, and someone's going around Cloudburst Falls murdering monsters. One thing's for sure. Sometimes, humans can be more monstrous than anything else...

Release Date: October 27, 2015

Black Blade #2

Kensington

Review copy provided by publisher

Liza’s Review:

I’m a huge fan of Jennifer Estep. I countdown until each of her books are released and devour them as soon as they hit my kindle. I love her Elemental Assassin series for adults and have completely fallen in love with her YA Black Blade series.

Dark Heart of Magic picks up a couple of weeks after Cold Burn of Magic ends, with Lila now working as Devon Sinclair’s bodyguard and a member of the Sinclair family. I love that Lila is really still more comfortable in the shadows than the spotlight, even though as a Sinclair, she really can no longer hide. Lila is such a strong character and I felt like she only grew stronger as the story progressed.

The focus of Dark Heart of Magic was the Tournament of Blades. The annual tournament pits each of the families against one another in a winner take all competition. I enjoyed the Tournament of Blades portion of the story. It was fun to see the battles between the different family members occur in a controlled environment. Not that there weren’t issues with the tournament, as on the first day one of the ropes “accidentally” unwound with a number of the contestants still on the rope. Add in the various monsters being murdered around town, and Lila’s Spidey senses were going off. The tournament was very exciting and I loved reading about each of the battle scenes.

We also learn more about the Draconi family, especially Deah and her mother Seleste. I honestly felt so sorry for Deah since she never seems to be good enough for her father Victor. However, since Victor and her brother Blake are really just big bullies, I wanted Deah to start seeing them for who they really are, no matter how hard it is for her to accept.

The various romances that started in Cold Burn of Magic were really more back burner story lines. I loved that Deah got mad at Felix when she found out about him dating Katia Volkov the previous summer and not telling Katia up front he was dating someone else now. The simmering romance between Devon and Lila is also in the background through much of the story and I really love the realistic depiction of young love and all the drama it includes.

I have to say Ms. Estep gave her readers another great who-done-it with Dark Heart of Magic. I had my suspicions as to who was behind the murders of the town monsters and the humans, but I was completely wrong with my guess for the reason of the murders.

Lila learned key information that will help her and the Sinclair family battle and win against Victor Draconi. I can’t wait to see how she uses the information to win against Victor. Bright Blaze of Magic, which is scheduled to come out in May 2016, is the 3^rd book in the Black Blade series and should feature an epic battle between the Sinclairs and the Draconis.