Lisa Shearin - Armed and Magical

My name is Raine Benares. Until last week I was a seeker—a finder of things lost and people missing. Now I’m psychic roommates with the Saghred, an ancient stone with cataclysmic powers. Just me, the stone, and all the souls it’s ingested over the centuries. Crowded doesn’t even begin to describe it. All I want is my life back—which means getting rid of the stone and the power it possesses. To sort things out, I head for the Isle of Mid, home to the most prestigious sorcery school, as well as the Conclave, the governing body for all magic users. It’s also home to power- grubbing mages who want me dead and goblins who see me as a thief. As if that’s not enough, Mid’s best student spellsingers are disappearing left and right, and I’m expected to find them. Lives are at stake, goblins are threatening to sue, mages are getting greedier, and the stone’s power is getting stronger by the hour. This could get ugly. 

Comment: This is the second installment of the Raine Benares series by author Lisa Shearin. I've read the first book back in 2014 and didn't really like it. 

July, however, is usually the month reserved for the big clean up of the year in my house so I always take the chance to clean and organize my books. I've decided to read this one, although I was not really eager, so that I could put it in a corner somewhere or even exchange it through Bookmooch. I must say that, despite not being as bad as I imagined, I'm glad I read it, so I can think of it as out of my list.

In this second story, Raine is still at the place of the previous book's action and she is trying to work with some experts to determine if she might be able to cut her link with the stone the sort of "bonded" with in the events of the previous story. It seems that might be more problematic than she expected and the influence of the stone, despite bearable, is quite annoying most times.

While at the island, Raine also has the problem of those who know about her bond with the powerful stone and want it for themselves. Therefore, she must dodge traps, enemies and political maneuvers while working alongside Mychael, the military-like sorcerer that seems to be a great match for her and also protect those in danger. Will she do it before the stone has too much influence on her?

To be truthful, this wasn't so bad. Perhaps the fact I was able to focus on reading this book more than I probably did with the last one has helped, but this was certainly easier to go through. Maybe it's one of those cases where things improve as they go but the at the same time, I don't feel like reading the rest of the series to try it.

I was able to appreciate the plot of this book more. I still remembered some details from the other book but a lot of things felt new and maybe my impression wasn't as prejudiced.  

Nevertheless, I felt it was packed with action and it almost took a bit of breathing room because there was always something happening and that made it difficult to have scenes where the characters could interact at will (some interruption would always shift things) and where I could feel they were being given some more depth to their personalities.

I suppose the genre might explain it but I would have liked more down time to know the characters more beyond the basics of their roles.

As for the action itself, it was intriguing but I was more interested in how what was happening affected the characters and not as much the details of why some groups were more powerful than others and so on. I guess I could say the "politics" involved were too boring at times because they were not mixed with more domestic scenes or, to repeat myself, characterization to show the character's evolution.

The book is, again, narrated by the protagonist, which means we only get to see things from her perspective. It's very complicated to do this well but several authors I've tried did do. In this case, I think the focus is so much on what Raine does, on what she thinks and how she achieves this and that. Of course this means that our perspective on other characters has to be gained by their attitudes regarding Raine or through dialogue. I always feel it's such a loss...the story could gain more strength with a third person instead.

Raine is seen as almost perfect even when she does a mistake or causes a bad situation. I don't think she's always as humble or as approachable so that I could  appreciate her more. Since she is the narrator, it can also be frustrating to want to follow an idea or just a more romantic scene but then her focus changes and we loose it.

All in all, I think this was a better book for me, compared with the first one. I still won't read the others even though I liked this 2nd one better. I can't explain but there isn't any detail that would make me feel like investing on this. It feels it might be too predictable and not as wow as it could.

Like I said, one more out of the pile.

Grade: 6/10

Anthology Night Shift

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh delivers a smoldering story with Secrets at

Midnight , as the scent of Bastien Smith’s elusive lover ignites a possessiveness in him that’s as feral as it is ecstatic. And now that he’s found his mate, he’ll do anything to keep her.
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews’ novella, Magic Steals , when people start going missing, shapeshifting tigress Dali Harimau and jaguar shifter Jim Shrapshire must uncover the truth about the mysterious creatures responsible.
From Milla Vane—a warrior princess must tame The Beast of Blackmoor to earn a place among her people. But she quickly discovers that the beast isn't a monster, but a barbarian warrior who intends to do some taming himself.
It’s seer Makenna Frazier's first day on the job at Supernatural Protection and Investigations, and her first assignment is more than she bargained for when bodyguard duty for a leprechaun prince’s bachelor party goes every which way but right in national bestselling author Lisa Shearin’s Lucky Charms . 

Comment: As soon as I realized this anthology would have stories by to of my favorite authors, I pre ordered right away. The book arrived and I started reading it that same day. I know most readers only read and review the two stories I also liked best, the ones by Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews, because the other two aren't as fascinating, for several reasons. 

Personally, I read them all, this is an anthology after all and my grade is according to it. It's one of those things if we knew, then we could have waited for our favorite stories to be released alone, which they will surely be someday. If the stories by the author I've read were amazing for me, the same can't be said for the other two, which bored me a lot and it took a real dose of patience to go through, although thankfully they were short.

Here's a small comment about each one:

Secrets at Midnight is a wonderful story about one of Mercy's brothers, Bastian. He senses his mate one day and can't let go but of course finding her isn't as easy. When he meets her at last he knows who she is for him but she doesn't seem to feel the same and the story is mostly about they finding out why Kirby acts and smells weird something. I liked the story, it has all the usual ingredients in a Singh's story, with several references to beloved characters. It's like meeting new friends through old friends and the plot, despite short, was still well paced. 


Magic Steals is a short story focusing on Jim and Dali, while Curran and Kate are in Europe. This story is pretty much in the same level as another one featuring them, we see their relationship develop slowly, we get the idea they have been seeing each other, not as much as that, but still, and now they unite forces to fight someone/something that is targeting innocent people. I liked this story not only for the personal development of both Jim and Dali, as they grow to admit things for each other and between them, which is refreshing, but also because Dali recognizes she is worthy of him and together they are stronger than she would think. Loved reading this one, it was actually the one I've read first.

Lucky Charms is hard to explain, honestly. Ive recently tried my first book by the author and wasn't impressed. I'm afraid this author just isn't for because despite the interesting plot and world building, I can't seem to go past the narrative style, which I don't like. This story focus on Makenna's first day on a new job and we get a description of several beings that populate the world, goblins, vampires, ogres, nymphs, etc, which tells me there would be diversity, but the way the story is told, how Makenna is involved with a job and characters that didn't strike me as intriguing, then I wonder why bother. Not close to be enjoyable for me.

The Beast of Blackmoor is a weird story which I still haven't really understood. It's about a man who mocked a god and was punished, then years later he is doing a sort of penitence? and the heroine, a warrior of some sort is doing a god's quest to earn her place at court or something so she has to defeat the warrior they call beast but when she finds him, he lives in a very deplorable place, where everyone is prey to a wealthy and powerful man and the beast is actually the one who helps. Anyway, interesting idea, but the execution felt rushed and sincerely, the world described was boring and too harsh for such a story, I think. I wasn't really focused on it and struggled to finish.

-> So, after having read the 4 stories, I must say two were great, combining both limited page count and rich story telling, and the other two were weird and not that interesting, but like everything in life, it's all about one's taste.

The anthology offered a good time, despite the less appreciated stories so I don't think this was totally a waste of time, but in the future I'll take a better look at all the titles before buying anthologies.

Grade: 6/10

Lisa Shearin - Magic Lost, Trouble Found

Raine is a sorceress of moderate powers, from an extended family of smugglers and thieves. With a mix of street smarts and magic spells, she can usually take care of herself. But when her friend Quentin, a not-quite-reformed thief, steals an amulet from the home of a powerful necromancer, Raine finds herself wrapped up in more trouble than she cares for. She likes attention as much as the next girl, but having an army of militant goblins hunting her down is not her idea of a good time. The amulet they’re after holds limitless power, derived from an ancient, soul-stealing stone. And when Raine takes possession of the item, it takes possession of her.
Now her moderate powers are increasing beyond anything she could imagine—but is the resumé enhancement worth her soul?

Comment: I got this book as a gift but at the time I had things to read so I delayed its reading. I scheduled it for this month because it was chosen as a read for one of the boo clubs I belong to. I was curious to read it not only because the person who gave it to me obviously thought I'd like it but also because I like fantasy with romance.

This is Raine Benares' story, she's a sorceress with some powers and she lives in a world where elves and goblins live, among other creatures. Raine comes from a famous smugglers family and she wants to stay away from their reputation so she works as a finder, she finds things for those who request her services. But when she decides to help a cousin and a friend with a job, she didn't know she would get herself in trouble, along with people she cares about. But the problems will also make her know more about her father, whom she never met...

Let me start by saying I didn't enjoy this book. I kept having trouble focusing on the story and it was so hard to stay focused and any little distraction would work while I was reading. I kept pushing because I wanted it over with. I know many people DNF books when they have a book like this on their hands but I really want to finish the task I propose myself and I'm curious because who knows if the best part might show up later, but honestly, this one was hard to swallow.

In a fantasy or paranormal world, I always look for a world that fascinates and enthralls me. I want to see that world and wish I could live there, or among those characters even if only for a while. I didn't have that sensation with this book because the world wasn't presented in the best way in my opinion. There was a lot of information about places and races but it wasn't intriguing or structured enough to compel me. I often see new worlds done by other authors where the creatures, the society, the way characters interact is fascinating. I don't think this happens here, not only because of a lack of interesting structure, but also due to the author's style.

The plot also didn't intrigue me. I understood some things and the reasons but page after page, the plot just seemed redundant, really. It become predictable what would happen, if not the particulars of the how.

The author's style is very precise and a fellow reader, new to the author like me absolutely loved this so I know my opinion is exactly that, my personal opinion, but truthfully, the style didn't captivate me nor was it elaborated in the best way to make me feel all the layers about the world or the characters. I just didn't feel anything particularly good about it.

I also think it didn't help that this is 1st person narrator. Like it happens with most fantasy set worlds, Raine is the narrator with all the implications it has in terms of how a reader follows what happens. I also didn't connect with Raine, she was mysterious which can be reasonable for a first book, but I don't feel interested in knowing more and something about her just drives me away. Who knows, if the book was told from another perspective, it might be different.

There's a bit of romance in this story but not very interesting, Raine likes this guy but they aren't together for some reason, then she meets another one and physical attraction aside, I don't think she is much into him so I can't know if this is just a love triangle which would suck, or an attempt to distract the reader and keep the mystery in which case it would have be done badly as well.

All in all, not a good story for me. I also have the second book, which I will read as a second chance really, but I don't put much faith into it. The world just wasn't for me, and to be honest I don't feel interested in keep going. It all felt so disjointed for me, so many details, not enough links or structure. Like always, this is just my opinion, but sincerely, I think it's forgettable.

Grade: 4/10