Review: Lost Talismans and a Tequila by Annetta Marie

Posted July 11, 2020 by Lola in Fantasy, Review / 10 Comments

Review graphic

Lost Talismans and a TequilaLost Talismans and a Tequila (The Guild Codex: Spellbound #7)
by Annette Marie

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
You know that squirmy sensation in your gut when you have no idea what you’re doing and you’re about to screw everything up?

Yeah, that feeling.

I thought I was a good judge of character, but recent events proved me very wrong. Now, in a brilliant demonstration of my newfound caution, I’m putting all my faith in a demon—a demon who’s tried to kill me before. The squirmy feeling is making sense, right?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any other options. Ezra’s time is almost up, which means I need answers and I need them fast. So it’s time to toughen up, pack my gear, and find me one of the most illegal, reviled, and scarce mythics out there: a demon-mage summoner.

And all I have to do is follow a demon’s instructions on where to look. How could that go wrong?

My Review

I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

Lost Talismans and a Tequila is the seventh book in the Spellbound series, which is closely tied together with the Demonized series and with each book even more so. After the explosive ending of book 6 and then the hints we got about what was going on in the third Demonized book I was really curious what Tori and her friends got up to in this book and it really was another awesome read.

Tory is determined to safe Ezra and in this book she goes of on a quest to find more information and hopefully the grimoire that can tell her more about how he became a demon mage and hopefully figure out a way to undo that. It’s amazing to see how far she’s willing to go and fight for Ezra and there are some difficult scenes as well when some truth come to light. But there are also plenty that show her dedication for her friends and much she cares about Ezra.

The story started off a bit slow, but maybe that’s just me, it always takes me a while to get into these books. And then once I am get into it I don’t want to stop reading and just keep on reading to find out what’s going to happen next. It’s fast paced and action packed and I liked seeing them investigate this thing. There are quite some big revelations and it feels like slowly some big important pieces fall on it’s place about the bad guy behind it all and what he has in place and it’s awesome to see it all come together. And also a bit creepy and frightening, because this thing is even bigger than I expected. And I am so excited for the last books in these series!

Tori is such an interesting character to read about, she has no magic of her own yet she gets into all of these dangerous situations. And in this book she has to face her fear that she’s not as helpful as she thinks, after she lost some of her best talismans at the end of the last book she now has few things she can use in a fight, but still she rushes into them. In this book she also has to face some her fears and doubt, which was great to see. I feel like we get a better for her character with each book.

This book even has a few chapters from Ezra’s point of view, which I think help bridge some gaps that would otherwise exist. On the other hand it almost made me like him less understanding more of what went on in his head and how defeated he was and I really liked seeing how his attitude changes throughout the book and I am really curious what will happen next after what he did at the end of this book. It sure gave some interesting insights in his character and personality.

Due to certain events we see more of Aaron and Kai and I liked getting to see more of them. There is a conversation with Makiko as well that was quite illuminating and I am still not sure how that whole plot line will play out. And we also see more of Justin, Tori’s brother, which was great. And Hoshi.

As I mentioned before this series is closely tied together with the Demonized series and at times it can be hard to remember everything that happens. This is a series that I would love to re-read one day with the books close together so I can really see all the connections. Because at times I feel like I am missing half of the clues as there’s so much going on and these two series show two sides of the same big storyline. While you can read only one series, I think you get the most out of it when you read them both as it just increases the enjoyment of both. You get hints about Tori is up to in the third Demonized book and then in this book you find out more about it and discover information that has impact on Robin’s storyline as well. It really is well done and I can’t wait to read the last books in both series.

To summarize: This was another great read in this series. It’s fast paced with plenty of action and lots of things going on. As well as some big reveals and more information that comes to light about the big baddie behind this all. It was awesome seeing it all unfold. I like Tori as a main character, how she just a normal human involved in the world of magic and this book focuses on that even more again after what happened in the last book. I like how we get to know even more about her and her fears in this book. There are is plenty about the side characters which was great. And some additional information about Ezra, at first I wasn’t really sure if I liked having his point of view, but I liked seeing his change in attitude throughout the book. It’s really amazing seeing this series and the demonized one intertwining and I think you get the most out of it if you read both series. I can’t wait for the finales to both series!

4 Stars

Links:
Goodreads
Bookbub
Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.

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10 responses to “Review: Lost Talismans and a Tequila by Annetta Marie

  1. LOL, I think I will need a reading list when I get to this series and the other related ones. I do like the idea that she is human and still able to get the job done among all the paranormals. Interesting how getting Ezra’s perspective changed your opinion of him. Glad that you were able to really enjoy the book once you got going with it.

    • I hope you give these series a try. They really are awesome. I like how Tori is just a normal human, but she’s holding her own among the paranormals. I sometimes feel having that other perspective removes some of the mystery, although in the end I was happy e got Ezra’s point of view I also would’ve been happy without it.

  2. Glad you’re still enjoying the series! It can be fun getting a new POV this late in a series, but it can also be kinda disorienting. Since I stopped reading I don’t think I ever found out, does this mean Ezra ended up being the love interest?

    • I think the series only gets better and better, the Demonizes series which runs alongside this one is awesome too. Yes Ezra ended up being the love interest and I think it’s going in a direction of a relationship too in the last book. Although there are all plot lines about the other guys as well and potential romances for them too.

        • Yes potential romances for them with other side characters indeed. There is lots of speculation about it in the author’s spoiler group about who they will all end up with and who would fit with Zak. There are two pretty clear love interests for Kai in the books and some possibilities for Aaron as well, but that hasn’t really gone anywhere yet. Guess we’ll see what happens in the final book.

  3. Great review, Lola! This sounds like an entertaining series – but I’ve gone a bit mad this year and need to sit down and work out exactly how many series I’m running and which ones I’m going to continue… Probably I’ll need a spreadsheet!

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