Review: Strange Magic Part One by Michelle Mankin

Posted March 18, 2015 by Lola in Mythology, Review, Romance / 8 Comments

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strange magic part oneStrange Magic: Part One (Magic #1)
by Michelle Mankin

Blurb:
Billy Blade is a hardworking, hard living, razor sharp musical force. Mysterious behind his dark shades, the rough around the edges Texan mesmerizes with his haunting harmonica and tantalizes with his dangerous looks and smooth country charm. His latest album is topping the charts. He’s the newly crowned King of the Bacchus Krewe. He’s definitely living the rock star dream.
Exotic Creole beauty Thyme Bellerose couldn’t be more content. She has it all. An adoring grandmother. A handsome Tulane medical student beau. A satisfying job in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter. Her life is as rich as the ice cream she creates. She’s got everything under control.
But control is an illusion. Dreams can turn into nightmares. And now during Mardi Gras, otherworldly powers stand ready to shape their destinies in ways they could never imagine.
Shadow and light. Magic and mystery. Reality and myth. All come together in a place where rules bend and lines blur. Even those between life and death.

My Review:
I didn’t knew much about Strange Magic before reading it, so I went in almost blind. I had read a few reviews of the book and everyone seemed to enjoy it and it was free, so I decided to grab my copy. Let me start by saying there’s a reaosn for that part one, as that’s exactly what this book feels like, it feels like I only got part of the story and it isn’t complete without the other parts.

The book starts with a prologue and the whole book I kept wondering what the relevance was, we get to know quite a lot about this Billy guy and then never see him during the rest of the story. I had no idea how this connected I am sure it will become obvious later on, but I wanted to see the connecting earlier. I just felt like the prologue was standing apart from the story and that bugged me. Then after the prologue we start with a chapter from Thyme her perspective and we stay in that perspective until the end of the story.

I am still not sure how exactly I feel about Strange Magic, it wasn’t a bad book and I certainly enjoyed parts of the story, mostly the parts before the shit hit the fan. There are some hints of supernatural things being there in the world, but really subtle and then towards the end big things happen and it was just strange. I think the word strange magic certainly fit. The story was a bit predictable, although I didn’t expect how weird the story would get after the magic got revealed.

Thyme seemed like a nice character and I liked how she worked in an ice cream shop, she seemed to enjoy her life. She had a nice boyfriend, even though his mom didn’t like her. Her grandma was a sweetie and Thyme seemed to enjoy her life. I also liked how she described New Orleans, it sounds like a beautiful place how she describes it.

I can’t say there really is any world building in this book beside setting the stage. There are hints of more and towards the end some things get revealed, but I still feel like it’s only the beginning and there’s more knowledge needed for things to really fit into place.

To conclude: mostly this book left me feeling meh. There were some parts I liked and there were some strange parts. The prologue seemed to stand apart from the rest of the story and I kept waiting for it to connect to the main storyline. I did like Thyme and she seemed to have a nice life, until she found out about the paranormal. I don’t think I will be continuing this series, but I did like the author her writing style. The story just didn’t grip me enough to want to know more.

3-star

You can add Strange Magic: Part One to your to-read list on Goodreads

You can buy Strange Magic: Part One here:
Amazon
B&N
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8 responses to “Review: Strange Magic Part One by Michelle Mankin

    • Not all serials are like that, but yeah some are. It’s frustrating when it feels like a book chopped in pieces instead of written for the serial format (like for example Susan Kaye Quin her amazing Debt Collector series). This one had a sort of ending, but it just felt like you only got a part of the story and need that second part. It was enjoyable, but I feel no need to buy the second part.
      Lola recently posted…Lola’s Ramblings: Ten things you might not know about me part 2My Profile

  1. I’m sorry Strange Magic didn’t work for you, Lola. I will tell you that part 2 ties everything together and I loved it. But if you didn’t really care for part 1, I suppose that doesn’t matter. It is a complete novel released in 2 parts rather than a serial. So I understand you feeling how you did about the first part. Anyway, hopefully your current read is wow’ing you. 🙂
    Bookworm Brandee recently posted…Release Blitz & Giveaway ~ Coda ~ CD ReissMy Profile

    • I was assuming part two would tie it more together as I can see how this part set things up and part two would build onto that. And indeed saying it’s a complete novel released in 2 parts rather than a serial is a good way to describe it! The whole part thing confused me abit at first, but after havign read it, it makes more sense. The neat thing about cutting it into two parts is that the author coudl offer the first part for free.

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