BITTEN BY MAGIC

Bitten By Magic by Brogan Thomas
Book 3 in The Bitten Chronicles series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook

About Bitten By Magic:

Betrayed, bound and resurrected — can a soul-forged survivor reclaim her humanity before time runs out?

Harper “House” has endured the impossible. Once Hestia, a formidable paper mage, she trusted the wrong man and lost everything: her magic torn away, her soul sealed into brick. For 162 years she has existed as a sentient house, hiding from those who’d destroy her while sheltering society’s outcasts.

Watching. Waiting. Until one reckless choice tears her prison apart.

Human again, Harper must navigate a world determined to cage or kill her. The Ministry of Magic hunts her. The Vampire Court schemes to silence her. Shifter packs prowl, terrified of the secrets she keeps. Then there’s the one sent to capture her — a frustratingly charming enemy who might just become her greatest ally.

Harper isn’t just a survivor; she is magic reborn — and she’s done playing nice.

Source: Info in the "About Bitten By Magic" was taken from amazon on 13/09/2025.

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My Thoughts:

I am an old fan of this author and of this series. But... getting a brand new human body out of the blue, after your old one died a hundred or so years ago... is a bit far fetched... Sure this is magic. But I like my magic a little bit logical. Having said that, I do like the idea of a sentient house!

I like Harper! She's a winning character. I also like the fact that we get to see Fred and Lark again! Having said that, it felt like it was just a little bit overdramatic at the end.

After all that whining, I still fininshed this book too soon even without the conveninece of an audiobook which usually helps with speeding up the "reading" process. That speaks of the compelling quality of the author's voice.

Quantitative Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 3.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 4.5
Plot = 3.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Creatures of the Otherworld Series:

 

Books In The Rebel of the Otherworld Series:

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Books In The Bitten Chronicles Series:

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Meet The Author

About Brogan Thomas:

Brogan lives in Ireland with her husband and their eleven furry children: five furry minions of darkness (aka the cats), four hellhounds (the dogs), and two traditional unicorns (fat, hairy Irish cobs).

In 2019 she decided to embrace her craziness by writing about the imaginary people that live in her head. Her first love is her number-one favourite furry child Bob the cob, then reading. When not reading or writing, she can be found knee-deep in horse poo and fur while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.

broganthomas.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | bookbub | pinterest | youtube | amazon | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook copies of the book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

WOLF PACK

Wolf Pack by Craig Zerf
Book 5 in the Project Bloodborn series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook

Synopses:

The synopsis of the first book, Wolf Man:

Brenner is not a werewolf...

He is the result of a secret US Army experiment. The creation of a government controlled Super Soldier.

And no one asked if he wanted to take part.

So, he escaped. And for the last fifty years has been living in the backroads and the small unknown towns of America. Never aging. Searching for a cure. At the same time avoiding the dark ops experts who are looking for him.

But just because he can become a seven foot, four hundred pound killing machine, it doesn't mean that Brenner is bad. In fact, he sticks to a strict code.

And like the High Plains drifters of old, anyone who crosses the Wolfman's code is sure to suffer.

They took his humanity ... and now it's time for payback.

Synopsis of Wolf Pack:

The adventures of Brenner and Griff continues in this book. A couple of old army buddies. Vietnam veterans. One old and one young. One human, one wolf. Together they fight evil. The bad guys this time is another group of US military group much like the first one. Experimenting. However unlike the first US military group, their experimentation has a new twist. Either way, they are still very bad.

The synopsis of the first book was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36178703-wolf-man on 14/06/2021. The synopsis of the current book, Wolf Pack, is provided by me.

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My Thoughts:

What I want to know is, what happened to Bruno Catalano?! The author just left it there hanging for the reader to fill in the blanks. I do not like that kind of writing. It's like, so he's dead. Then later on in the series he rose to life again! That is really annoying! If the bad guys are to rise back to life again, let him die properly first!! Whether he comes back to life or not, at least give the reader the satisfaction of reading him die! Geez! **grumble grumble**

This is also the book which started to use the "chopped-up" kind of writing where a different thread of the story is told after every other chapter. Like for example, chapter 20 is Brenner. 21 is Solomon. Then 22 is Brenner again. And so on and so forth until the end. I so hate this kind of writing. It disrupts the flow of the story! It yanks you out of the story. When that happens I needed a minute to re-align myself again. Annoying!! So what I do is cheat. I read the book every other chapter and when that thread is done, I go back to the last chapter I skipped and follow that thread until the end. Less annoying that way. However, I sincerely hope that Craig Zerf would go back to his old style of writing and abandon this new-found style!

Same old, same old, MO. Our heroes fight bad guys. Blood and gore! Same tune, different song. And still same enjoyable read.

Another short-ish read (at 237 pages) from this author. Still a violent book, not recommended for young readers.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 2.5
Ending = 3.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 4
Plot = 4

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Books In Project Bloodborn Series:

Meet The Author

About Craig Zerf:

Craig Zerf is a full-time writer who has been awarded the Golganooza Gold medal for Fantasy as well as being voted 'Best Read' by radio BBC United Kingdom.

His novels have been translated into French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and German.

Craig has lived in America, Africa and Europe and now resides in England with his wife and two imaginary cats.

His books have reached the number one Best Seller spot in both the United Kingdom and Germany and he reckons that writing is about the most fun that you can have without actually blowing things up!

czerf.wordpress.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | pinterest | amazon | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.

HOMECOMING

Homecoming by Orlando A. Sanchez
Narrated by Kevin T. Collins
Book 5 of the Montague & Strong Case Files series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback, ebook, & audiobook

About Homecoming:

There’s no place like home… but they’re not headed to Kansas.

The Sanctuary is the hidden home of the Golden Circle — a sect of powerful mages. It’s a sacred place of learning, magic, and deep secrets. When Tristan discovers his father, Connor Montague is being held prisoner, he vows to return to the Sanctuary and release him. There’s only one problem. The Sanctuary has been taken over by Mage Oliver. An Elder who has unleashed the magistrates and promises to destroy Tristan the moment he steps foot on the mountain.

Now together with the help of Simon, they must face a mountain of mages, free his father, and escape the Sanctuary before an Arch Mage erases them from existence.

Source: Info in the About Homecoming was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39790804-homecoming on 10/08/2019.

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Peaches

My Thoughts:

I hit a snag with this book.... I'd gotten so used to the convenience of the audiobook and got royally annoyed when I found out that there was no audiobook version for this book! That I actually had to read this one... But I really, really wanted to read book 6, A Proper Hellhound, so I had to read through all the books before that, before I could read A Proper Hellhound because I am anal that way. So this book got read. It only took me two years to read this book, until the audio version came out and I finally finished reading this book.

This is also the book that I noticed that the characters are starting to take on a "too stupid to live" (TSTL) tendencies. Not just Simon, because we already know that is what he is supposed to be. But everybody else??! Geez!! I could actually forgive Monty not seeing the magical consequences given that he was not in prime condition, but Dex, and TK, and LD?? Come on!! Someone should have seen it coming!

Peaches is still my favourite hellhound!

Empirical Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (6 hrs and 40 mins listening time)
Plot = 2
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Books in the Montague & Strong Case Files series:

                                                                   

Meet The Author

About Orlando A. Sanchez:

Orlando Sanchez has been writing ever since his teens when he was immersed in creating scenarios for playing Dungeon and Dragons with his friends every weekend. An avid reader, his influences are too numerous to list here. Some of the most prominent are: J.R.R. Tolkien, Jim Butcher, Kat Richardson, Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, Lee Child, George Lucas, Andrew Vachss, and Barry Eisler to name a few in no particular order. The worlds of his books are urban settings with a twist of the paranormal lurking just behind the scenes and generous doses of magic, martial arts, and mayhem. He currently resides in Queens, NY with his family and can often be found in the local coffee shop where most of his writing is done.

www.orlandoasanchez.com | twitter | facebook | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Kevin T. Collins:

Kevin T. Collins is an actor, singer, and recording artist with a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He has performed in numerous theater performances, including Angels, City of Angels, Paradise Lost, and on television in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, As the World Turns, and The Guiding Light.

www.kevintcollins.com | twitter | instagram | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook, audiobook, and paperback copies of the book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.