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    Stray Magic: A Strays Novel
    Stray Magic: A Strays Novel
    Stray Magic: A Strays Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    Stray Magic: A Strays Novel

    Written by Kelly Meding

    Narrated by Cynthia Farrell

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Shiloh Harrison was hoping for a few days off to recover from a particularly nasty assignment, preferably with the help of the talented hands (and, well, the rest of his body too) of her sexy boyfriend, Vincent. But when a group of vampires takes an entire trailer park hostage, there’s nothing to do but make her apologies and get to the scene.

    Such is the life of a Federal Marshal in the Paranormal Investigators Unit.

    Yet this isn’t like her typical track-and-nab case: something is going on that has vampires scared, and it takes all her strength not to imagine what could frighten such powerful creatures. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have that option. Her boss is MIA, someone is snatching vampires, and there’s a ticking clock that can only end one way: a bloodbath.

    Unless she can stop it.

    The first book in a new series, Stray Magic is a dark and sexy mystery, with enough twists and curves to keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateOct 23, 2018
    ISBN9780062905765
    Author

    Kelly Meding

    Born and raised in Southern Delaware, Kelly Meding survived five years in the hustle and bustle of Northern Virginia, only to retreat back to the peace and sanity of the Eastern Shore. An avid reader and film buff, she discovered Freddy Krueger at a very young age, and has since had a lifelong obsession with horror, science fiction, and fantasy, on which she blames her interest in vampires, psychic powers, superheroes, and all things paranormal.

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    Reviews for Stray Magic

    3.5/5

    19 ratings5 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Complicated paranormal policing adventure featuring graphic everything -- some sexual moments, some horrifying violence. It's kind of like if you took 2-3 Laurell K. Hamilton books and edited them into one clean trim storyline. The plot lines are nonstop. There is some romance, but it is secondary to the main action, and unsatisfying in the main (looks like drama ahead).

      The team of half-humans that are running the show display an original collection of powers, and the world-building is intriguing. I don't know that this is going to be one of my personal top tier for urban fantasy, but I would categorize it as a solid paranormal with sarcastic heroine. If you like Rachel Caine, Carrie Vaughn or Kim Harrison, I think you'd enjoy this new series a great deal.

      Advanced reader's copy provided by edelweiss.
    • 2/5
      I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

      Shiloh is a U.S. Marshall in the Paranormal Investigation Unit. Her have to be available at all hours job makes relationships difficult, to say the least. However, her current boyfriend Vincent has her wondering if maybe more could be on the horizon, until a Vampire decides to take over a trailer park.
      It is all on Shiloh as her boss goes missing, black magic is creeping around, and enemies and allies get switched around.
       
      First in a new Urban Fantasy series, Stray Magic doesn't mess around in dropping you into the world, so much so, I felt a bit lost and overwhelmed in the beginning. This is the first in the series but I couldn't help feeling I was missing some background in regards to character relationships. There are some info dumps for the world building but with references to super computers and advanced technology alongside a video rental store and flip phones, it was hard to set the story in a time and place. The acknowledgment of some supernatural and paranormal beings, being known to the world, is just that, a brief acknowledgement. I would have liked a more thorough explanation of the world; this feeling was tied into feeling like this wasn't the start of the series.
       
      Told in first person from our heroine Shiloh's point-of-view, she is our leader through the story. She is half djinn half human with abilities to grant three wishes and has Quarrel pheromones that are hard for her to control. She is tough, snarky, and fun to follow along with but it was hard to feel her emotional connection to the other characters, thus, making secondary characters feel vaguer.
       
      This story is basically Shiloh trying to solve a mystery with supernatural beings and seemingly involved in, not a love triangle, but love quad. Shiloh has her boyfriend Vincent, who, she keeps saying, she wants more with, the vampire Tennyson who she spends the most time with and while it seems there may be more on his side, there are leanings from her, and her co-worker and ex, Jaxon. What we get from her thoughts about Jaxon are mostly, her observations about how hot he looks, how pretty his eyes are, and remembering how much she liked him in the bedroom; it doesn't feel deep. There seems to be or was a deeper relationship between them but we never see it and I never felt it.
       
      The mystery/thriller angle of investigating who is behind the necromancy and black magic was fun to follow along with but we barely got to know the villain and the wrap-up of that part was rushed. There are some shocking twists along the way but some felt unsupported making the plot threads feel wild and loosely thrown about.
       
      Shiloh was a solid character but emotional connections to secondary characters helping us get to know them and create a setting and world was lacking. There was an outline of the supernatural world but random components (Shiloh's quarrel pheromones, Crux sexual transport) were thrown out there and never really integrated with the story and characters. There are loose ends at the end of the story with part of the mystery not solved and the quad love angle getting a twist. If looking for a female lead urban fantasy with supernatural beings running amok, this would fit the bill, just be prepared for this to feel more like a dry first reading and hope for emotional connections/understandings/payoffs to come in the second.
    • 4/5
      Shiloh was interesting. She's was both likable and easy to understand. I enjoyed learning about Shiloh's unit. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but worked well together. I guess there is a prequel to STRAY MAGIC in the Carniepunk anthology titled FREAK HOUSE. It is set many years in the past and tells more of Shiloh's story, the world and the relationship between Shiloh and the other members of her team. If I would have known about it before picking this book up, I would have read it. I think some of the information would have made a few things in STRAY MAGIC make more sense.I enjoyed the twists and turns of both the world and the storyline involved in STRAY MAGIC. I didn't feel like anything was overly obvious in the story and I really enjoyed the mystery behind everything. I wasn't crazy about the boyfriend portion of the story. Shiloh talks about being happy with and possibly wanting more with Vincent, but when he was in danger I didn't get that vibe from her. She cared, but it was kinda in the background. I really liked Tennyson though. They had great chemistry and I hope he is back and something blossoms between them in book two. STRAY MAGIC ended with some things left unfinished. STRAY MOON will be here in November of 2018 and I plan to read it. * This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book! Having never read this author, I decided to take a chance on this book because I thought that the description sounded promising. Once I started reading this book, I found it to be incredibly hard to set aside. I found myself trying to squeeze in just a bit more of this book during every spare moment I could find and I probably didn't do a few things that needed to be done so that I could read instead. I am so glad that I decided to pick up this book.Shiloh works as a Marshall in the Paranormal Investigators Unit. She is usually the second in command for her unit but when they are called on a case and her boss is nowhere to be found, she takes the lead. I should probably also mention that Shiloh is half djinn and the rest of her unit consists of a half vampire, an incubus, and a skinwalker so there are plenty of paranormal beings rounding out this story. Their unit is called to a trailer park where residents are being held by a group of vampires. This starts an investigation into a much bigger mystery involving missing vampires, werewolves, and a whole lot of danger.I loved the characters in this book. I think the fact that Shiloh is half djinn was a big plus for me since it is rather original. Despite the fact that Shiloh has a few special abilities, I found her easy to relate to. She was willing to make personal sacrifices when it was the right thing to do and proved to be incredibly smart. Tennyson, a master vampire, was one of my favorite characters in this book. I loved the way that he worked to protect the vampires in his line. He acts selflessly several times during the course of the story and I thought that he was the perfect partner for Shiloh. I found the story to be very exciting. Once I figured out a few things about the world this book was set in, I was hooked. There was a lot of action in the story and I found myself worrying about the safety of the characters more than a few times. The descriptions in the story were incredibly well done and I almost felt like I was there during some of the more intense scenes. I really liked that this book kept the focus on the mystery and that the mystery was pretty complex. There is just a bit of romance but it is really a very small part of the story.I would highly recommend this book to fans of urban fiction. I found this book to be a highly entertaining start to a very promising series featuring a great group of characters. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next installment in this series.I received a digital review copy of this book from Harper Voyager via Edelweiss.
    • 4/5
      This new series from author, Kelly Meding is off to a really good start. I could not get enough of this story as well as the characters. The lead character, Shiloh is great. She may not have been the lead of Paranormal Investigators Unit but she quickly arises to the occasion as a leader. Tennyson, the leader of the vampires was a nice addition to the story. He is not the depressing brooding type. He does have the mind control done pat but he has a nice sense of humor (sarcasm). Plus, he has a caring side. I mean, he did not just hold a bunch of hostiles for nothing. He did it so that he could find out what happened to his missing vampires.Together, Shiloh and Tennyson make a good team. Yet, not to count anyone out as the rest of the Paranormal Investigators are good as well. I can't wait to continue this series to find out what happened to the werewolves and visit with Shiloh and the rest of the gang as well. I would classify this book as a urban fantasy with a mix of paranormal and a dash of romance.