A Book Obsession..: Review: Stray Magic by Kelly Meding

Review: Stray Magic by Kelly Meding

, by Kt Clapsadl

Stray Magic by Kelly Meding

Strays #1

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.

Since the blurb mentions a boyfriend, I feel I should mention that this is not a romance. It's a strict urban fantasy with maybe a tiny sprinkling of romance. It's been a while since I read a straight forward urban fantasy without a romance at the center, or at least a strong movement towards a romance. I love the genre, but I typically lean towards the ones that are more of a hybrid with paranormal romance as I do love the steamier side of things. However, in this case, I found STRAY MAGIC to be a breath of fresh air and a great palate cleanser for me, so much so that I didn't miss the lack of romance. Don't get me wrong, the entire time reading the book I was looking for threads of what romances could bud in the future, but the lack of real romance didn't detract from the story, which is saying something for this romance lovers heart. The plotline, world, and characters all kept me more than entertained.

As for the heroine, Shiloh is an incredibly strong character, and she more than carried the story for me. I really enjoyed getting to know her, and see her world through her eyes. She has her own Scooby crew and each one brought something special to the table. The character who intrigued me the most however, was Tennyson, the centuries old vampire. He was dark and mysterious, and yet incredibly honorable and had a sense of humor to boot. I definitely want to see more of of him, in addition to Shiloh and the Scooby gang.

All in all, if you are looking for a well written urban fantasy with a great setup for a fantastic series, look no further than STRAY MAGIC.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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