Three Mages and a Margarita

I don’t remember where I heard about this book series, but I sure am glad I found it! The characters are quirky and delightful. I would love to have them as friends. The descriptions are great and I got so wrapped up in the story, I couldn’t stop listening! And as soon as I finished the first book, I went straight to the second! The narrator was excellent. There were so many different voices that I didn’t have any trouble keeping track of who was speaking. You might just get hooked like I did!

4.5 stars — This was just everything I was looking for and more. It did start off a wee bit slow for me, but once I got sucked in I honestly had a hard time putting it down. I don’t read a lot of urban fantasy, but I can definitely see reading a lot more books in this series/universe. LOVED the narrator, Cris Dukehart…always love Cris Dukehart. She just has the perfect sassy voice for Tori. And her range of voices is really impressive and consistent! I also find her emotions to be just spot on — there were moments in the battle scenes where Tori was terrified, and Cris NAILED it…so much so that I was terrified too! My only complaint is that she pronounced quay wrong…which I only know because I used to pronounce it the same way as she did. Should be like key. Weird, right? Tori was fantastically sassy and snarky and just exactly what I wanted in a heroine. I loved that we could still see her vulnerabilities too, and room for her to grow. Honestly? The star for me was the way the cast played together. I ADORED those three mage boys, they were all so unique and hilarious and adorable. I started to wonder if it was a reverse harem, but apparently not. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out in the series. Any romantic elements were super slow and mostly background. But I didn’t even mind because it was the friendships being formed that really sucked me in…anything more was just a bonus. And it wasn’t just the mages. I loved some of the other guild members, and some really surprised me in a fabulous way! I also hated some, and obviously hated the bad guys. The story kept me on my toes, and while I suspected some of it, I definitely fell for some red herrings along the way! And can I say that I also really loved that it was set in my country? I’m a proud Canadian, and it’s fun to recognize some things. So yeah…I’ve had friends recommend this author/series to me before, and I’m glad I finally got off my butt and checked it out…because now I’m totally sucked in.