My occasional foray into other genres has taken me back to the latest reading fad that seems to have struck over the last few years.
And it’s becoming somewhat of a guilty secret. I’m certainly not the target readership, either by age or gender, but I do enjoy these books.
The thing that initially peeked my interest in this series was that the first book is set in New Orleans. It’s one of my favourite cities, and as a place to set a book, in whatever era, it has loads to give.
Secondly the gumph on Amazon suggested an element of New Orleans occult, another subject that has pricked my interest over the years.
So I decided to read Phantasma, an I enjoyed it that much I was straight into Enchantra. Here’s my thoughts
Phantasma is a really good story, When Tess Grimm dies suddenly her gift as a necromancer passes to her eldest daughter Ophelia.
It’s not long before Ophelia finds out mother was hiding other secrets and that her, and her sister Genevieve are about to lose their home.
One thing leads to another an Ophelia finds herself inside a mansion that manifests into the city to hold a deadly competition.
Tasks based on the nine circles of he’ll are played out on a daily basis. The reward for wining is high but once in the competition there are only three ways out, forfeiting, dying, or win the whole thing.
Ophelia forms an unlikely alliance with a Demon who is also to escape eternally being held in the tournament.
Things get very spicy between the two, this is definitely not a book for younger teens, and the will they won’t they is more about, will they fall in love, more than will they get it on, which they definitely do.
The Second Book Enchantra has Ophelia’s sister as the main character.
Following on a few months after the end of Phantasma Genevieve is in Italy looking to unlock more of her mother’s secrets.
Disappointingly the story gets very familiar very quickly. A deadly game of hide and seek in a mystic mansion, a will they won’t they relationship with a Demon and a fair bit of spice.
The story in the two books is so similar it made me think did the author have two settings for the same story and just went ahead and wrote both versions.
It’s a shame really because the first book showed a lot of promise
nigeladamsbookworm 