Devon Falls Series by Raine Delight

 

                                          

PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title:  Devon Falls Series: Fiery Magic, Haunting Magic, Red Hot Magic, Sticky Magic
Author:  Raine Delight

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Fiery Magic

Haunting Magic

Red Hot Magic

Sticky Magic
Publisher:  Aspen Mountain Press

Genre: Erotic Romance/Paranormal 

Length: 25-48 pages each
Other: M/F

Reviewed by: Violet Harper

About The Book: Fiery Magic: Damien Dracon is back in Devon Falls, and he is about to woo the one lady he left three years ago. Family secrets and youthful pride forced him to give up the one good thing in his life: the love of Alicia Stevens. What he doesn't expect is that Alicia has a secret of her own, and it may just tear them apart. Can two former lovers find it in themselves to forgive one another and let love grow between them? Or will past secrets haunt them and tear them apart? This 4th of July is about to get explosive in Devon Falls.

Haunting Magic: Rodrick Dracon is the twin heir to the Dragon Inn. When he finds himself longing for a mate after being footloose and fancy free, he finds himself drawn to the most obnoxious, brassy woman he has ever met: Jaxon Sinclair. She is the one woman who doesn't melt when he goes by or hangs on his every word. She is just aggravating and down right sexy as sin! Soon the sparks fly, passion goes into boiling and Halloween approaches. Can a wolf shifter get this woman to heel before the full moon? Or can Jax turn the tables on this ladies man and tame the wolf?

Red Hot Magic: With the help of a charity fundraiser, Jenna sets her friend, Raven, up to find Mr. Perfect.  Raven though, has found Mr. Perfect...in her dreams. Now, if she could only find the sexy man in real life.

Sticky Magic: When a stranger stops in at her shop, Jenna is surprised by the immediate attraction. Apparently, Marc is too because he wants to get to know Jenna. A whole lot better and won’t take no for an answer.

The Review: The town of Devon Falls is home to some different kinds of people. From a family of shapeshifters to mages and dreamwalkers, the men have a little bit of everything. This idea creates a setting ripe for a series of stories about this town’s unique inhabitants.

Each of the short stories is set up along similar plot lines.  Two people, destined to be together, meet and have sex, which means they live happily ever after.  In two of the stories, the couples had established a previous relationships, whether as former lovers or as mutual antagonists. The other two operated on the love-at-first-sight premise.

Of all the stories, Haunting Magic is the best and the longest. It’s the only one where there was more than a minimal attempt to let the story unfold and to develop the characters at all. It was also free of plot incongruities that plagued the rest of the stories. The remaining of the stories read like summaries until the obligatory sex scene. I can honestly say that I didn’t feel much heat or emotion in any of the stories, and this was due to the lack of character development. Of course, the repeated phrase ‘drunken monkey sex’ doesn’t do much to set the mood, either.

The writing style is very amateurish. Clichéd statements pepper prose that is at times awkward and unwieldy. For example: ‘Raven walked into the Inn decorated with flying cupids and hearts hanging from the ceiling.’ According to this sentence, Raven (the character) is decorated with cupids and hearts.

All of the stories suffered from head-hopping. A section might start out from the woman’s point of view and shift to the man’s point of view and back again within four paragraphs.  Things like this, when added to the numerous grammatical errors, make it seem like this is something that came out of a freshman creative writing class. While there is potential here, and I saw growth from the first to the last story, it has yet to be realized.

Pagan Elements: None. Though the books contain magical creatures, everything is firmly rooted in Christianity.

Cover (Rated 1-10): 5-The covers were average as far as production quality goes.  The content of each was sweet, but they were generalized and they could have gone with any book.  Nothing visual ties the four together as a series.

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