Review – Dark Arts and a Daiquiri (Guild Codex: Spellbound Book 2) by Annette Marie (5/5 Stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 308 pages
Publisher: Dark Owl Fantasy Inc.
Release Date: November 16, 2018
ASIN: B07H6LSSH7
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Guild Codex: Spellbound series
Source: Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 5/5 stars
“When I found myself facing down the scariest black-magic felon in the city, practically daring him to abduct me, I had to wonder exactly how I ended up here.
It all started when I accidentally landed a job as a bartender–but not at a bar. At a guild, populated by mages, sorcerers, alchemists, witches, and psychics. Good thing this lame-o human is adaptable, right?
Then my favorite guild members–three sexy, powerful, and intermittently charming mages–asked for my help. Did they want access to my encyclopedic knowledge of cocktails? Oh no. They wanted to wrap me up in a pretty ribbon and plunk me in the crosshairs of a murderous rogue to lure him out of hiding.
So that’s what we did. And that’s why I’m here. About to be kidnapped. Oh, and our grand plan for safely capturing said murderous rogue? Yeah, that completely fell apart about two minutes ago.
Why did I agree to this again?”
Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Guild Codex: Spellbound series. I borrowed this through Kindle Unlimited. There are going to be seven books total in this series. There is also a sister series to this called Guild Codex: Demonized that weaves in and out of the Spellbound timeline but features different characters. Previous to reading this I have read and enjoyed all of Annette Marie’s other series.
Story (5/5): I loved this book even more than the first one. In this book Tori is asked by her three favorite mages to serve as bait to lure out a dangerous rogue mage. What follows is a crazy adventure that Tori could have never imagined or predicted. And yes, there are dragons.
Characters (5/5): I absolutely love Tori, she is a normal girl in a crazy situation and really only has her hot temper, sometimes bad attitude, and occasional magical gadgets to get her through things. I love the three bad-ass mages she has befriended. The addition of some new rogue mages (and one super hot murderous rogue mage in particular) really added a lot to the series. Then there were the dragons!!! Tons of amazing characters in this series.
Setting (5/5): Much of this story takes place in a completely new setting which I won’t talk about because of spoilers. While I continue to enjoy the crazy atmosphere at the pub, I really enjoyed this new setting as well. I love that we got to meet so many new types of fae creatures.
Writing Style (5/5): I love Marie’s writing style, it’s fast-paced, easy to read, and contains a lot of humor too. Marie does an amazing job with characterization and action/fight scenes. I love her creative plot ideas and how the story pulls me in and keeps me reading.
My Summary (5/5): This was an amazing continuation to this series, I absolutely loved it! I love the fast-pace, fun characters, and creative story in this series. It’s so much fun to read and just a perfect light urban fantasy read. I absolutely cannot wait to read the next book in this series.
