Review – Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up, Book 4) by K.F. Breene (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 496 pages
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: February 23, 2021
ASIN: B08MVFN19Z
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the Leveling Up series
Source: Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 4/5 stars
“The Ivy House team is shaping up, but there are still holes to be filled, and a magical summons outstanding. Jessie needs a teacher. Someone who can fit in with the whacky Ivy House crew. And that was going just fine…until she gets a request to host a powerful, neighboring mage.
A teacher isn’t going to be enough. She needs more power in her crew. She needs some might.
This time, Austin Steele might not be able to dominate what she calls in, creatures no shifter has ever dominated before.
But that isn’t all Austin has to worry about. After a skirmish in the bar, suddenly his whole world is turned upside down. He can no longer ignore the feelings that have been growing for Jess.
He also can’t ignore the town’s complete lack of readiness for the neighboring mage’s visit. He must call in his brother to help lock down the town. And when his brother arrives, he must finally hash out the past that has split them apart so that he can claim his future.”
Series Info/Source: This is the fourth book in the Leveling Up series. I borrowed this for my Kindle through Kindle Unlimited.
Thoughts: This was another very well done book in this series. I love that Jess’s son comes up to visit and that he gets involved in the story. Austin and Jess finally accept their relationship. Also Jess finally gets the magic teacher she needs.
The main premise of this book is that a powerful mage has requested to come and visit Jess to form a possible alliance. In order to prepare for this, Jess calls out for some powerful help and starts auditioning (in the Ivy House way) for magic teachers.
I enjoyed watching Jess grow and learn to use her powers. I also enjoyed having some new types of magical beings join the story. I did think it was odd that these new characters were added to Ivy House but then they were just brushed into the background. Especially the new ultra-powerful male gargoyle; he kind of shows up for a battle and then just gets shunted to the background…like you don’t even hear about him again for many chapters. It was almost like Breene added in a bit more than she could handle in the story so just decided to ignore it.
It was fun to see Jess and Austin finally make some progress in their relationship. Breene definitely doesn’t write the best love scenes, but she did okay and found a good balance between allowing the two to have some romance without diverting the story completely. As with previous books, there is a lot of action and I continue to love Ivy House and how it interacts with its residents. There was also a delicious (but not wholly unexpected) twist at the end of the book which I am excited to see play out in the next book.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this continues to be a creative and well done urban fantasy series. I am enjoying it. I love the unique magical beings, the crazy characters, and watching Jess grow into her power. It is fun to watch her and Austin build both a family and magical power base of sorts. I am excited to read Magical Meeting and eager to see where this series ends up going.
