Synopsis:
Formidable Magic is book 7 in the Myrtlewood Mysteries series.
As the leaves fall and the fog thickens, the town of Myrtlewood prepares for the annual Samhain festival. But this year, something is different. The chill in the air is not just from the frost, but from a deeper magic, an ancient magic that has lain dormant for years. Rosemary Thorn and her daughter Athena both sense that something is amiss. They soon find themselves caught up in a thrilling mystery as strange occurrences happen around town. They must navigate through the mystical and mysterious world of magic and uncover the truth behind the spooky happenings before it’s too late.
As All Hallows draws near, the spirits in the land begin to stir in restless frustration and the anticipation in the air thickens, promising to be a Samhain that the people of Myrtlewood will never forget!
Review:
I had very almost lost faith in this series. The previous two books were just not good. Everything felt clunky, especially the dialogue so I felt like giving up on the series. Thankfully, this instalment was miles better.
My hopes were pretty high for an instalment of this series set around Samhain, and for the first time in a while, these were met. The story felt so much more serious this time around, something that can often be missing from ‘cosy mysteries’. There’s been a murder and there are ghosts, possessions and (slight spoiler) zombies. The mystery actually felt like a mystery in Formidable Magic. Don’t get me wrong, the books set in the land of the fae were interesting, but I really enjoyed the darker themes in this instalment.
Something that I find with ‘cosy mysteries’, especially with ones that have multiple new instalments every year, the plotlines are pretty shallow. I will say the possession storyline of Formidable Magic is one of the strongest of this series so far, but other areas do feel either underdeveloped or it’s a case of ‘this thing happened really fast and off page, trust me, it did happen’. I’m not sure if that makes sense or if other people feel the same way, but there is a level of shallowness to these types of books. This series is the only one I’ve actually stuck it out with.
One thing I will say about Formidable Magic is there was a distinct lack of Burk. Rosemary’s commitment issues are really starting to annoy me. The guy literally worships the ground she walks on (for reasons completely unknown to me) and she clearly loves him back but she a huge commitment phobe. Having a hot vampire boyfriend is the dream of most women, don’t screw it up Rosemary.
The editing of these books seem to be getting worse with each instalment. There were so many grammar errors, missing words and spelling mistakes throughout. If I’m reading an ARC, this isn’t something I’d comment on as that’s an unfinished proof, but this book is fully published. I get that it’s indie published (I think) so I can forgive a few errors, but there were quite a few this time.
This hasn’t been the most glowing review but I did genuinely enjoy Formidable Magic. These books aren’t the best ever written but they do serve a purpose of being entertaining.
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