Three Mages and a Marguerita by Annette Marie
#1 Guild Codex: Spellbound
Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: 9.14.18
Pages: 312
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format: ebook
Source: KU borrow
Sellers: Amazon
GoodReads Synopsis:
Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig.
It went downhill the moment they asked me to do a trial shift instead of an interview - to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete dickheads, and I was an asshole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right?
I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they...offered me the job?
It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I'm exactly the kind of takes-no-sh*t bartender this guild needs, or there's a good reason no one else wants to work here.
So what's a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course - with a pay raise.
Sophia Rose's Review:
Fired again… she had a temper and she wasn’t that great with people, but Tori was an independent sort who had no plans to let her brother foot the bill. Then a job posting flyer literally smacked her in the face… bartender? Sure. For a magical guild? Uh…
I enjoyed one of the author’s YA fantasy series years ago and had full intentions of getting to the Guild Codex world of stories at some point, it took the Books of My Heart Readalong and right mood to bring it about.
I love the thrill of diving into an all-new urban fantasy world so it was fun to see Vancouver with its hidden in plain sight magical community as backdrop for a scrappy, fiery-tempered redheaded human accidentally finding herself getting a baptism by fire into all things magic.
Tori Dawson had nowhere else to turn, but her police officer brother willingly was putting her up in his apartment until she can land a good job and get on her feet. Tori is no slouch and takes community college business courses while working as a waitress at night. Waitressing hadn’t been going well- just ask the long list of places she’d been fired from. So, when a piece of trash flyer has a bar, The Crow and Hammer, in the seamier side of town with a position open for bartender, she goes to apply, unwittingly, getting the temp job for a bunch of misfit magic users.
Tori’s abrasive temper and spunky attitude stand her in good sted. She gets past the initial night and a temp reprove from being jobless, but most of the magic users want nothing to do with a human. The few that do approve are a trio of bounty-hunting mages- Aaron, Kai, and Ezra- who stand by her. So, when trouble comes, she stands by them- even when the trouble is magically lethal.
Three Mages and a Marguerita was an easy in and fully engaging read. I liked Tori from the start and liked how the author slowly, but steadily introduced her and let the reader get to know her throughout the book and did the same with the Guild Codex world and several of the Guild member characters particularly the trio of best friend and partner mages. Because Tori is new to it all, the explanations to her served to get the reader on the right page of how magic users are placed into categories depending on their magic type and they all have to join a magic guild – like a club and a way to be held accountable for their conduct. Guilds have different specialties and personalities. The Crow and Hammer, Tori stumbles onto, is on the right side of legal, but is a jumble of very talented misfits (yes, she is a misfit who actually fits right in, if they’ll let her). All the magic users are policed by a magical police force too- for keeping them all secret and keeping the bad ones from exploiting each other and the vulnerable human population.
I enjoyed build of the friendship between Tori and the three mages and then the mystery of who was attacking Tori and Aaron and the why which culminated in an exciting and nail-biting finish.
All in all, this was a fab start to a series and I can’t wait to press on for more in the Guild Codex world.
Author Bio:
Annette Marie is the best-selling author of over thirty books, including the expansive urban fantasy series The Guild Codex, epic urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter.
A 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist in Fantasy and an Amazon Charts Bestseller, Annette has sold over 2 million books. Her books have been translated into French, German, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian, with readers coming back again and again for her addictive blend of fast-paced adventure, tantalizing forbidden romance, and unforgettable characters.
Annette lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad) with her husband and their furry minions of darkness. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in her garden or an art project while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.
To find out more about Annette and her books, visit www.annettemarie.ca
Sophia’s Bio:
Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose
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