Magic In The Blood by Devon Monk

Title:  Magic In The Blood

Author: Devon Monk

Publisher: Penguin

Published: Jan 2012

ISBN: 978 0241 95662 5

Rating: 5/5 with merits

I love the cover on this – it’s eye catching with the red plumes of smoke being behind the character, and the font used in the title is bold enough to stand out over it.

My first impressions – wow!!!

This is a fast paced urban fantasy series.  I’ve had the pleasure of reading Magic To The Bone, which is the previous book and the first in this series.  This second instalment is not to be missed – it’s a non stop read which I absolutely adored. 

Devin Monk has a very distinctive way with words, which I love.  Meet Allie Beckstorm – she’s a ‘hound’ – a user of magic who earns money through tracking; but pays the price physically every time she uses magic.

Allie is a no-nonsense quick witted lady.  This instalment sees her working for the magical department of the police, and brings her far closer to her deceased father than she ever wanted to be.

Zavyion is the cool customer.  He seems less mysterious in this book but I found him alluring and just as sexy as he was in the first book!

Devon Monk is top of my list as an urban fantasy author, so I hope to see a lot more and keep up with this exciting series. I want more!!!!

Book synopsis:

Allie Beckstrom knows that there's a price to pay for using magic . . .

She's suffered her fair share of migraines and gaps in her memory during her time working as a Hound, tracing spells back to their casters. But now Allie's been visibly marked by magic with a mysterious iridescent tattoo. She's not only lost all memory of how she got it, but also of the man that she's supposedly fallen in love with. Oh, and as usual, she's completely broke.

So when the criminal magic enforcement division of the police asks her to consult on a missing persons case, things start to look up. At first, it seems to be a fairly straightforward way of earning some money - but like most things in Allie's life it soon turns into a dangerous mix of underworld criminals, ghosts and blood magic. This time Allie is going to discover it takes more than magic to survive.

Source:  A copy was received in return for an honest review.