Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  A Wizard’s Shelter

AUTHOR:  Hollis Shiloh

PUBLISHER:  Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH:  120 pages

BLURB:  Visiting his sister Mary at the lighthouse should be a delightful vacation for Elliot–except he’s going there in disgrace while he awaits his fate from the wizard council.

Mary’s assistant, Rue, is a gentle, self-possessed young man about Elliot’s age. Elliot is drawn to him, and his magic seems to calm down around the handsome and mysterious Rue. Elliot sinks gratefully into the unexpected grace of Rue’s kindness and friendship. He doesn’t understand why his magic is broken or why it feels whole again around Rue. But right now he’s just trying to survive, grateful for the reprieve Rue’s friendship provides.

But then a potential tragedy on the beach culminates in Rue revealing his true nature: he’s a selkie, both man and seal, with a magic that somehow complements and heals Elliot’s when they’re together. And that might not be possible for much longer.

REVIEW:  

Things touch a wizard more deeply sometimes, both the good and the bad. There is a reason for the stereotype of the mad, old wizard. I can get drunk on a rainbow. I can get the heebie-jeebies over a storm.

I can accidentally ruin the wizard parliament when I’ve had too much blackberry wine. And then I can be sent away in disgrace.

Elliot loves his sister and the way she always understood what his magic means to him.  But no matter how much he loves her, he never wanted to return to her home because he got thrown out of the capital.  All because of one night of drinking and some insanely stupid decisions.  Now he is banished from the life he loved and, even worse, his magic is on the fritz.  Nothing in his life seems to be working as it should.

So it figures that upon his arrival in his old home, the village and the lighthouse where his sister works have been swamped with storms.  And if the winds down throw him over a cliff, the wild magic in the storms might just rip his mind and magic from him.  He didn’t expect to find a man who would calm his powers, though.  Or who would claim his heart.  But Rue has something about him, something both sturdy and magical, that calls and soothes him.  Which is good…because if he cannot get his magic under control he might just lose it, his freedom, and maybe even his life.

I was quite happy to get my hands on this story by Hollis Shiloh, and not just because I adore all things magic and wizard-y.  Everything of Shiloh’s that I have read up to date has been wonderful, and very much the written equivalent of a nice warm hug.  Lovely character, thoughtful romances, and a great grasp on pacing makes the short stories I have read by him (her?) a great way to escape for a bit.  I tend to be wary of short stories–mostly the ones that just end abruptly like the author just got tired of writing so they just stopped–but this author gives a full story, with great characters, that just happen to be shorter than what I normally pick up.

The way that magic was handled in this book was a real treat.  I loved seeing how Elliot’s magic was running amuck, and how everything around him seemed to be pulling it in eighty different directions.  It was also well written, letting me easily drop into this world where magic and the normal world easily co-exist.  And the whole conflict with Elliot’s control of his magic led nicely to the ‘solution’ that the other wizard’s came up with.  I loved the parallels between what they wanted to do to control his magic and what has happened to gay men over the last century in order to ‘cure’ them of their sexuality.  It was a nice twist and packed quite a bit of a punch without coming out all preachy–which is always appreciated.

Rue and Elliot basically connected from the get-go.  I’m not sure I would call it love, at least not right away, but they seemed to just fit into the other’s life, and just stay, perfectly snug and comfortable.  Rue keeps Elliot grounded, and Elliot give Rue a family and a sense of home that he has been denied for a long time.  I really enjoyed how Elliot was basically clueless for three-fourths of the book, not seeing what Rue really meant with all those touches and light kisses.  It made for a nice bit of awkwardness…and eventually something very sweet and very loving.  And Rue desire to hold back from Elliot made total sense, even though I felt at times they were being a bit thick-headed about it all.

Basically, I just really enjoyed this story.  It has a great conflict, that is very well played out, and the romance was sweet.  The various side characters also lent a nice sense of reality to Elliot and Rue’s fantastical world of wild magic and selkie shifters.  This will definitely land in the re-read pile next to all my other stories by Hollis Shiloh.  This book is perfect if you need a quick escape and a sweet romance steeped in troublesome magic.

RATING:  

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner  ::  Amazon  ::  ARe