Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Just a Little Magic
AUTHOR: Lisa Gray
PUBLISHER: JMS Books, LLC
LENGTH: 79 Pages
BLURB:
Wiccan Owen Rhys inherits a house outside a small town, where he hopes the solitude will help with his music. But a zealously religious neighbor is convinced he’s a devil worshiper, and her gossip causes the townspeople to view Owen with suspicion. A series of pranks ensues, including dead animals left on his porch, threatening the feral cats living on Owen’s property.
Though a bit out of practice, Owen casts a spell to summon a protector — someone to convince the town the gossip is false and prevent the pranks from escalating. He confidently waits for his champion to arrive.
Marc Elias is the town’s animal control officer and veterinarian. He considers himself a rational man who trusts in science and most certainly does not believe in magic. So when he receives a complaint that Owen is bewitching and torturing cats, he dismisses it as her imagination but goes to investigate.
Owen is certain Marc is the protector summoned by the spell. But Marc sees Owen’s altar and hears desperate howling, and he has to put aside any attraction he may feel towards the young Wiccan to do his job. Will a little magic be all it takes for both men to get what they want?
REVIEW:
I liked this book. I was really excited to grab it off our review list because the blurb sounded right up my alley. It was and it wasn’t.
When the book opens, we meet Owen Rhys, a young man who it turns out has just inherited a house from his estranged father. Owen is a Wiccan and the next door neighbor seems convinced he is a Satan worshiper. Since she found out, she has been trying to sabotage him and has even hired local children to prank him to drive him out of town. But is there an ulterior motive behind her dislike?
When Owen casts a spell to summon a protector to help him deal with the pranks and gossip, the handsome Marc Elias shows up at his door. Little does Owen know that Marc is there to answer a complaint from the nosy neighbor about Owen torturing and killing cats.
The rest of the short book plays out with some misunderstandings, an arrest, the uncovering of a dastardly plot, and some unexplainable twists.
I thought the book was good…what there was of it. I didn’t love it. I think if it had had another hundred pages and the characters and plot has been fleshed out more that it would have been an excellent book. The authors writing style was good, but because of the lack of detail, I was left feeling it was a little bit two dimensional for my tastes. I wanted to know more. I really needed more background, more details, more what happens after! The last few paragraphs hinted at a happily ever after, but in my opinion the book would have benefited from an Epilogue that took place a few months later and tied up some loose ends.
RATING: 
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