Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: A Case of Possession
SERIES: A Charm of Magpies #2
AUTHOR: KJ Charles
NARRATOR: Cornell Collins
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 6 hours, 2 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 16, 2018
BLURB:
Magic in the blood. Danger in the streets.
Lord Crane has never had a lover quite as elusive as Stephen Day. He knows Stephen’s job as justiciar requires secrecy, but the magician is doing his disappearing act more than seems reasonable—especially since Crane will soon return to his home in China. When a blackmailer threatens to expose their illicit relationship, there’s only one thing stopping Crane from leaving the country he loathes: Stephen.
Stephen has problems of his own. As he investigates a plague of giant rats sweeping London, his sudden increase in power, boosted by his blood-and-sex bond with Crane, is rousing suspicion that he’s turned warlock. With all eyes on him, the threat of exposure grows. Stephen could lose his friends, his job and his liberty over his relationship with Crane. He’s not sure if he can take that risk much longer. Crane isn’t sure if he can ask him to.
The rats are closing in, and something has to give…
REVIEW:
After finishing the first book in this series I just had to jump right into this one. The world of magpies just called to me, which is kind of strange as I’m not a fan of them in real life – but that’s the magic of KJ Charles and Cornell Collins.
Stephen and Lucien are happy together, they have sizzling chemistry practically coming off the pages in waves of steam. But neither of them are confident in the future. Lucien is missing Shanghai, living in the open and feels stifled by the rules of society in Victorian London. Stephen for his part knows Lucien is torn, and as he so aptly put he needed to make decisions not with his heart, but with the rest of his future in mind. Being with Lucien is everything he ever wanted, but it had some very real consequences, not counting the migrating magpie tattoos. His powers rapidly increases due to their shared bond, and his fellow practitioners fears he’s turned warlock. But coming clean about their relationship and their bond could have some very dangerous and fatal consequences.
Again I love the amount of details has gone into creating this wonderful story and fantastic characters. Nothing is left to chance, there are backstories, and connections that make the foundation for a well-crafted story. I love the friendships, as much as the romantic ones and I love the fact that they are equally important and deep.
Now, I should probably say more about the plot… At the same time I don’t think I could do it justice, and really, giant rats killing people is difficult to put a great spin on. And yes they are as terrible as you imagine – which also makes this story great. It keeps you at the edge of the seat needing to know what happened next and if the people you’ve come to love and care for would make it out unscathed.
Cornell Collins once again delivered a wonderful performance. He made me feel like I was surrounded by magpies, which was far preferable to the feeling of being attacked by giant and murderous rats. This book was intense, it was fun and it was steamy but also romantic and Collins captured it all, made the listener feel it all. I might even go so far as to say perfection.
This series has me under a spell and I don’t think I can stop myself from devouring every single book in one go.
RATING: 
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