Once I fell in love with the Fay of Skye series, I could no longer claim to dislike romance, historical romance, or paranormal romance. But I definitely fell in love with this series because of the incredible twist McKinnon puts on her tales, setting them in an alternate universe and focusing on both diversity and strong characters.
Today I’m pleased to present the newest installment on its release date. Memories of Magic is my favorite of the series yet!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Her visions could save English magic…if he can teach her to control them.
Olivia Seward never developed the magic of her elder siblings, but now she’s plagued by visions of the past. Etta, Duchess of Fay, asks her to use those visions to discover the source of the drain on English magic. Unfortunately, the visions draw too deeply from Olivia, leaving her weak and vulnerable.
Savitendra Reilly, a half-Indian, half-Irish historian, is hired by the duchess to research the origins of the Aegis Spell, but it is the magic of his birthplace that Olivia needs to learn to control her visions.
The only problem: Savit is an ascetic, performing magic by honing his mind and ignoring the needs of the flesh. Olivia is a hedonist, and accesses her power through pleasure. And every time they do magic together, Savit’s desire for her grows.
If he succumbs to their mutual passion, he believes won’t be able to protect her from the ravages of her unpredictable gift. But Olivia is convinced the only way to access the truth of the past is to immerse themselves in each other–sharing bodies, minds, hearts, and souls.
REVIEW
Disclaimer: I read an early draft of this novel prior to publication. I fully intend to purchase a hardcopy version of the book to add to my collection of this series.
Often, fantasy-romance novels (or romantic fantasy novels) are romance novels with a dash of the magical or fantasy novels with a more-or-less strong romance subplot. Memories of Magic blends genres seamlessly by using the relationship, including the sexual aspect, between the two main characters as a basis for the magic without ever crossing that thin line into straight-up “sex magic” for the sake of titillation. Continue reading
Are you a book blogger and/or reviewer? Would you like to be part of a blog tour this summer to promote the next book in the Steel Empires series, 
ABOUT THE BOOKS
While I have to wonder at the logic of involving time travel in a holiday for this lot of miscreants, considering all the things that go wrong normally, I have to admit that the story wouldn’t really work, otherwise. (Though I do have faith that they’d get up to the same sort of trouble during a day trip to the next town over.) 
Happy book birthday to one of the members of my sprawling writer family! I’m not familiar with books for this age group, but even I have to admit that this story looks adorable. If you have kids (or if you are a kid, though if you are, I’m not sure what you’re doing here *hands over a cookie and looks confused*), be sure to check it out!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
It was very, very cool to not only get a glimpse of the origins St. Mary’s but also a peek into Dr. Bairstow’s head. At this point in the series, seeing his relationships with the people that he intentionally sought to staff St. Mary’s was more interesting than the jump to Waterloo (despite the delightful surprise guests we find there). 
How do you balance the heavy subject matter of lovers lost in time, potential suicide, and imminent attack by Boudicca’s army?
Taylor hooked me immediately with the problem that needed to be solved in this adventure. The rising sense of horror at what happened felt very visceral, and what’s even better is that the threads that came about to create this situation were beautifully laid in previous installments of this series. 
The authors of the stories in Crazy Little Spring Called Love (
Disclaimer: I acquired this novel at a convention through a book trade with the author, whom I consider a friend.