Saturday, January 24, 2015

Making Magic



In Making Magic (Books of The Kindling #3) by Donna June Cooper, magic and music flow together...

Jake is the Sheriff of Patton Springs, currently on leave after being shot.  While on leave, he's finally finding the courage to follow his own heart, his own dreams.  Music is what he is.  Music and Magic.

Thea is back in Patton Springs, on Woodruff Mountain, for the wedding of her brother.  She's a lawyer who's been working for her father's pharmaceutical company...but circumstances and family dynamics have allowed her only a few secret trips back to Woodruff Mountain over the last few years.  Now that she's done what she set out to do at her father's company, she is heading into the future unsure of where she's going.  She knows she will not stay at Woodruff Mountain.  The weight of guilt and a feeling of responsibility for tragedies make Thea believe it's safer for her to be gone.  Thea has abilities she doesn't talk about, that scare her.

She doesn't count on the chemistry that simmers just below the surface when she meets back up with her child hood friend Jake...But trouble has followed Thea, and her secrets need to be revealed.  Thea discovers reality and what she's imagined all these years are quite different.  As Thea and Jake become closer than friends, to put trouble behind them, they are all going to have to work together...Thea, Jake, and Thea's family.  Will it be enough to ease Thea's anxiety about staying on Woodruff Mountain?  Or will she leave the mountain, her family, and Jake again without finding out if they can make magical music together?

Making Magic is another entrancing read in the Books of The Kindling series.  As the books go on and the plot evolves, I got a better understanding of what The Kindling is.  I love the legendry that Donna uses in this series, it has a strong impact on the plot of every book and Making Magic is no exception.

Thea and Jake are both strong main characters who I felt like I got to know really well.  I liked how Donna used their backgrounds so that I could understand them, and I liked how she used this to develop them into who they are today.  Music is a common theme through out Making Magic and this is one thing that really held Thea and Jake together.  I loved how Donna used music...I could hear Thea's flute I'm sure!  It was very interesting all the different instruments that Jake talked about too...Donna obviously knows what she's talking about.  And of course Woodruff Mountain makes its own music - I loved the descriptions of the mountain, the woods and the music.  I could smell it, see it, and feel it.

Told in dual POV, this really got me hooked on the story and the characters because I felt like I was able to understand them both even when they couldn't understand each other.

There is a lot going on in Making Magic...mystery and suspense that all revolve around Woodruff mountain.  Donna manages to throw in the unexpected and catch me off guard at times, and her clear, well paced writing kept things from getting confusing.  There are a lot of secondary characters, some of whom we see carried over from the other books in this series, along with some who are very unique to this story.  I would recommend reading the other two books in this series if you haven't already to get a solid background on the general theme of this series.

A great mix of romance, suspense and paranormal that is still believable, I'd recommend this to any reader who likes those genres.

4/5 stars :)

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