Format: Ebook, 260 pages
Release Date: June 17, 2022
Publisher: Michem Publishing
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Urban Fantasy
She wanted purpose. She found dark magick and war.
For Claire Emerson, there is nothing ordinary about turning sixty.
First, there are the crows. Then, a pendant that unlocks a gate to a house in the woods--which comes with a snarky gargoyle, an entirely too-sexy wolf shifter claiming to be Claire's protector, and a legacy that turns her reality upside down.
Because divorced, menopausal grandmothers with creaky hips and hot flashes? They don't just randomly discover they're next in a long line of powerful women protecting the world from the dark magick of Mages.
Claire's first instinct is to turn tail and run back to the safety of baking cookies and reading bedtime stories. But when it becomes clear the Mages have targeted her, she may have no choice but to accept her calling. There's just one problem: she never got the lifetime of training she was supposed to have, and her magick is... well, unreliable would be an understatement.
With the Mages threatening everything she loves, can Claire learn
what she needs to in time to become Crone? Or will she be the one to
lose an ancient war—and her life?
Becoming Crone, by author Lydia M. Hawke, is the first installment in the authors The Crone Wars series. It's Claire Emerson 60th birthday and her entire world is about to be tuned on its head. She's alone thanks to husband who cheated on her. She needs reading glasses, and is worried about that 15 extra pounds that she's gained along with the hot flashes and menopause. But what's most disappointing is that Claire is not living her own life. She's living her life for someone who didn't have the courage to stay and make things right.
Even her friend Edie James has told her she needs to loosen up and bit and curse once in awhile. When her grandson, Braden, gifts Claire with a pendant that is supposed to help her read, to Claire's surprise, the pendant actually opens the gates to a house where she discovers a snarky gargoyle named Keven (female), and shifter named Lucan who claims he's her protector. Having spent her life denying her magic because of her own struggles, she's woefully unprepared and has to learn if she is going to be responsible for saving the world or condemning it.
When Claire struggles with her magic, her first instinct is to turn tail and run back to the safety of her home and her cat named Merlin. But when her next door neighbor is adamant about giving the pendant back, and a stranger man is seen in her neighborhood, Claire starts to realize that nothing is normal or will be ever again. When her home is burned to the ground, and her best friend is murdered, Claire realizes that years of ignoring her magick has put her in a difficult role as the so called Crone who is supposed to lead others in a war against Morok.
In fairness, I don't believe that Claire is a Mary Sue. If you read the back story, you will learn some key facts about her, and how she really should have known about her best friend, and others in town who could have helped her. I would love to see what happens next, and hope that the publisher who gave me access to this title also puts the next installment up for request.
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