#Review - May Contain Magic by J.A. Cipriano #Fantasy

Series: Meet Abby Banks # 1
Format: Kindle, 217 pages
Release Date: January 24, 2017
Publisher: Createspace
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Abby Banks is your typical college student, except that her entire life has been one big lie. Kidnapped as a young girl and fostered by a government agency as collateral, Abby never knew she was important… until her birth mom’s terrorist organization unleashes a devastating attack on the facility.

With magic.

Now Abby’s world is in a tailspin. Her birth mom wants to harvest her organs, her only protector is a vampire, and she can do magic. Well, sort of. She’s supposed to be able to do magic.

And if she can’t figure it out in time to stop her mom, not only will she get her organs stolen, her mom will blow up two major cities to fuel her doomsday ritual.

May Contain Magic, by author J.A. Cipriano, is the first installment in the authors Meet Abby Banks series. 20 year old Abby Banks thinks of herself of just another college student in a town called Folsom. But the truth is that Abby was kidnapped from her mother and fostered by a government agency to ensure her mother walks the straight and narrow. Abby knew nothing about this until one day she is kidnapped away from all she knows in order to protect her against, you guessed it, her mother who just happens to be the most dangerous woman in the world.

Her mother, Esmeralda Banks, is desperate to have Abby back but only for her own selfish reasons which are frightening to Abby when she finds out what her mother is really up to. Stephen, a secret agent, who is also a vampire, is assigned to protect Abby from her mother, but he has his own vulnerabilities but whose side is Donovan DeMarco, the alpha werewolf whose loyalties change at the drop of a hat. So begins a struggle between good and evil to save Abby and to stop her mother from dominating the world. Who can Abby trust? Who is telling the truth and who is lying? And who are the good guys really?

Abby is the center of all action, but she isn't directly involved in it till the end when we learn why she's special or not. She's either being dragged from place to place or rescued from captivity while Stephen, the love interest in the story is right in midst of the action scenes. He seems contradictory in nature, being a first class spy yet getting embarrassed easily. The story makes you wonder who you can truly trust. Is it the government agency with no name that has kidnapped children in order to prevent their families from blowing up the world? Or, is it Esmeralda Banks who just wants her daughter back so she can rid the world of the corrupt government itself?  

#Review - Kill it with Magic by J.A. Cipriano #YA #Fantasy

Series: The Lillim Callina Chronicles # 1
Format: Kindle, 204 pages
Release Date: September 22, 2014
Publisher: LMPN Publishing
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

Sixteen-year-old Lillim Callina is good at two things: running away and magic.

Now, Lillim's half-demon ex-boyfriend is contacting her for help, she has somehow gotten herself mixed up in a kidnapping, and her long-dead rival has risen from the grave.

So when a dragon plotting to take over the world offers her a choice: Work for him or else.

Lillim Callina is going to choose else.

Kill it with Magic, by author J.A. Cipriano, is the first installment in the authors The Lillim Callina Chronicles. Technically, there's a prequel called Ward Breaker which I read several weeks ago that kind of skims on who the main character really is and what she's capable of. Let's get the who, what, where, when, and why out of the way. Lillim Callina is technically a 16 year old teenager who belongs to a group known as Dioscuri. 

In this world, however, everyone who dies, ends up reincarnated and that's what's happened to Lillim. Lillim is a reincarnation of one ass-kicking, name-taking female with a nasty streak and some deep, dark secrets. And, to top it off, Lillim's alleged surrogate mother, Diana Cortez, never got along with the woman who was reincarnated into Lillim. So, Lillim was trained by Diana to be the best of the best, a demon hunter with the abilities to do magic. 

She carries several powerful swords she named after Set and Isis as well as a slew of other weapons filled with silver. Her job is to fight monsters and keep people safe. But things are going to get a whole lot more exciting for Lillim. First, her ex-boyfriend Joshua sends a message to her asking for help. Second, a group of men, including an angry Dragon, show up at her door and demands that she track down an important package which just happens to be a baby dragon.  

Lillim is sent to retrieve a jeweled box from werewolves, but when she gets there, she ends up fighting for her life against powerful vampires, including Logan who she helped a year ago take over his current caste, because of what's in the box, and what the vampires want to use what's inside the box to gain power in a battle of Dragon vs Dragon with one particular dragon being protected by none other than Warther, Dragon Knight, the man who drained hell in order to get the woman he loves back. Add in a few demons, a dragon, and a crazy mentor and you have non-stop chaos.

Lillim appears to be sixteen, but her growing process was expedited and now she has memories from her eight former lives – especially the previous one – making her a clever mix of teenager and burned-out middle aged woman. Lillim really can't get a minute of down time. There are moments where you likely will have to suspend belief. She's allegedly mortal, but she's constantly being slammed into brick walls by dragons, set on fire, and basically subjected to brutality that should have killed her. We also have several males who refuse to accept that Lillim's former persona is gone, and that may be the biggest downfall of this entire story.

#Review - Wardbreaker by J.A. Cipriano #Fantasy

Series: The Lillim Callina Chronicles # 1
Format: Kindle, 145 pages
Release Date: October 6, 2015
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Source: Amazon
Genre: Urban Fantasy

A city full of vampires. A dark ritual. A runaway determined to stay hidden.

Lillim Callina was still trying to figure out how to live like a normal girl when the vampires attacked. Now, this former demon hunter must decide if staying hidden is more important than saving her new home from the largest vampire infestation she has ever seen.

The only problem is, if she stops the vampires, the people hunting her just may find her, and they aren't too fond of deserters.

Wardbreaker is the first prequel in The Lillim Callina Chronicles, an urban fantasy series and takes place approximately one year before Kill it with Magic. Lillim Callina is a member of the Dioscuri. She ran away from her home to Earth. Lillim has been trained to be the best of the best, a demon hunter with the abilities to do magic. Her job is to fight monsters and keep people safe. Upon arriving on Earth, she meets Jean Luc who claims he's a monster hunter licensed by Dirge Meilan, an Earth Born Dioscuri who gave him a writ that is magically bound to the owner. 

Dioscuri are the boogeyman of the supernatural world. Unfortunately, a civil war has caused a divide and many Dioscuri are no longer keeping cities on Earth safe leading to people like Jean Luc to pick up the pieces. Jean Luc is special, he is gifted and there is nothing that means more to him than keeping his town safe form the vampire gangs roaming the streets a causing all hell to break loose. He even knows what Lillim is and enlists her special talents to help him. It seems his city is overrun by vampires and he needs help removing them before they spread to other areas. 

Charging into a vampire nest with Luc they encounter ancient vampires who want Luc and are willing to let Lillim leave if she lets them get away with their plan. Ariel, the Owl and leader of the vampires expect that Lillim would take a deal to let her finish what she started. Little did she know that Lillim doesn't just give up that easy. Will they survive this battle? Lillim is a bad-ass who fights with a pair of magical Egyptian swords and magic. She may have spent her whole childhood training to protect the humans, slay the monsters but she won't just sit by the save herself when innocents are in danger. 

If you've never tried urban fantasy before, dip your toe in with this one! This short book is at the very beginning of an action packed series involving magic, werewolves, vampires, and more. The story pulls you in and keeps you there, and you want more when it ends.

Amazon