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Growing up an orphan in foster homes, Elle has always lived a rather mundane life. She has a quiet little job in a museum, the kind of looks that typically fail to turn a man’s head, and no one important in her life save her best friend, Jennifer. All that changes, however, after Jennifer gives her a necklace with a strange blue stone for her birthday… Suddenly, she is being courted by a man who could rival Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings, she is being hunted by mythical creatures, and she finds nothing in her life is as it seems… As a warrior in The Shields, Roderick of Thales hopes that once they defeat the evil that threatens the Earth realm, he will find the secrets necessary to protect his own realm from the same threat laying siege to his people. But when he finds Elle, he is torn between duty to his world and The Shields, and his love for Elle. Without her, he would lose his will to live, to fight. But if he leaves The Shields, he loses the opportunity to save his people and find redemption… A Kind of Magic is the second book in Donna Grant’s The Shields saga, and while I loved the first book, this one far surpasses the first, in my opinion. While the lead characters are Elle and Roderick, readers will enjoy the return of many familiar faces, such as Hugh, Mina, Aimery, and more. As with the first book in this series, A Dark Guardian, this new offering to The Shields is complete with some delicious twists and surprises! I am usually pretty good at figuring out the surprises in a story before they happen, but Grant managed to surprise me with one or two twists in A Kind of Magic. Roderick is the perfect leading man for Elle: sincere, good-hearted, and serious. He speaks from his heart with her, utterly guileless, fostering her hard to earn trust easily and quickly. Indeed, any doubt Elle has concerning him stems strictly from her own lack of confidence, and not from actual mistrust of him. Elle’s unconscious and wholesome beauty entrances readers as it does Roderick. Watching her blossom under his loving attention is wondrous, and their romance feels natural and perfect. This story is not without its tragedy, however, and our couple earns their happy ending after much suffering, making it all the more satisfying.
Reviewed by Jennifer
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The Shields 2: A Kind of Magic
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