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    Witchful Thinking: A Jolie Wilkins Novel
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    Witchful Thinking: A Jolie Wilkins Novel
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    Witchful Thinking: A Jolie Wilkins Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    Witchful Thinking: A Jolie Wilkins Novel

    Written by H.P. Mallory

    Narrated by Allyson Ryan

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From H. P. Mallory-the exciting author of Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble-comes her new paranormal romance featuring the sassy, self-deprecating witch Jolie Wilkins.

    Jolie thinks she's seen it all, but life continues to spring surprises. The latest shocker? She's just been crowned Queen of the Underworld. Jolie may possess a rare gift for reanimating the dead, but she doesn't know the first thing about governing disparate factions of supernatural creatures. She can barely maintain order in her own chaotic personal life, which is heading into a romantic tailspin.

    First there's sexy warlock Rand, the love of her life, from whom Jolie is hiding a devastating secret. Then there's Sinjin, a darkly seductive vampire and Jolie's sworn protector-though others suspect he harbors ulterior motives. As the two polar opposite yet magnetic men vie for Jolie's affection, she must keep her wits about her to balance affairs of state and affairs of her heart. Overwhelmed, under pressure, and longing for love, Jolie decides it's time to take charge-and show everyone that this queen won't take jack.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateFeb 28, 2012
    ISBN9780449011966
    Unavailable
    Witchful Thinking: A Jolie Wilkins Novel

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    Reviews for Witchful Thinking

    3.5/5

    90 ratings26 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This has been a very difficult review for me to write. I adore this series and H.P. Mallory's writing, but this book left me feeling very meh. I was so excited for the next installment in the Jolie series! I couldn't wait!

      Upon starting the book I thought I was reading the wrong one for a moment with all the rehashing of previous books. I like small amounts of rehashing what happened not massive amounts like this book was. The story was basically a huge lead up to the final book and a series of retelling what had been going on. Nothing amazing.

      I really can't wait for the 5th book but I wish it was already out after reading this one.
    • 3/5
      This sounded like just the type of book I usually love. Paranormal mixed with romance. Unfortunately I didn't love this book as much as I thought I would. I will say that I did not read the first two books in this series. Maybe if I had, I would be more invested in the characters. I liked the main characters Jolie and Rand. I was a little frustrated that they kept finding excuses not to be together, when they were so obviously meant to be. The ambiguousness of Sinjin and Mercedes made for some tension. You are never quite sure if they can be trusted. And the twist at the ending was interesting too. I would probably go back and read the first book in the series, because I think it deserves another chance.

      I received this book for free through the goodreads first reads program.
    • 3/5
      I have to say that reading this...pissed me off. Over all the twist was great, but the whole we cant be together got old. Then when they finally hook up, the twist happens and fusses everything up.
      I may or may not read the next book.
    • 4/5
      Jolie has been crowned the queen of the underworld and she could bring back the dead. Only thing is she wants no part of it! Ruling over supernatural creatures was not in her plans as she can hardly control her personal life. Once a sexy warlock asks for her to read his aura and she feels something stir in her heart, but she keeps a devastating secret from him. Then, on the other hand there is Sinjin, a dark seductive vampire and her sworn protector. When the two males clash vie for affection, she must take control and show everyone who is the queen!
    • 4/5
      this is just an amazing series. I loved it can't wait to read the others.
    • 1/5
      WTF? Is this the same series I discovered from a self-published author who could write, had a voice, a story to tell, and vivid characters you could invest in? I forced myself to finish knowing how much I liked first volumes, that there was more in the series and thinking surely it could not keep on being so relentlessly bad. Take all the negative reviews by others and quote 'em here cause I agree.

      I jumped into the book just because it followed first two without reading any reviews or blurbs. Turns out with this third book author is no longer self published and has a contract for two more. So guess I can apportion some of the blame out to the publishing/editing folk.

      Biggest problem -- nothing happens. Gloom, despair, woe is me, agony, angst, overthink, flounder around. Spurts of trying to sandwich in some queenly stuff (with the big bad guys threatening her subjects she had to take waltz lessons and proper correspondence lessons -- gee, how exciting to read about). Spurts of trying to setup threatening villain (lurkers) consisting of one vision and one attack. Spurts ... blech! And then after reading uninteresting drivel we get to read about Jolie writing about the same stuff in her diary.

      Whole entire passages from first books are cut and pasted into this one (so much I had to look up book description and double check I wasn't re-reading an earlier entry) and publisher is strongly advertising that you jump into the series via this third volume. [I'm guessing the contract still has first two self-published so publisher wants to steer reader to purchase volumes that net them some profit and conceivably author was pressured to repeat a lot in the recap?]

      Jolie and everyone now just yanked around like puppets on a string by new characters like Mercedes. Best friend Christa basically goes off stage (okay a couple of conversations thrown in I guess to keep character active).

      About 85% of the way thru all of a sudden the romance is back, with the love triangle, and then with a sex scene dragging on rather endlessly by being interrupted continually with trite conversation or the need to "gaze" intensely at one or more parts of each other with a few spurts of what -- I think might again be publishers fault -- I guess was supposed to be an upgrade/spice-up/more-explicit bits that really aren't this author's forte and seemed randomly tossed in. The one sex scene was just all over the place (not in a good way) and did not seem to fit in with characters. And for such a long scene, like with rest of book, not a lot happening even though they did eventually do the deed. I can handle sex scenes from fade-to-black thru explicit and enjoy; this just was off.

      So now something romantic has happened; then followed by actual plot/action happening; then about time Jolie figures something up, voila, here comes the time travel again.

      Based on cover blurb, next book will have her back in her shop before before meeting Rand or Sinjinn. Presumably to let new publisher cash in on the reworking of the first two volumes?

      I've had hit/miss results with self-publshed authors and frequently review that they could stand some professional editing help. This book makes me eat my words; the author needs to get her own voice back. I sympathize with compromising in order to get something published but this book was just dull with cardboard characters I would not want to read about if I hadn't discovered and enjoyed them in earlier works. They were really spoofs of themselves.

      Some random quotes I think will give you a feel for the book:

      "And it was a good feeling to know how important I was."

      "through another lesson, this one on etiquette (more specifically, the proper protocol for writing letters, including addressing them, what the salutation should be, and what the closing should be)"

      "I pulled away from him because I suddenly wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I had to make sure that this new announcement of his meant what I needed it to mean"

    • 2/5
      I think this book could have been good, but the editing kind of ruined it. There was an instance in the story when Jolie's magic was blocked and they thought it was because of the vision...except she reanimated someone after the vision. Stuff was just all out of order. :/ I'm not sure if that's editing or what, but it made the book hard to finish with things like that going on.
    • 3/5
      Witchful Thinking is book #3 in the “Jolie Wilkins series”. We meet up with the characters after the big underworlder war. Jolie has been declared queen but isn’t really sure how she feels about that or how it will affect her rather non-existant relationship with Rand.

      I really didn’t like this book as much as the other two. It almost felt like H.P. Mallory didn’t have enough substance to really flesh out a full novel (there are a couple of rather lengthy flashbacks to previous novels). I enjoyed the beginning of this book. H.P. Mallory’s writing had me feeling like I was sitting with a good friend while she chatted with me about what’s been going on in her life (even if it did entail time travel and battling witches, vampires and demons). I did like the evolution of Jolie from the insecure witch who lets people dictate what will happen to her to a stronger more self-assured witch who decides to write off men (at least temporarily) but I wasn’t too thrilled with the last few chapters. The ending itself though does through a nice wrench into what promises to be an interesting fourth book so I’m holing out hope that with The Witch Is Back, Mallory will get back to her fun and exciting writing style.

      By the way, if you’re interested in giving this series a try, you can get a great bargain at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble for the digital copies. Amazon has Book 1 & 2 for the Kindle at $4.99. Barnes & Noble has the same price for books 1 & 2 or for $2.99 you can get Books 1&2 of the Jolie Wilkins series plus Books 1-3 of the Dulcie O’Neil series!
    • 4/5
      So, I went out and bought the first two books in this series so that I could read them first because, well, you know, they came first. When I started reading Witchful Thinking, I was a little frustrated only because so much of the first two books was sprinkled so liberally throughout this one. I understand the why of it since Random House picked up the publishing of this series right in the middle but since I took the time & trouble of going out and purchasing and subsequently reading the first two books beforehand, I just balked a little. I have to say though, the last 3 chapters of this book TOTALLY made up for it!!! I love Rand and I am a huge fan of true love, bonding, soulmates, and all the happy, happy, joy, joy aspects of two people destined to be together and finally getting there. I am an even bigger fan of the bad boy with a heart of gold, despite all his rough edges ~ and oh does Sinjin just fit that bill. (I'm right there with ya Jolie, I see that there is more to Sinjin than the player persona he puts out there.) I can't wait to see where the next book leads ~ ahh the love triangle in it's finest form... FTC disclaimer ~ I won a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads.
    • 3/5
      In Mallory’s paranormal novel, Jolie has just been crowned Queen of the Underworld. She also possesses a rare gift for reanimating the dead which she is struggling to master. With two men vying for her affection, one the love of her life and the other shouldering a dark cloud of uncertainty, she must maintain the balance between both worlds.Nice addition to the Jolie Wilkins series.
    • 3/5
      Witchful Thinking by H.P. Mallory is the third book in the Jolie Wilkins series. Before the review I just want to say how much I love the titles of this series. The may be cheesy, but they are just so cute! Witchful Thinking picks up where Toil and Trouble left off. The events of the last book have left Jolie a boat load to deal with. Previously having traveled back in time, bonded with Rand, been killed, brought back to life, and declared Queen of the Underworld by the Prophetess have completely overwhelmed our heroine. Poor Jolie doesn't want to be Queen. She wants a normal life with Rand...too bad Rand doesn't remember their time together in 1876 and she is scared to tell him about their forgotten past. Complicating their relationship even further is her feelings for the sinfully sexy vampire Sinjin, Rand's enemy, and her new bodyguard. Add in the fact that Jolie is destined to unite the underworld against the Lurkers... Jolie is in for one bumpy ride. Where to start? I loved the first two books, but just sort of liked this one. There is little if any action, but the drama is non-stop. Drama, especially the love triangle kind is always a favorite, but between that and her not wanting to be queen...there isn't really anything else to the book. Let's tackle one thing at a time. Jolie becomes queen of the underworld. Not only does she not want to be queen, but she displays no leadership qualities at all. Then there is Mercedes the Prophetess who is constantly pushing her along on every little decision. She is wholeheartedly unlikable and somewhat shady. For the majority of the book I kept waiting for Jolie to punch her and tell her to shut up because she is queen. Now, onto the love interests. Rand and Sinjin vie/shun Jolie's affections for 90% of the book. Rand supposedly loves Jolie, but keeps finding the smallest reasons why they can't be together. I don't know about other readers, but he is starting to come off as uninterested and wishy-washy. Then there is poor Sinjin. He seems to constantly pine for Jolie and is always there when she needs him. The problem is she "loves" Rand and despite having feelings for Sinjin, she doesn't quite trust him. I honestly feel sorry for him. She constantly yanks him around and quite frankly if he turns out to be shady and turns on her...she deserves it. Despite what it sounds like, I didn't absolutely hate this book. I liked seeing Jolie's power grow and anything that involved Sinjin was great. Witchful Thinking just felt like a filler/bridge book. A bunch of drama to build up to the oh-no-she/he-didn't bombshell of a cliffhanger H.P. Mallory leaves us with in the end! I refuse to give up on this series and Sinjin. I will continue with Jolie, but this installment was a bit of a let down. This book gets a 2 1/2 STAR rating.**The audio was pretty good. This is the first book narrated by Allyson Ryan that I have listened to. At first some of the characters sounded a little over the top, but I got over it.
    • 4/5
      How addicted to this story I've become! Jolie is growing into one of my favorite characters. I am looking forward to her next book.
    • 5/5
      Woot! I love this girl so much! Not only did I get this book sent to me directly by HP (love her), but she signed my copy too!I'm spoilt! Most of the other authors that I've won books from who are overseas (HP is in America, and I'm in Australia), when they have found out that I'm in Australia have asked if it was ok to send me the eBook version instead. OK, the book itself.This story stopped me cold - no spoilers here, but I will say that the twists in this one surpased all of her other books, and I was left screaming in outrage... This was her very best book so far, and I really truly cannot WAIT for the next one to come out. I do believe that anyone who has read this series, and this one book will agree with me. We're all on tenterhooks waiting for the next one!
    • 2/5
      Two things, I love urban fantasy, and i have not read the previous books in this series. Although this book includes history elements and a reintroduction of characters, I really didn't like the way the past was recapped in journal notations. It had the flavor of telling a story rather than showing. I was never pulled into this story though I did like Jolie's character and thought the author developed her characters nicely. I am not one for enjoying sexually frustrated romances and was turned off by the continued sexual tension without fulfillment. I don't like a lot of internal dialogue and found that distracting, not gripping. The action was not compelling enough to keep me interested in the book nor was there a great climax. Maybe if I had read the previous two books I would have been more involved with the story.
    • 3/5
      I do not know if I have been living under a rock, but where have all the witches gone? Have they been run out of the fantasy genre by werewolves, vampires, and other night bumplies? I had high hopes for Witchful Thinking – with a title so bubbly and clever, a cover so adorable, and hype that makes it sound beyond entertaining – but hex me silly, the story did not suck me in. I am not sure if it is because I started in the middle of Jolie’s charmed life or not finding any charm in her diary entries (they felt a little too juvenile for my liking), but even so, I did not feel compelled to backtrack to the beginning of the series. Although the ending makes up for the journey and leaves me more than curious to read onward, I am still hesitant to do so. I wanted more action, trouble, and clever words from Witchful Thinking. I think Raine Benares and Stephanie Plum have spoiled me for what to expect from a strong female lead who has an eye for trouble. Perhaps Jolie needs to channel a bit more Angelina to make this series sparkle with fun intensity.
    • 2/5
      I hate giving this book a two star review because even though the first two books weren't amazing, they were still well written and fun to read. I think HP Mallory has a lot of talent as an author and I truly believe she is going to be huge in the fiction market. I was eager to read this book and was very glad to have it ready to go as soon as I finished up book #2. Book #2 had such an amazing conclusion that I had been riveted to those pages. But "Witchful Thinking" disappoints. Let me explain why I think that is. For starters Bantam Books decided to pick up this work mid-series. The third book in this series is the first one Bantam published. The storyline has been well established up to this point. The introduction from Bantam tells us that this is a great place to start. Not so. There is just too much back story thrown into this book. Pages and pages were exactly the same as those scenes in the earlier books. For someone new to the series I'd venture to say this would be information overload, just too much to take in. As someone who read the first two books, this amounted to a very dull book. Even after we get well into this book and new events are happening there are still pages of flashbacks (again actual pages from earlier books duplicated here).To compound this dullness is the fact that there is absolutely no adventure and no climax to this book at all. There is more internal wrestling by our heroine as she wants Rand but he is mad at her (again, getting repetitive) and then thinking Sinjin the vampire is hot and maybe she does want him too a little bit. Jolie, Rand, and Mercedes the prophetess bring back some of the fallen soldiers from the battle in book#2. Jolie debates whether she really wants to be queen. End of story. There is a new group of bad guys called "Lurkers" which I assume will be the focus in upcoming books but nothing happens with them here either.I am settling on two stars because I was able to finish the book in just a couple of days. I found I liked Sinjin more in this book then those previous. I used to love Rand but he is too wishy washy and emotional for me. He is about as indecisive as Jolie. I may or may not read the next two books in the series when they come out.
    • 5/5
      This book managed to captivate me just as much as the first two books in the series did. As usual, this story includes just as much humor, angst, heartbreak, longing, duty, realization and growing. It also happens to have a fantastic amount of romance and steam. But that's one of the things I've come to expect and appreciate from H.P. Mallory, who is just so good at writing Paranormal Romance! This book is mostly about Jolie accepting her destiny as Queen of the Underworld. The responsibility that befalls her is so huge and overwhelming at times, and she starts to feel like her life is no longer her own. But when she really starts to embrace her calling, she is a force to be reckoned with and it is clear that she is the right woman for the job. Unfortunately, her status as Queen begins to seriously put a wedge between her already rocky relationship with the man she loves. But her royal position does bring her a bit closer to the man she has always been curious about. I'm still so torn between Rand and Sinjin! Rand is so clearly the man that Jolie loves more than anything, and he's definitely the more practical choice for her. But there's just something about Sinjin, the over 600-and-something year old vampire, that's so utterly irresistible! I think I like the fact that he's just so naughty and such a bad boy, but when it comes to Jolie he clearly feels more for her than just lust (mostly), and their connection is undeniable. But then again, Rand is just so good-natured and his love for Jolie is so genuine--although sometimes frustrating--that it's hard to picture her with anyone else. Either way, one thing these men do have in common is their immense sex appeal and charm, and I never get tired of their presence in this series!Another thing that pleases me about this book, aside from the romance, is that the mystery of the Lurkers is starting to be addressed and explored. Lurkers are basically a race that is half human, half vampire. They pose a serious threat to all other Underworld creatures due to their need for revenge and murder, and Jolie has suspicions about them that prove to be unsettling. I have no doubts that the Lurkers will be showing up more in the next book or so.The ending of this book was such a cliff-hanger! From the very beginning of the book there was something curious going on in the background of the plot, and I felt like I should have known what it was, and then when it was revealed I wasn't completely surprised but it was still a jaw-dropping experience. All I can say is, I'm DYING to read the next book! I can't wait to uncover more about Jolie, the mysterious Prophetess and many other things involving this cast of awesome characters.
    • 2/5
      Won from Library Thing Early ReviewersOverall Rating 2.00Story Rating 2.00Character Rating 2.00Final thought when finished: Not my cup of tea at all though I still highly recommend the rest of the series. I really hope this isn't because she went with a publisher that insisted on playing up the romance.Why I gave it a 2 (not using my normal review method): I really wanted to like this book as much as I did the first two in the series. However, I am not a fan of love triangles. It irks me when teenagers are in them and irks me even more when grown adults are in them. I have kind of up to this point, ignored the triangle in this series because it wasn't the focus. However, Witchful Thinking was one big ode to the love triangle. There wasn't any furthering of the more compelling story (which I won't give away in case you haven't read the first two) and in the end, I was left wanting. I love HP Mallory's writing. She has some great story telling ability. This, however, didn't work for me personally. If you are a fan of love triangles, you will love this particular entry into the series. It is all about Sinjun, Rand, and Jolie. If you are not a fan of triangles, then I would suggest skipping this entry. I don't think you would be missing much of significance in the overall series.
    • 3/5
      Witchful Thinking is actually the third book in the Jolie Wilkins series, although it is the first to be published by a major publisher. The first two books, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble and Toil and Trouble, are both self-published and most widely available in digital format. I did not realize this when I requested Witchful Thinking from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program or I would not have selected this book. I was able to borrow a paperback copy of Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble from my library to review but had no luck obtaining a physical copy of Toil and Trouble even though both the author's website and Amazon show that a paperback version should exist.I'm actually not sure if one would be better off reading both of the previous books in the series or just starting straight in with Witchful Thinking. Because this is the first book from a traditional publisher, many people seeing it in a bookstore would have no idea that there were two books already in the series. The story takes this into account heavily with the prologue to this book being the first chapter from Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble. Having read that book, I could identify major sections of information dumping to catch the reader up on all that had happened when Jolie first met Rand. I had a little more trouble identifying pure information dumps from the second book only because I have not read it. Having missed out on that action, it was very clear that I was being brought up to date but I was not as clear on how much of that portion of the story was repetition and how much was simply being examined through a new lens based on current events. It felt like it took over half the book to really get into the current action. While this might be good for a first time reader, it was frustrating to know how much repetition was happening.My biggest issue with this series, especially this book, is that I simply don't like the characters all that much. I must be used to much stronger female characters from reading a lot of urban fantasy. Jolie drove me absolutely crazy because she was such a doormat. Every time she made a decision, she would question herself and fill her own head with self-doubt. She changed her mind every time a hot guy entered the room and it didn't always seem to matter which one. She is told it is her destiny to be Queen of the Underworld and takes on the role even though she is constantly whining that it is one she doesn't want. She decides to rule in her own way only to have those around her change her ideas and block her at every turn. The constant whining about Rand and her inability to hold her own where he was concerned truly made me want to throw the book across the room at times. Rand had a lot of the same issues as Jolie as far as making decisions and changing his mind and not acting on his feelings and so on. I realize it is a paranormal romance, which is not a genre I read much, but does that mean the characters must be spineless?I didn't particularly like the format of this book either with the use of diary entries. Some of them felt like just ways to dump information while others were more of Jolie's whining and uncertainty.Without being too spoilery, I will say that the ending seemed an awfully convenient way to keep the series going but I'm afraid it will lend itself to even more repetition and information dumping in future books. I won't be sticking around to find out though as this is not a series that I plan to continue.
    • 2/5
      WITCHFUL THINKING left me feeling confused. I was enjoying how it started out then bam we are in the future and know nothing about the past. The past is slowly revealed to teach us what has happened up until the point we are at and then at the end its bam again and we are in the past before the past. Are you confused yet? Yeah me to.I have to say my favorite character was Sinjin. He is a vampire that is in love with Jolie and wants to protect her, or at least that was what I got out of his character. Rand is a warlock and the person that Jolie loves, he is super broody and refuses to stick with one emotion for longer then a minute. Just when they BOTH decide that they want to be together and are about to stick with the decision stuff happens that throws that out the window. Jolie was super indecisive. She has no clue what she wants out of the situation she is in. I really never connected with her character and I wish the book wouldn't have jumped to the future as I think those years leading up would have made me understand her more and unfortunately I didn't see that this was book 3 in the series until after I won it and read it or else I would have seen that the back story is in the previous 2 books that are offered as ebooks published by the author. All in all I just never connected with the story and had to force myself to read through most of it.So my advice? Although I think you could start with book 3 WITCHFUL THINKING, you might be as lost as me so I would recommend you read book 1 and 2 first.
    • 3/5
      Mallory started as a self-published author whose third book has been picked up by Bantam Books. You do not need to have read either of the earlier books to pick this one up; Mallory provides enough background to bring everyone up to speed. That, unfortunately, leads to one of the problems with this book - the massive "data dumps by journal" which most of the chapters begin with. I understand the need; there are many new readers who need to know what's going on. But, I just wish the author had figured out a different way to present the information. I had a little difficulty with Jolie (the main character) as well. So many of the problems that she encountered could have been resolved quickly by just talking to the folks involved. It's a common trope in romance novels, it just felt a little overdone here.That said, this actually was a enjoyable light read and it was much more polished than her first book. I'll be looking for the next in the series when it's available.
    • 3/5
      If you're looking for a cute romance with elements of magic, this book is a nice light read, but it's not best-in-breed for the genre.There's a lot of recap: nearly 100 pages worth. I found it handy since I don't think I've read the previous books (and they sound pretty good!), but it was so long that I was wondering if anything was ever going to happen in *this* book. Once you get past that, it's a story of Jolie beginning to seize control of her fate while she tries to figure out if romance is compatible with destiny. The story's a little trope-laden (so much so that I started to wonder if maybe I had read the first book and forgotten), but it's still enjoyable if you're in the mood to turn your brain off for an afternoon. Despite the slow start, by the end I was at least curious about what will happen in the next volume.
    • 3/5
      This is the third book in the Jolie Wilkins series. I got a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program for review. It was a fun read but the cliffhanger ending of the book made me roll my eyes and wonder if I want to keep reading this series.Jolie's been crowned Queen of the Underworld...whether she wants to be or not. Rand is trying to deal with all the fallout from the battle in the second book and is still unsure about his relationship (or lack of one) with Jolie. Sinjin has wholeheartedly supported her reign and has vowed to be her top protector. Constantly tugged between these two powerful men Jolie is having trouble managing her personal life, let alone all the creatures of the Underworld.This was my least favorite of the Jolie books to date. I guess I am getting sick of the constant non-resolution between Jolie and Rand. The number of times Jolie states she needs to move on with her life and then doesn't gets really repetitive throughout this story. This book also features journal entries by Jolie which, for the first half of the book, recap events that happened in previous stories. I think this was supposed to make the book stand on its own, but since I have read all of the previous books in the series I found this recapping a bit tedious. The story has a lot more Sinjin than previous books and I like Sinjin as a character; but the plot hints at darker aspects of Sinjin than I wanted to know about. Sinjin was my favorite character in this series, by the end of this book...not so much.This book is pretty soap operaish. Most of it deals with the fallout of the battle in book 2 and with Jolie setting up her reign as Queen. I found it a bit disturbing the Jolie is so weak yet is crowned Queen of the Underworld. The prophetess Mercedes is pretty much running the whole show and Jolie trusts her blindly. Jolie serves as mostly a figurehead and the fact that she never questions some of Mercedes more questionable behavior made me think a lot less of Jolie as a character. There is very little action and very little to propel the story forward; although there is mention of a new group of enemy mostly human part vampire type creatures that Jolie and crew will eventually have to face off with.Usually these books are overly sweet and fun. While this book was well written and easy to read I didn't find it as fun as previous books. Jolie seemed tired and I was tired with her; I just wanted her to stop letting herself get pushed around and do something.The book ends on a total cliffhanger that promises even less resolution between Jolie and her men in the future. It made me sigh in exasperation; I mean come on let's get on with the story and move past Jolie and Rand and their issues.Overall, although this was a fun and easy read, it was my least favorite book in the series. Jolie seemed tired and doesn't really exert herself as a character; she spends a lot of time following. Jolie also gets pretty much no resolution with her guy situation and I just want to move past her guy issues and get on with the evil human vampire baddies. I guess the series is a getting a bit too chick-lit for me. At this point I am not sure if I will be reading future books in the series.
    • 2/5
      Not overly enamoured of this book. I think the story has promise, but the way it is told is all over the place. I found myself having to go back too many times to see what it was I'd missed. The author tries to make up for the fact that the reader is starting with a third in a series. I've started in the middle of a series before many times and never been this confused as to what the heck was going on.
    • 2/5
      The problem with this book is that you are jumping into the middle of a series. While the author does try to explain everything to you so you can understand why this is happening and what is going on she fails. I found it uncomfortable to get into because I wanted to know what I had missed before. If you are willing to pay 17+ dollars for this book to make sense more power to you but if you aren't I wouldn't recommend jumping into the series.The writing however is pretty decent (minus the fact that the author used the character-in-the-mirror tool to describe the MC) , the characters were completely stock. A brooding evil vampire, an okay looking women who despite it all attracts everyone. Not to mention there was the hot prude love interest. Sex driven best friend (if she was a gay man she would have all the usual cast of paranormal romances). Sorry but I wouldn't waste my time, especially because of the ending.
    • 2/5
      Jolie Wilkins has survived a bloody war between opposing Underworld forces, time travel, and almost-but-not-quite bonding with a warlock. Now she's supposed to be the new queen of the Underworld - not exactly a role she's ready for, especially since taking the throne may mean seeing her man take a permanent walk. Can Jolie figure out who's actually on her side, before the new queendom crumbles completely?I sure hope somebody edits for purple prose prior to publication, because overwrought and florid doesn't begin to cover it. Jolie is whiny, over-sexed, and vapid. The love-interest Rand is so stiff and studly, he's beyond stereotypical, and the plot is mediocre at best. I made it through the first third before I started skimming and skipping. This is, according to the editor's note in front, the third in a series - don't bother wasting your money on any of them.