Top Comfort Reads: Magiford Supernatural City Urban Fantasy by K.M. Shea (Kimberly)

Happy first Friday of 2022! This is a special look at one of my top comfort reads! The Magiford Supernatural City universe by K.M. Shea.

I reviewed the first two books of the Hall of Blood and Mercy Series in April 2020, which you can read in full HERE. At the time, I was sooo grateful that K.M. Shea ventured into urban fantasy, bringing along her trademark humor, engaging action, and a sweet (slow burn) romance between a vertically challenged wizard and the most lethal vampire in town. Two and a third series into this world and I am so glad that she has created a non-gritty and humorous take on popular urban fantasy tropes with laugh out loud moments, heart touching FEELS, and sweet romantic relationships that twist certain toxic tropes on their heads to feature healthy relationships between each couple and their friend/family groups.

Hazel and Killian were so much fun and a healthy take on the vampire love interest. And this is not a gritty urban fantasy world. 

Even when we ventured into the decidedly toxic superficial backstabbery that was the "game" of the Fae, especially in the Night Court, Shea used humor and a stubborn half-human heroine turned VERY reluctant queen to lighten a potentially gritty entry into something that makes you laugh and warm your heart. The trilogy develops Leila and Rigel (a hero who starts off as the assassin who tries to kill her) and their crazy fun cast including the night mares into an unexpected crew you just need to root for as certain mysteries unfold. You can find fellow blogger Rachel's January 2021 review of the Court of Midnight and Deception HERE.

I am very much a romantic so I adore these couples. They are some of my favorites I've ever read because they're real and adhere to healthy relationships and boundaries. However, I also love the colorful characters who make up the supporting casts from the hilariously morbid poet vampire named Josh to the Paragon of the Fae and his antics (not to mention his Sphinx cat named Aphrodite and all the crazy cat parent actions you could possibly imagine) to the Night Court who are often...confused yet enthusiastic by Leila's clever tricks to beat the "game". The fae playing put-put scene is fantastic! And Chase the werewolf who gives us the road to the newest trilogy, Pack of Dawn and Destiny. I am not going to go into details in this post. I'll just say I love the werwolves. So very much.

This world is one I kept coming back to from the moment I finished the first trilogy. While I've always read and enjoyed Urban Fantasy, I will be the first to admit this genre leans toward gritty. I cannot do gritty in my reading right now at all. If a book or series is described as dark, gritty, angsty, or traumatic, I put it aside for some future time when I can handle the darker books again. So I am focused on reading the lighter feeling books, ones where they can have deep heart touching moments that pluck at the FEELS but also keep the very hopeful and uplifting atmosphere. I need to laugh and smile more than usual these days. I'm sure many of you feel the same. K.M. Shea is one of the authors I can trust to always provide a good read that is ultimately hopeful. And it shines the most clearly for me through the Magiford Supernatural City where urban fantasy is allowed to be funny and hopeful and full of light, cheer, and healthy relationships along with sweet romance. 

If' you've never tried urban fantasy before, I strongly encourage you to start here with the wonderful wizards, vampires, fae, and werewolves of Magiford. The trilogies are lightly connected with cameos and a large universe arc as one subplot that is slowly coming together. I would recommend starting with Hall of Blood and Mercy for the most enjoyment and a full appreciation of the delightful cameos.

As a special bonus, Hazel and Killian's entire trilogy is on sale through January 10, 2022, which makes this the perfect weekend to enter Magiford Supernatural City! You can get it HERE!

What are some of your favorite comfort reads? 

Happy Reading!

Kimberly A. Rogers

Weekend Reads: Hall of Blood and Mercy series by K.M. Shea (Kimberly)

Hi everyone! If you're anything like me, you are digging into books for some relief from our currently crazy real world circumstances. And I am so excited to share about a brand new series by one of my favorite authors, K.M. Shea!

This series is a new Urban Fantasy take inspired by a fairytale, Donkeyskin to be exact. Donkeyskin is not a fairytale for the faint of heart nor does it lend itself easily to non-horror retellings. That said, Shea shows why she is one of the queens of fairytale retellings because she found the perfect venue for tackling Donkeyskin while taking the cringe inducing parts of the story out. And I love it.

Magic Forged (Hall of Blood and Mercy Book 1)

My rating: 4.5 stars

Let me preface this by saying Urban Fantasy is one of my top favorite genres and I have read a TON of it over the years, both traditionally and indie published. However, Magic Forged is officially one of my top all time favorites ever and I do not see that changing any time soon. I was up all night reading this one even though I knew I had commitments the next day. I regret nothing. This book is so worth the lost sleep!

Hazel Medeis is a wizard, a severely vertically challenged one with a bit of a power problem. Being the Heir of a small pacifist wizarding house isn't made any easier with the death of her parents and then a coup by an unscrupulous jerk of a cousin. Forced out on her own, Hazel only escapes her cousin's schemes by pledging herself to the service of Killian Drake the supreme vampire in the region. Who may or may not be trustworthy.

This book is not a doom and gloom approach to Urban Fantasy nor is it overly gritty. Even though heartstrings are pulled and wrenched by the opening circumstances driving Hazel into House Drake. One of Shea's strong points in all her books is the wit/humor and the sheer character of the people and animals and even, in this case especially, houses. I love the humor and banter in this book and I absolutely adore the characters, especially Killian and his top two vampires, Celestina and Josh. They are not what you expect from UF vampires really. Killian tries, he tries to be the intimidating looming dark and mysterious vampire but his devilish sense of humor and Hazel's ability to bait him into snarky banter ruins it all. And Celestina is one of my favorites because she's Killian's First Knight (second in command) but she loves girl talk and shopping and self-pampering at the salon complete with mani pedis. Josh is . . . I'm laughing just trying to write about him. I never thought that a poetically morose vampire would be so much fun but he's so unexpected (without being truly over the top) that he just works. Also he's essentially a walking armory as the Second Knight. Hazel's reactions to everyone makes for so many laugh out loud moments. That's not even touching on the rest of the cast including a fae with a bald cat called Aphrodite.

This book is so much fun and there's a lot of humor and snark and banter. But Hazel also has a discernible growth arc because she has the "annoyingly virtuous moral compass" as Killian likes to describe it. Which I love. She doesn't compromise the true core of who she is even as she grows although she learns that what she's been taught all her life and what is truly right don't necessarily match up.

Magic Redeemed (Hall of Blood and Mercy Book 2)

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Can I just take a moment to scream because this book has so many FEEEELS! I adore book two as much as I loved book one. Hazel is coming into her own and we get more Killian POV scenes (YESSSS!!!) with even more of the vampires and their snarky existence with the vertically challenged wizard. However, there's still the problem of the House and Hazel's continued weight of responsibility as the Heir.

Once again the characters and the banter are my favorite parts. I also love that we get even more of the House and its personality in this book. And Hazel has to come to terms with her power, the sealing of her power, and the way it was unlocked in book one. She does have more angst going on toward her parents but it never gets TOO heavy for the overall lighter tone of the series. It's nicely broken up by antics and snark. I do love it when Josh spouts something about death and another vampire has to tell him "That's not comforting."

Killian and Hazel. Oh my good gracious gravy! These two are on one of those slow burn romances that put you on the Feels rollercoaster. Cue Gollum screams at a certain spoiler. Right in the feels!

There's so much more I want to say about the things I loved and raved about with this one but I can't. Because SPOILERS! All I can say is I'm so glad the third book in this series is out today because I need it. I need it now. ;)

If you have never tried Urban Fantasy before, start with this series. It's a fresh take on the standard tropes of wizards, vampires, fae, and shifters in some of the best ways. It's not too harsh but not mindless fluff either. It falls perfectly into the category of Urban Fantasy with lots of heart and humor, which is honestly my favorite of them all.

Have you read this series already? What did you think?

Until next time,

Kimberly A. Rogers