Barbara Bretton Once Again Weaves a Tale of Magic

Laced With Magic was only my second Barbara Bretton book I have read and now I REALLY see why she has so many faithful followers! What a wonderful world to escape into when you just want to get away from it all. A trip to Sugar Maple, Vermont, will bring you to the home of Chloe Hobbs, who owns a knitting shop.

What makes Sugar Maple and Chloe so special, you say? Well, you see Sugar Maple is covered by a protected charm cast by Aerynn Hobbs, to keep it safe from the real world. And safe it will be as long as one of Aerynn’s female descendants lives there. And so, enter Chloe Hobbs! In a town made up of residents that are shapeshifters, trolls, ghosts, witches, vampires, and others, there are only two citizens of this fair city who are not of this lot and Chloe is one of them. You see, Chloe Hobbs is half-human and half-sorceress. It is only a little while ago that Chloe has begun to be able to use her powers and they are still a little, well, let’s say still in the practice stage. Because Chloe is the last female descendant of Hobbs, the whole town watches closely over her. The other exception inhabitant is Luke MacKenzie who is a full human. He is also the chief of Police. Luke and Chloe are seeing each other and neither thinks it is that serious but the townsfolk do as Chloe is nearing 30 and still not wed and with no heir in sight! On top of all that, Luke doesn’t even want children.

Not until Karen MacKenzie, Luke’s ex-wife, arrives and tells them that Steffie, their dead daughter, has been calling her on the phone asking for help. Steffie is being held prisoner by Isadora, the wicked Fae leader. Isadora was so wicked that she was banished from the current dimension everyone else was in and that is why she is able to hold Steffie’s spirit a prisoner. Imagine Chloe’s surprise since she never even knew about this daughter of Luke’s! Chloe could help them to get Steffie’s spirit released but it would also mean letting Isadore run free. Chloe is just starting out with her sorceress training so this is all new to her.

What should Chloe do? Should she help set Steffie free and jeopardize her quiet home? Can she hold on to Luke after he finds out about the importance of the magical town Chloe lives in? Will Karen get Luke back? Written in first person narrative, the narrator jumps from being Chloe to Luke to Karen and you have to read carefully so you know who is telling the story at what time. The book can stand alone alright but it really helps if you read the first book in the series, CASTING SPELLS. Bretton does a good job of writing so you can understand this story pretty much without having to have read the first one. She gives a lot of background. However, I myself think the story flows better if read CASTING SPELLS first. I liked the ending but have read reviews where people did not. In that these are the first two books in the trilogy, it is to be expected that not everything will tie up in a package with a neat little bow at the end. So perhaps if you space the first two out, by the time you read them, Barbara Bretton may have the trilogy finished and complete for you to continue. However, I like having questions to still be answered and a bit of a cliff hanger at the end of a book.

LACED WITH MAGIC will entertain you and keep you turning the pages to see what happens to Steffie and how Luke and Chloe wind up at the end of the story. Good luck with the book and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! The details of the characters are fleshed out nicely and the colorful descriptions of the town make you feel like you are there.

Karen D. Haney, Author/Developer of BOOKIN’ WITH BINGO http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com reviews books and interviews authors for her book blog. Reading and writing are her passion.