Review:
Alexis is a magical citizen eking out a living in the dual-society zone, where she and her wards can escape the notice of more powerful and dangerous magical folks and be tolerated by non-magical folks. Her teen wards are Daisy, a non-magical girl who'd spent time in the worst parts of the foster care system, and Mordecai, a werewolf whose immune system treats his need to shapeshift like an enemy, leaving him perpetually weak, unable to shift, and likely to die at a young age.
When Alexis is almost run over by a hot magical guy in an expensive car, she suddenly finds her careful anonymity threatened. Although she doesn't know it at first, the hot magical guy is Kieran, Demigod and the heir of Valens, the Demigod in charge of San Francisco. Alexis's power may be the key to freeing Kieran's mother's soul, and he's not about to let her out of his sight.
This was one of the freebies in my Book Bonanza 2022 attendee goody bag. I started it because I'd forgotten to bring any of the other books I was currently reading, and K.F. Breene was one of the attending authors. I unexpectedly gobbled it up, and I was glad I got a chance to stop by the author's table, get an autograph, and buy the second book.
This book wasn't without its issues. I'm still not entirely sure I understand how its world works. There seemed to be three zones, one for magical folks, one for non-magical folks, and one where magical and non-magical folks could coexist but magical folks were treated like second-class citizens. At the same time, it sounded like Demigods like Kieran and Valens barely had any rules governing their behavior. Could they enter the non-magical zones at will? I have no idea, but it didn't sound like either of them would take well to someone telling them they couldn't do something.
Also, while I generally liked the scenes with Alexis, Daisy, and Mordecai, I felt like Breene overdid her efforts to get across to readers that Alexis was poor and could barely take care of herself and two teens, one of whom had serious health issues. It was heavy-handed.
Even so, I found myself hooked on this book and almost managed to finish it before Book Bonanza wrapped up. While I wish Breene had mentioned some world details and rules earlier, I enjoyed learning about Alexis's powers and a little about Kieran's goals, and I particularly enjoyed Alexis's efforts to prevent Kieran from getting an accurate idea of her strength and the particulars of her ability. Mythology purists (Greek and Irish, so far) will probably take issue with certain details, but overall I thought it was interesting and I was grateful that whatever was brewing between Kieran and Alexis didn't instantly overtake the story.
I don't know how long I'll stick with this series, but so far I'm enjoying the ride and would be willing to try Breene's other series.
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