The Phoenix Charm
Helen Scott Taylor
978-0-5055-2828-5
Sequel to The Magic Knot
Taylor returns us to the world of Cornish piskies. Niall and Rosewyn, the stars of her previous novel The Magic Knot, have gone on a trip to America and left Cordelia, the pisky wise woman, in charge of the troop. Niall’s brother, Michael, is also there entertaining the troop and watching over Niall’s twin sons. Cordelia receives a premonition of danger, and her prediction bears fruit when a portal to the Welsh Underworld opens. One of the twins uses his paranormal abilities to walk through walls, and becomes trapped in the Underworld. Michael and Cordelia go to Wales to seek the king of the Underworld’s permission to retrieve the child. In the course of rescuing him, Michael discovers key facts about his heritage while he and Cordelia fall deeply in love.
I enjoyed a lot about this novel. I believe that it helped that I have read the previous book in this series; uniniated readers may have questions arising from assumptions made in the narrative.
Strengths:
- Interesting world building
- Enjoyable characters
- Characters experienced real growth through course of novel
- Exciting conflict
Weakenesses:
- Timeline a little confusing
- Questions how they never got in touch with Niall or Rosewyn
- Characters’ acceptance of major revelations very quick
- Sequel bait! in Nightshade’s character
I’d recommend this book to readers who enjoy paranormal romance mixed in with northern European mythology. Readalike authors to this book include: Sherrylon Kenyon, Karen Marie Moning, and Gena Showalter.
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