Blog Tour- Review + Giveaway: Mercy's Magic (Mercedes Cruz #1) by P.J. Day & Elizabeth Basque

 

Title: Mercy's Magic

Series: Mercedes Cruz #1

Authors: P.J. Day & Elizabeth Basque

Genre: Adult, paranormal

Publication date: September 18th 2013

Published by: P.J. Day

Source: For review for blog tour

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Synopsis:

Mercedes Cruz is a Bruja--or Witch, in Spanish. Just like many first generation sons and daughters of immigrant parents, Mercy has embraced America, its culture, and its customs in their entirety. But Brujeria or Mexican Witchcraft is deeply tied with Mercy's heritage and her family's past, and because she's neglected such a large chunk of her identity, Mercy now stands a stunted witch in her 30's.

Mercy, also a single mother of five year old Terra, who may also share her attributes, has decided to start her own private investigation firm in the heart of Orange County, California. She's decided to use her budding talents to recruit business, solve challenging cases, and help those in the community who lack a voice and who may be too afraid to report crimes due to their legal status --leaving criminals to freely exploit those who choose to live in the shadows.

My rating: ★★★☆☆
Mercy Cruz has just started her own Private Investigator business when she is asked to work on a case the hits close to home. Oh, and she is also a witch! When Mercy realizes that is case may or may not have some supernatural stuff involved, she pulls out the big guns to help her out: brujeria. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned and the magical mess that's she made might just get her in trouble.

First of all, I really loved the concept of this book! I absolutely LOVE witches and magic but have never read a book with brujas (as in Mexican witches) before. As a Mexican American myself, I have heard about brujeria before from my mom and other family members. But the thing is, whenever it is talked about, it usually has a negative connotation attached to it. It's always about curses and the evil eye and that makes me sad! As I said, I love magic, and I'd like to think that it could be used for good... but perhaps I watch too much Charmed ;)

And that's what initially caught my attention: Brujeria being used to do good things! Now, Mercy isn't the most experienced witch, but her intentions are good, and I really liked that about her! All that trouble (and magic!) she went through to save a beloved friend...I really admire her. Though she did something stupid to get what she wanted and I was yelling at my poor Kindle about what an idiot she was, but I did understand why she did it. Can you say, spell?

The one thing however, was that the book felt too short for me to really connect with the main character or get to know the other characters better, so there wasn't that emotional bond with the book that I like to have. On the other hand, I like short books! But getting to know and connecting with the characters within the span of a hundred or so pages can be tricky.

The romance... it's just something I have to talk about because it was SO unexpectedly great! I don't want to give too much away, but the guy Mercy... "falls" for can actually be very sweet when he wants to be. As I said, even though Mercy was an idiot and the romance was not exactly supposed to happen, I couldn't help but swoon and grin like an idiot when they were together! It was just very sweet! And to be honest, I'm not all that into adult books due to the tendency of having explicit sex scenes. But in this one, the descriptions were almost poetic, and I really liked that! Very romantic!

Overall, I really liked this book with all the magical goodness, the yummy romance, and the familiar culture. If you are looking for something short and magical to read, I recommend Mercy's Magic!

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Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a comment! :)