Today I’m hosting one of the finalist tours for BBNYA, this is one of the books that I read for the competiton.
Time-Marked Warlock
Shami Stovall
Adair Finch is the most powerful warlock in the world, and one of the best private investigators for hire.
He has dealt with corporate vampires, murderous werewolves, and even fae royalty. Everything was perfect until he lost one case—the case where he also lost his brother.
So Finch retired. From magic. From PI work. From everything.
Bree Blackstone, a twelve-year-old witch, doesn’t know or care about any of that except Finch’s reputation. In the middle of the night, she bangs on Finch’s door. Her mother has been murdered, and now the assassin is after Bree as well.
Reluctantly, Finch agrees to help, only to discover something sinister has been brewing in town while he ignored the world… He’ll need to dust off all his old skills and magic before it’s too late.
Goodreads | The StoryGraph | Amazon
This was my favourite book of the competition, I mean, they were all amazing books, but this was a stand-out for me. I really enjoyed it, and I was so invested that I read it in record time.
Very well written and very engaging, it’s the type of story that pulls you in and makes it hard to put down. It was fast-paced, which seems like it shouldn’t be possible given the story’s repetition, but that didn’t hinder the pace at all. Although I did wonder if all the repetitions needed to be included at every stage, but it makes sense for the character to show how wonderful and frustrating his magic can be.
The magic was really interesting and felt unique, just like the characters wielding it, and I liked that as Bree was learning more about magic, we got to know it alongside her. Her tenacity in trying to find out what happened to her family and in getting Finch to help was fantastic.
Bree and Finch make a great pair; they have a little bit of a grumpy-sunshine dynamic going on and are often in a tug-of-war, with Bree wanting to help and Finch wanting to involve her as little as possible. Kull, a spirit that can change form, was a fantastic addition to the group, and they worked well as a trio and helped each other in unexpected ways.
I absolutely loved Time-Marked Warlock and would highly recommend giving it a read.
Shami Stovall is a multi-award-winning author of fantasy and science fiction. Before that, she taught history and criminal law at the college level and loved every second. When she’s not reading fascinating articles and books about ancient China or the Byzantine Empire, Stovall can be found playing way too many video games, especially RPGs and tactics simulators. She loves John, reading, and writing about herself in the third person.
If you want to contact her, you can do so at the following locations:
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BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 (17 in 2025) finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official.
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