When certain series come to an end, they leave their readers unsatisfied or even disappointed. I feared it would be so with this one for several reasons. One, these books are actually a spin-off of the Weather Wardens series. I loved reading about Jo’s adventures and constantly going up against foes way bigger than she was and coming out bruised and beaten but a victor. Would I even like someone else playing the main part within the same universe? I hated her at first just as I was meant to. She was cold and inhuman. But good things or rather very bad things happened to her to change that.

Except for her love interest, David, we are taught to fear the Djinns in the prequel series. That brings me to the next reason for my misgivings: the protagonist in this one used to be a Djinn but was punished by the head honcho of Djinns when he turned her into a human before exiling her. But, the author takes three books to humanize the heroine’s character. It felt totally practical. 

Thirdly, I would again have to say goodbye to the world of Weather Wardens when this series ended. And I did, but I also felt a sense of completion. So, that’s good!

About the last book itself, Ms. Caine doesn’t play shy when it comes to tragedies changing people forever. One of the main characters in this one was a little kid who was kidnapped and tortured by a power-hungry megalomaniac Djinn. When she is returned to her family, she isn’t shown to magically recover from all that has befallen her. She remains on the brink of becoming an unfeeling creature and her family keeps doing their best to bring her back. I liked the authenticity in that.

Finally, the ending was too and they lived happily ever after for me. While I wanted the characters to be happy, I didn’t want it to be so perfect. But mostly, the journey was a positive one. Can’t wait to see what Ms. Caine does next!

Playing Possum

★★
Sookie goes to visit her godson and they encounter a mad gunman. The apple taking the gunman down was stretching it a bit too much!

Spellcaster 2.0
★
A university project is collecting and cataloging all the spells they can find. Most of the students do not believe in the spells until they absolutely have to. Saw the "twist" a mile away.

Academy Field Trip
★★
Vampire being investigated. The surveillance catches on to a "bride" of his and starts to feed her the wrong information. Meh.

Sympathy for the Bones
★★★★
A witch takes in a little girl and teaches her almost everything she knows. I love the creepiness even though the ending was expected.

Low School
★★
A senator dies and goes to hell for a deal she signed as a kid. The deal was with the devil and to her, hell was high school. I would have liked to see how she got out of it rather than what hell was like.

Callie Meet Happy
★
The Reaper was failing her wormhole class until she gets the chance for a practical lesson. Too random for me to enjoy, I guess.

Iphigenia in Aulis
★★★★
Melanie and the other kids are in school but there is something very wrong with them. Again, the creepiness was my favorite part of the story. Loved how the hunger is described.

Golden Delicious
★★★
Rick is on his way to forming his very own paranormal unit, if he can reign in his and his partner's werewolf instincts. Fun! I would love to know more about this world.

Magic Tests
★★
Julie has to solve a mystery at her new school - this time with no Kate to get her out of trouble. While I love Julie, almost no Kate or Curran makes for a boring story.

An Introduction to Jewish Myth and Mysticism
★★★
An abusive husband comes back, thinking he can hurt his wife some more. A professor has other ideas. While not unexpected, the twist was fun. I could have done without the unneeded last two lines - yeah, I am being picky!

VSI
★
Claire is a part of a secret team that will hunt vampires. Their quarry is quite closer to home than Claire thinks. Why?

The Bad Hour
★★
A dog trainer is in trouble with one of her clients who has a supernatural sidekick. Remy Chandler and his Marlowe, his dog, try to rescue her. I love Marlowe. Remy's alright.

Pirate Dave and the Captain's Ghost
★★★
A werewolf in love with a vampire is haunted by a ghost who was killed by a vampire. Dave reminded me of Hook from OUAT, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The story didn't surprise me at all.

What I Liked:

the writing felt much smoother

a succubus and a salamander as main characters

that the MC's sister was attacked by someone because they thought she was a succubus and would be easy. It just made things real-er!

the whole experiment and conversion thing that was the reason behind the kidnappings

the violence level felt like it belonged with the plot

What I Didn't Like:

the succubus is said to be trying really hard that she be taken seriously, especially as a cop. What is said and what is shown are completely opposite. She throws tantrums, she pouts, she does not follow procedure, she does not bother checking on whether the salamander is who he says he is, she sleeps with him and finds out that he had been using her and yet this conflict is resolved within seconds at the end

a mystery where there was none. When I met the bad guy, I didn't even think he could be the bad guy because it would have been too simple

a love affair without heat. It felt unnecessary and stank of insta-love. She liked the salamander because he was good looking; that could have been explained away because of her being a succubus but she wasn't throwing herself at every guy, was she?

Pet Peeves:

A lot of clichéd and overused phrases. I just remember one about a character's nose looking as if it had broken a lot of times

Don't Know How I Feel About This:

The plot was quite similar to the plot of the movie, Taken.