Sandy M’s review of Double Enchantment (Relics of Merlin, Book 2) by Kathryne Kennedy
Paranormal Historical Romance published by Love Spell 28 Aug 08

I have the best time in Kathryne Kennedy’s special world of magic she’s created for her Relics of Merlin series. It’s fun and lighthearted, full of romance, all the while throwing loads of mystery and evil deeds at you. And her were-heroes are to die for.

As with most firsts, the first book in this series gives you such special people and places, and I fell in love with Sir Terrance from Enchanting the Lady and figured that, though the hero in her next book would be another I could fall in love with, I wouldn’t fall quite as badly as I did for Sir Terrance. I’m delighted to say I was very wrong! Sir Sterling Thorn is a were-stallion, big, bold and strong, just as he is in his human form. I fell very hard.

Lady Jasmina Karlyle is the glue that keeps her parents’ house in order and running smoothly. She’s also the one who keeps her mother out of prison when she decides to borrow things from people, mostly jewelry, with the intention of returning them but conveniently forgetting to do so. Jasmina has taken it upon herself to prowl the streets at night, breaking and entering to return these borrowed items so her parents can go on living in relative comfort and ease, demanding their daughter never marry so she may take care of them through their dotage. Personally, the parents irritated the heck out of me, especially when they doubt her later in the story. But Jasmina loves them and does what they ask of her with no thought to herself — until she meets the man who makes her heart gallop.

Though Sterling is the first born, it is his younger brother who inherited upon their father’s death only because Cecil manipulated his father and fed him lies about Sterling during his stint in the military. Still a baron, Sterling lives his own way and is immune to magic, as are all others of his class. He happens upon “Jaz” at the prince’s ball and falls instantly into lust, so much so he marries the girl after he deflowers her, much to his delight.

But his happiness is short lived when he discovers a second Jaz, the original one, that is. Jasmina conjured a twin of herself to fool anyone checking on her in slumber when she was actually out on one of her reverse thieving jaunts. Everything goes totally wrong when Jasmina recites her twin spell while holding the brooch her mother absconded with this time. In actuality it is one of the thirteen Relics of Merlin and causes her spell to go awry, thus giving her Jaz duplicate a little more human personality than is needed.

Sterling and Jasmina are thrown together to search for the brooch to reverse her spell and rid the city of Jaz-Gone-Amuck, thereby saving Jasmina’s already degraded reputation, and Sterling is given the opportunity at the same time to continue looking for his kidnapped sister. Needless to say, all these things are related in unusual and magical ways and a lot of fun and romance are to be had along the way.

I love the way Ms. Kennedy gives Sterling the characteristics of the stallion when he’s in human form. He is a large man with a mane of black hair and I could see him tossing his head, mane flying, each time it was described so. He playfully snorts and stamps his feet just like a horse when the situation calls for it. He is, however, much more magnificent when in his were-form, everything he is as a human is just intensified and made larger than life. One of the best scenes in the book is Sterling galloping and flying through the nighttime streets with Jasmina on his back, both as carefree as the wind. Lady Jasmina’s prim and properness works very well against his animal characteristics, and it’s a delightful process to watch her lose herself and her hoity-toity ways with each step of Sterling’s seduction.

This is an enjoyable series. If you haven’t read it yet, you should. This is what reading is all about. Leave your worries behind and just let go and have fun with a world of magic and romance and characters who will entice you to dream for a happily-ever-after just like theirs.

Grade: A

Summary:
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Lady Jasmina was in a world of trouble. A simple spell had gone disastrously haywire and now there was a woman running around London who looked exactly like her–a woman with no sense of propriety whatsoever. All Society was whispering, and a baronet she’d never met was suddenly acting like he knew her…in a most intimate way. To find her double and set things right, they’d have to work together–braving the fog-shrouded streets, a mysterious group called the Brotherhood, and a passion stronger than any magic.
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Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Read Devon’s review of Enchanting the Lady