Sandy M’s review of A Little Light Magic by Joy Nash
Contemporary Paranormal Romance released by Leisure 26 May 09

What a wonderful book this is! I enjoyed every last word of it. It’s that perfect book to sit on the beach, on the patio, under a huge shade tree and just lose yourself in. New love, young love, family, fear for that family, fun, danger and so much more is jam packed between the covers of this book.

Tori has just inherited a small beach house from her Aunt Millie, the last of her family. She’s now alone in the world and is trying to make a go of one of her dreams. But work needs to be done on the house before she can open Destiny’s Gate to sell her crystals and tarot card readings, among other things. Finding a contractor to get her up to code is a little more difficult than she thought it would be. When her last hope walks out the door because her job is too small, Tori breaks out her last resort – one of a number of spell packs given to her by a New Orleans witch.

Not needing a headache like the kooky woman he just met, Nick doesn’t have time for her fixer-upper with all his huge and problem-ridden jobs this summer. But something makes him change his mind, and before he knows it, he’s back at Tori’s door letting her know he can work on her place nights and weekends himself. Why not, she’s easy on the eyes and it’s been a while since he’s had female companionship, so this just might work out for all involved.

And while there is all kinds of fun as Nick and Tori get to know one another while fixing up her store, so much more is going on in their lives that is both funny as can be but also heartbreaking and nearly tragic. Tori is still recuperating from a miscarriage and now longs to have a child in her life. Her ex-boyfriend wanted nothing to do with a child, so Tori wanted no more to do with him. Learning she has a condition that can be helped only by either surgery or becoming pregnant, she thinks about a fertility clinic. Until things heat up between her and Nick, that is.

But Nick is divorced and has a 17-year-old daughter, who is now giving him fits when it comes to the teenage lifeguard she thinks she’s in love with. He doesn’t want pregnancy to ruin her life like it did his, and then his wife up and left him after Leigh was born. On top that his mother is not herself lately, mysteriously disappearing every Thursday night; his grandmother can’t keep her klepto hands to herself; his youngest brother is always out goofing around at his Hollywood auditions when he should be doing his part in the family construction business. Who needs a wife and child just to make life that much more complicated?

I so love these two characters. They are attracted to each other despite their differences. Tori is a carefree spirit who has the beliefs to go along with her lighthearted attitude. Nick is a by-the-rules guy, responsible to a fault, all due to having to take over when his father died fifteen years ago; he had two brothers and a mother to take care of. But they have fun when they’re together, and you feel the loss when they decide things won’t work for them. The secondary characters are just as terrific. Nick’s family is just priceless and Tori’s lesbian friends do their best to support her in her dilemma.

Though a good portion of the book is light and fun, there are scary times and vulnerable times peppered throughout. It’s a great balance to give a reader one perfect read.

Grade: A+

Summary:

When a girl with no family meets a guy with too much.

For Tori Morgan, family’s a blessing the universe hasn’t sent her way. Her parents are long gone, her chance of having a baby is slipping away, and the only thing she can call her own is a neglected old house. What she wants more than anything is a place where she belongs, and a big, noisy clan to share her life.

For Nick Santangelo, family’s more like a curse. His nonna is a closet kleptomaniac, his mom’s a menopausal time bomb and his motherless daughter is headed for serious boy trouble. The last thing Nick needs is another female making demands on his time.

But summer on the Jersey shore can be an enchanted season, when life’s hurts are soothed by the ebb and flow of the tides and love can bring together the most unlikely prospects. A hard-headed contractor and a lonely reader of Tarot cards and crystal prisms? All it takes is A Little Light Magic.

Read an excerpt. (scroll down)