Jemmie Carmichael has always been surrounded by magic. She is one of the "kindled", magic users who live among non-magic users (drecks). Jemmie is a locant, like her father, but she hasn't been able to cast a spell in years. Jemmie feels like an outsider in the kindled world, and especially among the Black Devils, the kindled motorcycle club of the town of Hawthorne. Her best friend Alex is the daughter of the former president of the Devils, and the sister the of current president, Crowe. Crowe took over when his and Alex's father died of an accident that Crowe is convinced was not an accident. Crowe is dangerous and ruthless, and all of the kindled know it. The entire kindled community comes to Hawthorne for the annual festival of the kindled, which is hosted by the Black Devils this year. But something strange is happening; people from each MC club goes missing, and tensions start to rise. All fingers point to Crowe, but someone else's magic is at work. Jemmie and Crowe will have to uncover who the traitor among them is, before it's too late. I love stories that are set in modern contemporary times, but involve magic. There is something about this type of supernatural/paranormal story that appeals to me. I had no trouble liking Jemmie, from the start. She feels like an outsider in her own community, because she can't wield her magic like everyone else can. She isn't part of the Black Devils motorcycle club, even though she could become a prospect, at eighteen. She doesn't think she belongs, and she tries to hide her loneliness. In truth, she has a hard time with her locant magic, but she also has a sensitivity to magic and she has never told anyone. This sensitivity makes her sick sometimes, and she drinks to take off the edge. All of this makes her feel even more isolated, since she doesn't want anyone to pity her if they knew about her sensitivity to magic. Jemmie is a tough and strong person, even when she is bitter, hurt, and struggling within herself. I loved her interactions with Crowe; all of the interactions were charged with tension, hurt, and a little bitterness, after everything between them. We don't get to know exactly what happened between them at first - Rush reveals that information slowly. I lived for their high-intensity interactions - so much tension! It's so obvious that Jemmie loves Crowe, and eventually it becomes obvious that Crowe loves Jemmie. Crowe is incredibly protective and alpha-male-y. There is kind of a love triangle this book. Would still recommend. ( )

This was an entertaining read! As soon as I read the description for this book, I knew that it was one that I would have to read. Motorcycle gangs and magic...yes, please! It took me a while to read this book but that had everything to do with my personal life and nothing to do with the book. One I really had the chance to sit down with the book, I ended up reading the final 2/3 of the story in a single day and really enjoyed the experience.

Jemmie lives in a world filled with magic. It can be hard for her sometimes because she does not want to use her magic and being around magic makes her feel ill at times. She has never really worked to hard at learning to control and use her own magic and has instead focused on self-medicating to cope with being around magic.

Jemmie has ties to the Black Devils group through her best friend, Alex, and her brother, Crowe. A gathering of the different groups has tensions at a high. Things get even more intense when several people go missing and nobody knows who to trust. Jemmie finds herself at the center of the mystery and is determined to help Crowe find out what is happening before it is too late.

There is a bit of a love triangle in this book. Jemmie and Crowe seem to belong together from the very start of the story even though they don't seem to realize it. There is another guy that seems to want a chance with Jemmie but I never really felt like he was a serious contender. Jemmie and Crowe do seem to have a lot of chemistry and I can't wait to see more of them together.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that the world was rather interesting and the mystery was pretty exciting. I wouldn't say that this book ends in a cliffhanger but it did leave me pretty eager for the next book so that I can see what happens next. I definitely plan to read more from Jennifer Rush soon.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers via TheNovl.com. ( )