This might be rounded up a little, but I'm giving it 5 stars. I enjoyed this. The adventure was fun despite the mystery not being very difficult to deduce, and the couple was fun to watch together. I like that they had a genuine reason why they couldn't just be a couple already, so they didn't have to spend half the book railing against a paper tiger. I like them individually and as a couple. The steam was kinda spicy, which I approve of. I could see reading this one again. ( )

4 stars

Synopsis: Mal is a fox familiar, and a thief. One night, he is sent to do a job, but discovers a body, and a red-headed man who pulls the alarm. In fleeing, Mal is caught by the police, but Owen, the forensic hexologist from the MWP, happens to be visiting his parents and sees the paddy wagon. He takes an interest, and proves that Mal wasn't actually the murderer. Mal gets away in the ensuing investigation, but finds Owen the next day because someone goes after him in his apartment. That's when he tells Owen that he is Mal's witch.
Owen only has a few more days at the MWP, because he is marrying someone from the same bracket as him and going to work for her father, for the good of his family, who isn't as wealthy as they come off. He is still excited to find his familiar, though, even if they won't be doing work at the MWP. Owen has to try and figure out the figure that was broken at the crime scene before he leaves, and to figure out who is after Mal.

What I liked: that there really were no pretences between Mal and Owen, even though they didn't have the same background. I liked that Mal and Owen actually talked to each other and got to know one another in the short time they had before Owen had to marry. I also liked that Owen didn't try to hide Mal, or treat him with disrespect because of both of their stations. Mal brings a little fun to Owen's life, and lets him enjoy things without there having to be an end game or worry about propriety.

What I didn't like: up until the end, it seemed like Mal was the only one having to make concessions. ( )

I didn't expect this to be every bit as good as Hexbreaker, but it really is. I trust there will be a third book at least. I would like to read it right now, in fact. Please? :) ( )

This one was mostly all right, but it suffers from Mal and Owen occasionally acting a certain way because the emotional plot demands it rather than because it feels like an organic action for the characters to take. I think if the emotional through lines had been allowed more room to breathe and develop, things wouldn't have felt so ridiculously dumb when Mal and Owen did the things they did. As it stands however, both of the emotional turning point scenes for Mal and Owen, where they choose the other as their future, feel unearned and with a ham-fisted set up because the work for them wasn't put in beforehand. ( )

All the stars. We met Owen in Hexbreaker and he seemed standoffish and up himself. Well, we find out the reason for that here. And how infuriating to find his familiar is a poor thief. Except Mal turns out to be everything Owen needs. And wants... Shame Owen's due to be married in a week!

Well plotted and exciting. Took me forever to work out who the bad guy was. Nice to see returns of the other characters from the previous books as well as a more prominent role for Quigley, who seems to have taken quite a shine to Issac--can't see that being an easy story.

I'd like a story for Nathan, Owen's transgender brother, and Nick, Rook's horse shifter and anti establishment brother. although not together.

Listened to audio - Jan 2018. Lost nothing in the transfer to a different medium. Narrator was excellent, story still delivered a punch. ( )