Joy Nash

"A Little Light Magic" is a fun contemporary romance by Joy Nash. It's abut a guy and a girl who are so very different on the surface, but so very right for each other in the end. It's about conquering your fears and the love of family. It's a story that will leave you with a smile and a happy sigh.

Tori has been alone for most of her life and has always wished for a big family. She believes in wishes and charms and spells and now that she's inherited her Aunt's house on the Jersey shore, show more she's decided to open up her own shop selling crystals, tarot cards, runes, etc. With the summer solstice opening date looming, Tori remembers the old crone's spells and uses one and...voila, one hunky contractor!

Nick's the uber-responsible one of his large, extended family. When his girlfriend got pregnant, he ditched his scholarship, got married, and went to work. When his Dad died, he worked 24/7 until he pulled the company out of the red. Somewhere in those times, he lost his childhood, his wife, and his sense of humor! Now it's just Nick...and his Mom...and his Grandma...and his daughter...and his brothers! The LAST thing Nick wants is to take on the responsibility of a relationship...especially with a tarot-reading, crystal-selling, baby-wanting woman...no matter how hot she is!

While I didn't love everything about the story, I did enjoy the plot about a woman longing for family and a man who's pretty much sick of it! There's a good bit of humor in Joy Nash's story, but there's also a bit of realistic tragedy. A woman who's losing her ability to bear a child, a man trying to raise a teen, an adult brother looking for stardom--each character is a portrait of a real person trying to find happiness in today's world. And the great thing about romance is that in the book, they CAN all find happiness and we feel vindicated and happy for them. And maybe we also learn to appreciate what we have.

A good plot, strong characters, some very sexy love scenes, and a bit of magic. All these things made "A Little Light Magic" a little, light read that I very much enjoyed. show less

The saga of the immortals continues with Manannan mac Lir (called Mac), demigod son of Niniane the Sidhe queen and Lir, god of the sea. Mac realizes someone is skimming life essence from faerie villages and tracks down Artemis Black, a witch who has ancestry in both the life magic and death magic realms. Artemis can weave spells of both life and death magic and is trying to use her power and the stolen life essence to rescue her son's soul from Hell. Mac should haul her before the Sidhe show more council, but instead they embark on a journey through the nine circles of Hell to save Artemis' son.
I love Mac. He's got the attitude and speaking manner of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He's got humor, even in the face of insurmountable danger. He's musical and muscled and...just fantastic. I enjoy Artemis as well, although she was a little single-minded (we know, you have to save your son. Right. We didn't get that the first 300 times you said it). I was a little disappointed that, besides a couple of very brief cameos by Kalen and Christine, Mac and Artemis were completely alone in their quest. In the last five books, these people stuck together a little more; helped each other out. This almost could be marketed as a standalone, not necessarily part of the Immortals series. show less

The final volume in the Immortals series is a collection of three novellas featuring characters who appeared previously in the series. Samantha's ex-partner, Logan, Mac's sister Leanna, and Nick and Mai's friends Jenna and Dave all get stories of their own.
The thing I love most about this series is that the family keeps getting larger, but the tales do not become more outlandish. The challenge with writing fantasy and paranormal tales is that an author feels he or she has to go one better show more or step it up a notch for each additional tale. The villain tends to become even more unbeatable in every incarnation. This is a common problem found also in superhero comics and soap operas, where characters come back to life in increasingly unbelievable ways and seemingly infallible foes are somehow beaten (and a lot of the time in a very lame way). This series does not do that. Each story has explored a different aspect of the supernatural and featured specially gifted, but very relate-able characters. Personally, I wish this wasn't the last book, but I'm glad the series ended while it was still good. show less

I found this a very satisfying paranormal historical fantasy. I enjoyed it a lot. Ms. Nash hooks the readers in about 5 pages and doesn't stop delivering awesome-ness at all. I immediately went and ordered the first book in this series, Celtic Fire, which I believe features Owein's sister, but that is my guess, I haven't looked into it more. I adored Owein, he is hot, powerful, kind, and a deeply scared man who didn't let the bad in his world change him when it could have most people.

I love show more the fire in Clara, she wants to help her father and she is prepared to do anything it takes to make it happen. I love fierceness and sheer will in a character and Clara has both of those things. I also adored many of the secondary characters, which I am sure we will see more of, like Rhys and Gwen...I am intrigued if we will see anything Arthurian related in this series, I am DYING to know... just dying. I will definitely continue with this series and this author. I loved her writing style and her characters.

Also...just an FYI, her sensual scenes are pretty darn hot! show less