Joy Nash

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

A Little Light Magic by Joy Nash

From the Back Cover:

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 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 show more 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.

First let me say – I started this one while laying out and this is the perfect beach/sun read. Light and fun is the best way to describe it. I love the total opposites attract and you don’t get much more opposite than what you see with Nick, the straight-laced, by-the-book man in life and business. Tori believes in ghosts and spirits. tarot readings and candle magic spells. Tori has never really had a family and that is what she desires most in life.

I loved the interaction between Nick and Tori. I also loved watching them grow as characters. The additional characters of Nick’s family really added something, especially his daughter Leigh and his younger brother Johnny. Nonna. the kleptomaniac grandmother is an interesting addition to.

This is a fun and quick to read story. It is my first by Ms. Nash and it will not be the last. I hope she does more with this family as I would love to hear stories about Nick’s brothers.

So if you want a good summer romance, this is for you especially if you like the opposites attract plot. I always love the play between the hero/heroine in these type of books and it’s definitely not lacking here. The attraction between them is also very strong and I loved the tension that was throughout the book. 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