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Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom, #1)

Devon Monk

Why we're reading this: Don't want to wait until the next book comes out? This is a great UF series that is finished with 9 books…more
[close] Don't want to wait until the next book comes out? This is a great UF series that is finished with 9 books.

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Feb 19, 2009 Barbara ★ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: urban-fantasy, read-2011, x-set-in-usa-oregon, paranormal-magic, paranormal-witches-wizards, zz-cover-orange, h-h-disfigured-handicapped, author-title-char-x-y-z

Allie Beckstrom is a very powerful magic user with unique talents. She is what they call a Hound. She sniffs out the magical signature of criminals and hunts them down. When investigating a severely magically injured boy, she recognizes the signature and immediately confronts the user. This person soon turns up dead and now the police are hunting her. Enter Zayvion Jones, a "drifter" who appears time and again to rescue Allie. She's intrigued by him but skeptical of his intentions especially whe ...more

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Apr 25, 2017 Susan rated it it was ok

I didn't really like the book. I might try again in the future but it wasn't my cup of tea. ...more

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May 08, 2017 Moondance rated it liked it

Shelves: first-in-series, magic, betrayal, oregon, sos-bingo-2017, portland, paranormal-oregon, hound, devon-monk, allie-beckstrom

It was the morning of my twenty-fifth birthday, and all I wanted was a decent cup of coffee, a hot breakfast, and a couple of hours away from the stink of used magic that seeped through the walls of my apartment building every time it rained.

Allie Beckstrom lives in a world where magic was "discovered" thirty years ago. This opened the possibility for everyone to use magic. Unfortunately, there is a price to pay. Using magic can make you very ill or cause memory loss. Allie is a Hound and can tr It was the morning of my twenty-fifth birthday, and all I wanted was a decent cup of coffee, a hot breakfast, and a couple of hours away from the stink of used magic that seeped through the walls of my apartment building every time it rained.

Allie Beckstrom lives in a world where magic was "discovered" thirty years ago. This opened the possibility for everyone to use magic. Unfortunately, there is a price to pay. Using magic can make you very ill or cause memory loss. Allie is a Hound and can track when people offload magic onto innocent people. She is also the estranged daughter of one of the most powerful men in the magic business. Her father, Daniel, owns a company that is constantly working on devices to make magic more usable and portable. Mama Rossitto lives in North Portland which is a vey sketchy area of town. She takes in boys that have been abandoned. One of Mama's Boys is dying because of a huge offload of magic. Allie detects her father's signature in the mix. Allie approaches her father after a seven year estrangement. Daniel Beckstrom has money and power. He has paid Zayvion Jones to follow Allie and attempt to bring her back to the fold. Allie becomes the prime suspect in her father's death when another Hound scents Allie on he dad.

This book has been recommended to me by various people since it was released. I wanted to fall in love with it. I wanted it to be my new favorite series. Not so much. I appreciated the world building. I liked the characters. I just felt that there was a little something missing. I really liked Allie's best friend, Nola and Cody. Cody is a complex character that I hope to see more of.

Zayvion was an odd study. I felt that I never truly got to see the real Zay. I understand Allie's attraction to him. I just felt that there were way too many trust issues.

I like that Allie has some secrets about magic that make her more well rounded. It made me sad that she had memory loss from pulling magic.

I love the little kitten that is used to control Cody. I hated the Snake Man as much as Cody did and had decided to quit reading if he killed the kitten.

All in all this is a good first book in the series. I will read the next one just to see if it ties up loose ends from this one. It didn't wow me nor did I want to put it down and never return to it. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here . ...more

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May 12, 2023 Kelly (Maybedog) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: what-modern-fantasy, what-het-romance, what-suspense-thriller-action, how-ebook, what-female-protagonist, what-magic, what-mages-witches-wizards, what-hospital-scene-bedside-vigil

I loved this book.

This world that she’s built is something new and different. It mixes technology with magic where the technology basically needs to be used in order to even use magic. The technology stores the magic so it’s safe to use.

It’s really interesting and different that she loses memory when she uses magic. It would probably make me stop. I think it would also help her to take pictures of important/relevant people. She said she couldn’t afford a cell phone plan, but a cheap instant ca ...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Heather rated it it was ok

I was completely bored by this book. I tried to like because my sister-in-law seems to really enjoy them, but I just couldn't. The way the main character talked was just annoying and I guess the magic aspect of it just seemed off in some way. ...more

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Jul 22, 2012 April rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, sci-fi, reviewed, 2012

I enjoyed this book. It was a little slow to start but found it's way in the end. I look forward to more of this series. It has a very interesting concept and I am confident the story will improve as the series progresses. ...more

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