Dreams of Magic (Book 1 in The Hunted Series) by Trisha Spade, eBook, 378 pages
Synopsis from GoodReads: Danger, betrayal, and love...that's exactly the opposite of what she needs right now. Mackenzie always knew she was a werewolf. She grew up listening to her adoptive mom’s stories about her birth parents, their incredible love story, and the attack that killed them. But when her mom gets into a fatal car accident, she discovers that there are secrets in her past. As she discovers more about this magical world and all the legends that really do exist, she finds herself in terrible danger. To save herself, she must put her trust in people she only just met.
Aiden has known about Mackenzie his whole life, and for almost 30 years, she’s been only a story to the pack but when they meet, she’s not quite what he expected. The pull he feels toward her, the instant attraction, nearly knocks him off his feet. But happily ever after is far from reachable for them. With danger at every turn, they race to find the answers to questions long forgotten. With the clock running out, can these two find the time to get to know each other as fate intended? Or will their enemies rip them apart?
BOOK REVIEW: Wow...just wow! I've watched my fair share of vampire and werewolf shows and movies. I've read the Twilight Saga (which relaunched my online book club now named VBC for Virtual Book Club) and really need that shirt that says Team Guy Who Almost Hit Bella With His Van. It's always been a mix of the two but this story is centered around the wolves and I am here for it! We get more of the lore around werewolves, how they were created, they don't seem to need to kill someone to trigger their "curse" like TVD would lead you to believe but more like Twilight, it's a coming of age thing, and how they find their mates.
The author does an amazing job bringing Kenzie into the pack life after being raised by a human. She struggles with the thoughts that stem her human upbringing that conflict with her natural instincts as a werewolf, which is something that she hasn't really embraced until now. Her internal battle of the feelings that she finds herself having towards Aiden, a man she quite literally just met, are some that I know I have felt in the past and that really drew me closer to her and I loved it! I also thought it was comical that Kenzie keeps her mother's cat and brings it to the pack house. It seems odd that a house full of wolves would be fine with a cat and yet everyone loves Fiona and Fiona seems to love on everyone. It makes me wonder if the cat could be a vessel for Kenzie's birth mother's spirit. It would make sense and wouldn't shock me if that is revealed at some point!
This had me from the very beginning. This was a fast 5 stars for me (starting the year off strong). There are some very spicy scenes between Kenzie and Aiden that if I had to rate them on a scale of 1-5 (1 being spice eluded to but not described and 5 being full on Christian Gray style) I would give it a 3.5. Like it was descriptive but tasteful, hot but not over the top, and definitely made me blush being someone who plays a movie of sorts in their head when reading. I do have to say that book 2 is being released on 1.18.25 and I'm about to dive into it as I was selected for the author's ARC team. Book 1 is currently available on Kindle Unlimited at the time of this post being written so I highly recommend you check it out and then read the next book!
5/5 Stars
2025 Reading Challenge: 3/50 complete
