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jadesarah 's review for:
Shade Spells with Strangers
by S.O. Callahan, Sarah Wallace
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Keelan and Silas have a one night stand essentially and their magic is so compatible it take both of them by surprise. Keelan clearly wants more but Silas shuts it down. Keelan lives in London and Silas hates London. Both guys also live in different worlds when it comes to wealth and class. Eventually thanks to human-fae relations and the magic system and the council's work on that Keelan and Silas are about to be in close proximity again and the yearning is about to be ramped up.
Keelan is a bleeding heart personified. He yearns and he romanticizes and he loves so hard and wants to be loved, he is very sweet and I love him with my whole heart. He deserves all the love, he deserves to be romanced, loved openly and honestly and completely. We've also got Keelan's dad who is very sweet and loving and precious, both of them had me making notes like "gahhhh!! My heart!". Then there's Silas who is more gruff to Keelan's sunshine. He's a bit more closed off and because he doesn't really know how to deal with this pull towards Keelan mixed with him feeling like he doesn't belong and being away from his close knit family he can be a bit of a dick quite frankly. He acknowledges this and works on it though.
We also had the displeasure of dealing with Miss Wilton-Reed who is a condescending abusive horrid woman. The authors done a good job of balancing that feeling of her being insufferable. I think it gets to the point where I could almost give up because of her but not quite. I almost enjoyed hating her but also absolutely wanted her to fuck off. Just know my notes of her were a variety of "This bitch ass hoe".
In the end Keelan and Silas get that happy ending but it was a journey there! And also there's a lot of the book where they're not together and at times it's kind of frustrating and then there's a bit of a speed run through things. I didn't hate it but there's just a feeling of wanting more, for me anyways. In fairness Keelan gets his happy ending, Silas is going to build them a home! Keelan belongs with Silas and his family. But because of how much Keelan yearned for romance, I wanted just a little more.
Meddling in books can be hit or miss for me. Mostly it ends up being too heavy handed, too wink-wink, nudge-nudge and fucking annoying but other times, like here, it's fun and I loved it. It's subtle and done just right.
I would have loved seeing Silas and Keelan's father meeting and Miss Wilton-Reed get her comeuppance.
As with the previous books I love and appreciate the ongoing growth with characters, the richness of the world and all the characters in the world and not just the main characters. Give me all their books (minus a few!). The way the authors show the importance of friendship too is special and I love it so much. I'm mad at myself for reading it so quickly, I hardly ever read books when they first release but I couldn't stop myself from reading it. The authors are creating such a wonderful world here with romance and friendship and family and complex dynamics and so much opportunity for many stories, I hope there's so much more to come.