Jolie Wilkins Series by H.P. Mallory

I stumbled upon this series the other night when I suddenly found myself out of books to read on my kindle (heavens forbid!) and craving some light vampire romance. Most of all I didn’t feel like spending much of anything for it so I looked in Amazon’s free section to see if anything looked interesting. The covers to this series are a good indication of the light-hearted tone of the books, and if you are looking for a fun evening’s read you can’t beat this series for that. Mallory follows a tried and true marketing formula for ebooks these days – the first one is free. But trust me, the little you pay for the follow up stories are well worth it because you are gonna get hooked on Jolie and her madcap exploits.

The vampire romance series follows the adventures of a modern young woman who sounds like many of us, struggling to pay the rent, trying to make her Mom happy by not quite telling her the truth of how she lives her life and commiserating with her best friend about men and the lack of good ones in their lives. Sound like anyone you know? Ah- but that is just the start, here is where it begins to get interesting…

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble – Book 1

Jolie has a little shop in Los Angeles where she reads peoples fortunes and other assorted things like this. One day she gets a visit from an incredibly sexy stranger named Rand who walks in for a reading. She finds herself drawn to him from the start. Soon Jolie finds herself dragged into a world of witches and warlocks, werewolves and demons. But even more amazing, Rand tells her she is a witch even if she doesn’t know it, a witch with an unusual gift.

Jolie is a completely modern girl, not one given to statements like being told she is a witch or that she needs to join the world of the supernatural now. But she does fall hard for the warlock Rand, and soon meets up with a vampire who is even sexier named Sinjin and has designs on her as well. Lucky girl! Soon she finds herself in a situation where she and her best friend Christa have to flee with Rand to England, where Jolie begins her training in earnest to be a witch under the tutelage of several faeries.

But she just can’t stop her intense yearning for Rand and dreams of Sinjin and it is that warlock versus vampire romance story that makes this book both funny and sizzling at the same time. Somehow Rand and Jolie just seem to end up together naked in strange situations far more often than most of us would imagine. And yet – well to tell would be to give half the fun away. Let’s just say that if you are having a dream vampire romance and a sexy warlock for a master in a hundreds year old manor, there are bound to be complications along the way.

Jolie may not be the kind of girl who cries when she breaks a nail, but she does keep reminding herself she needs to get into a gym every time she finds she needs to run from some monster. Plus having magic at your disposal doesn’t change the fact you still feel like your best friend gets all the attention when the two of you go out or that the sexy warlock you are here to learn from might make you weak in the knees but a girl has principles! Jolie is anything but the willing victim, but sometimes she does feel a bit out of her league.

And she soon finds out that she in indeed for war is on the horizon amongst the underworld of vampires and witches. It also appears that Jolie and her lustful master the warlock Rand are right in the middle of it. She will need to elude the devious Bella who wants to use her as a pawn in her bid to rule the Underworld and convince the King of the Faeries to join her cause against Bella if she is to survive.

Toil and Trouble – Book 2

Jolie continues in her warlock vs vampire romance triangle. Rand is as dark and mysterious as ever, and as sexy as ever. Thank goodness we see plenty of him, because just reading about him can make your temperature rise. But it is Sinjin I have really come to enjoy. His wit and sexy attitude (does this vamp ever stop thinking about sex?) have a bad boy quality that makes him a very good competitor for the sensual favors of our Jolie. Man, what a great problem to have.

Of course, in between having to find a way to keep both the warlock and vampire romance sizzling Jolie must also find a way to help defeat the terrible Bella. In much the same way that our favorite gal Sookie has sometimes too many sensual delights to choose from, so too does Jolie need to confront her own desires.

Sinjin returns and has a much bigger role in this book, and I am happy for it. The sexual tension definitely builds again and we find Rand and Jolie continue to struggle with their feelings for each other. This is one of the things I have loved about this series that the warlock and vampire romance in it are something she struggles to come to terms with, not just jumps into without a thought like in some vampire romances. Again, kinda brings to mind Sookie’s struggles, though in a completely different environment and background story.

Things on the battlefield heat up and rather than spoil that for you, let’s just say that some very important things come to light that have a big effect on everyone in the story as the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place. A great setup for the next book, which is just the kind of series I adore.

Witchful Thinking – Book 3

This is a shorter story than the others but for those of you who have become part of the Team Rand you are going to be really happy with it. The war has come to a head and Jolie is in shock that the end result may see her crowned as Queen of the Underworld, the title that Bella wanted so badly she was willing to go to war to win it. But since order has never been Jolie’s strong point, the whole idea of having to be responsible for bringing order back to the world of the Underworld is more than a little intimidating.

She still has that soulful yearning for the deeply sexy Rand, and she has not yet made a decision about Sinjin. After all, who could turn their back on one of the sexiest vampire romance spinners around? Sinjin simply cannot imagine it and neither can she. But what can she do when decisions need to be made both regarding her love life and the rest of her life. Unfortunately her queenly duties also mean she must pick a King and with Rand not speaking to her, that leaves her with needing to choose amongst a huge bevy of supernaturals. The choices a girl must make!

All in all, a very fun series and by no means is this the end. There are several more vampire romance books in the series that are worth checking out. Last year she did a very fun little novella called Be Witched that tells the story of their warlock and vampire romance triangle from Rand’s point of view. Finally, the latest book in the series, The Witch is Back is due to come out at the end of July and should be well worth it.

You can read the first chapter online and see that Jolie is back where she started. She is in Los Angeles, working in her little shop, and completely unaware that she is a witch with amazing powers. Even more fascinating, she just met the most interesting and sexy guy named Sinjin and she is getting ready to go out on her first date with him…