I hoped to enjoy this book more than I actually did. Cosmo's constant internal dialog was both annoying and unnecessary. I didn't find either MC particularly appealing which is odd for me with this author. I don't think that I will bother with the rest of the series. ( )

I hesitate calling this romance, so I won't despite the overall wedding aspect of this story.

John and Cosmo fall in love a bit too fast, and are getting married two weeks after first meeting. I know people do do this sort of thing in reality, but, when you add in John's initial hostility toward Cosmo, Cosmo's best friend's interference with his fiance (she lays a love spell on John), and the way Cosmo lies his way through their relationship about his magical heritage, among other things, it's hard to see how they can be in a happy union. Also, there's the fact that in his cold way, John sees Cosmo as a social-political asset more than a real partner, and, even though they're both proclaiming they love each other, there's a real lack of chemistry; I felt like the whole scenario was being forced from the get-go.

I'm assuming the mystery, which wasn't really solved in this story, will be picked up and carried into the next story. There are a number of threads left dangling, though there isn't a cliff hanger, as the main premise of this particular story, getting to the wedding day, etc., does occur.

I was peeved at Cosmo's lack of real anger at his friend's interference. The love spell not only falsified the feelings between him and John, it threw a lot of doubt into their relationship, making it harder for Cosmo to parse out whether what they had between them was genuine. Instead of censoring Andi, the friend in question, he just shrugs and accepts it instead of seeing it as a real lack of judgement on her part as well as being just plain wrong. What can you do with the friend you've known since kindergarten, right?

There are pop culture references all over this book, from Cosmo's name (Cosmo [b:Topper|423303|Topper|Thorne Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320474148l/423303._SY75_.jpg|3064821]) to Bewitched (a witch entering a marriage with a mortal and John calling Cosmo's mother Endora) to Mary Norton's [b:Bedknob and Broomstick|474211|Bedknob and Broomstick|Mary Norton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1444430049l/474211._SY75_.jpg|828772] (only in reference to the Victorian bedstead and its crystal knobs that initially brings the pair together). The magic is interesting, though I'm hard pressed to see how the magical community manages to keep a lid on things the way some member fling magic around. ( )

[2.5] I loved the concept of this magical and enchanting world and the potential was certainly there, but sadly the story fell kinda flat for me on both romance and mystery fronts.

As with all fantasy novels, there's a degree of suspension of disbelief required. This story is no different with its VERY instalove romance, as in two-weeks-they-get-married instalove. Two weeks that we don't get to experience ourselves, and instead see them jumping straight into their new husbands-to-be status. Now I was able to overlook this by thinking of it as a marriage first, romance second situation, but unfortunately, I didn't feel any real connection between Cosmo and John throughout the book either.

Now I know the love spell thing was a major factor in their relationship (which I'm not a big fan of because their relationship has origins in a huge lie courtesy of some third party manipulating the game, so to speak ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2021/02/2021021-mainly-by-moonlight-josh-lanyon.h... ( )

This book is not your typical Josh Lanyon and yet all the elements I associate with her writing are still there. Just in a slightly different form. It's not as "heavy" as some of her stories can be. To me, there's also a little more romance than we often see.

We still have the strong MCs I've come to expect, but a little more quirky, lol. And the murder mystery isn't as gruesome as we normally see either. In fact I feel it's more about the mystery behind the whole story, which in fact continues on in the next story, rather than solving the murder as such.

I can see this story might not be for everyone, but for me, it was just what I wanted. The worst part of it all is having to wait for the next book to come out and to find out more about what is going on, lol! It's not a cliff hanger, at least not as I see a cliff hanger, lol, but the story is definitely unfinished. Both the mystery as well as the romance as far as I'm concerned.




( )