Review: Toil and Trouble

Title: Toil and Trouble (Book Two in the Jolie Wilkins series)

Author: H.P. Mallory

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Published: December 2nd

 

 

 

 

I probably can´t review this book unbiased, but I might at least give it a try.

First of all, I have to tell you that I love H.P´s covers. They are so cute and extraordinary that they alone make me want to read the book!

But back to the actual story. It takes up right after the events of the previous book in the series, after Jolie´s fight against one of King Odran´s faeries and right before the war against Bella and her minions. Having won over the faries King as ally, the preparations for the war begin. All the while Rand´s army is assembled in Pelham Manor. Amongst all the preparations, Jolie and Rand have to figure out their feelings for each other and Jolie has to decide how Sinjin, the sexy and smooth talking vamp fits into her life. When the battle finally begins and Jolie finds herself in mortal danger, her life takes a more than unexpected twist…

Toil and Trouble´s awesomeness is based on the fantastic characters. Even though it´s declared a Paranormal Romance, you can´t find one of the usual and dreaded clichés in this book. The relationship  between Rand and Jolie with all its ups and downs feels natural and realistic. The issues they have aren´t far-fetched just to stall their HEA, at least in my opinion but are due to their characters. And then their is Sinjin. The Vamp is such a great addition to the stroy with his razor sharp whit and his constant flirting. It´s no surprise that two alpha male competeing for the affection ht for one lucky woman cause a lot of excitement. And did I mention sexual tension?  Toil and Trouble is definitley sexy and has some very hot one on one action between two of the main characters, ( I´m not giving away who they are though!) but, in comparision to other PNR books, these scenes are written tastefully and fit the story very nicely. While I sometimes get the feeling with some PNR books that a story is just an excuse to write one sex scene after the other, here, all sensual scenes feel organic.

Also, while reading Toil and Trouble, you´re in for quite a few surprises. One of the major twists I already mentioned above and as much as I want to talk about it, I just don´t want to ruin this book for anyone. But if you really do read the book and your a follower of my blog, you might encounter a few things that will surprise you! :)

Overall (I believe you guessed it), I loved Toil and Trouble. H.P. Mallory is one of the best, if not the best Indie authors I had the pleasure of getting to know and reading. she is one to watch, as both her series – and Toil and Trouble is no exception - are funny, original and sexy. I woudn´t miss one of H.P. Mallory´s books for the world!

My final verdict:

Five stars!