Title: Hunt for Magic
Series: Yuletide Knights 03
Author: Johnny Miles
Genre: Paranormal, Holidays
Length: Novel (282pgs)
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (19th December 2016)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥ 3 Hearts
Blurb: Someone is kidnapping Magicals. Kris Kringle and his soulmate, Bucket the Elf, are determined to find out why. Only then can they spend the rest of their lives together. But first they must find a suitable candidate to take over the mantle of Santa Claus. They find Griffin Kloss in the backwoods of North Carolina and realize they must get to him quickly. Someone else is after Griffin and it’s not his former boyfriend, Jackson Frost. Whomever is after Griffin doesn’t want him for his good looks.
Putting themselves at risk, Kris and Bucket, together with Griffin, Old Man Winter, and members of The Wild Hunt, travel to the Ninth Realm. There, in a dark and dismal place, Griffin and Jackson are reunited, the missing Magicals are found, and Krampus, an ancient evil once thought dead, is found alive. Together they must all join forces to battle demons and the menace that threatens their existence, if they are to return to Earth Realm for their happily ever after.
ISBN: 978-1-68252-281-3
Product Link: Loose Id | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Reviewer: Prime
Review: Johnny Miles is an author that I don’t think I’ve ever totally gotten on board with in the past. I have previously enjoyed the earlier installments of the Yuletide Knights series, book 2 is definitely my favorite book in the series. You definitely need to read the first two books, or if you already have a quick refresher would not go amiss. I had to stop and go back because I thought that I was missing way too much because I didn’t remember the first two books very well.
But for a number of reasons, while I enjoyed the story, I can’t say that I loved it.
There is a lot going on. And while that is usually good in a book, I just felt that there was too much going on and so things felt like they were falling along the wayside (e.g. Kris and Bucket’s relationship and what happens at the end). For that reason, even after going back to reread the previous books, I found myself a tad bit confused. The book only seemed to fit into itself by about halfway through. This is certainly not the type of book you can read to unwind or if you are already sleepy. All your attention needs to be available, although that is not necessarily a bad thing.
The story itself picks up with a number of characters we had already met in the previous book. The epilogue itself doesn’t make too much sense until you get at least half way through either. The main plot of the book is that magical beings are being kidnapped and for some reason it is up to the current Santa, Kris Kringle and his lover, an elf called Bucket, to find out what’s going on as well as find and protect the previous Santa’s son. I don’t feel comfortable saying much else because I don’t want to introduce any spoilers into the mix. But the book is filled with action from start to finish. The premise is simple, sure, but it totally complicated probably due to the number of characters present.
Finishing the book left me with mixed feelings: sure, I want to find out what happens next because, well, cliffhanger, but at the same time I think I’d be equally as happy not to find out. This is definitely a book that is for people that love the paranormal and are willing to invest in a new series if they haven’t already.