Came across this series while searching for another in the Paladin Series...

A land in troubled times, the rightful heir of her keep, Merewen is treated as little less than a servant by her traitorous uncle. Fearing not only for her life but for people she calls upon a legendary group, The Warriors of the Mist... or the Damned as they are sometimes referred to, to come to her aid in ousting her uncle from her keep. Little does she know that the battle is not only for her lands, but for the country itself, which is being taken over by dark magic. Of course, (have to have some romance) she falls in love with the leader of the warriors and ultimately their love helps win the battle.

This was a very good read and I enjoyed it as much as the Paladin Series. ( )

Full Review to be posted soon:

2 and half stars.

Really wanted to like it but I couldn't warm up to the romance or the main heroine who I found to be pretty bland and a bit of a Mary Sue. I actually preferred the sub-story with Aline who I felt was a much more interesting character. It also felt a bit like a PNR with the whole band of brothers thing and I think I might be a burned out on that trope. Overall, it was ok and I liked how the avatars and the magic linked with the horses played out. But it didn't really stand out and I don't think I will be following the series although I did enjoy Alexis Morgan's PNR one. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: A unique and fun fantasy read set in a magical world.

Opening Sentence: Merewen tripped over a twisted knot of tree root jutting up in the narrow game trail and pitched headfirst to the ground.

The Review:

My Lady Mage is the first fantasy romance that I had read in quite some time. While there were some ups and downs, this book really didn’t disappoint. Merewen is in trouble. Her uncle is slowly destroying her dead father’s town with his suppressive rule. As a female, Merewen cannot take over unless she is married and her evil uncle forbids her from any relationships. The only action she sees is resurrecting the Warriors of the Mist from the waters that they sleep in. (She read about them in her father’s library and isn’t entirely sure it will work but she is that desperate.)

Gideon and his group of warriors awaken to this woman wanting their help. At first, they don’t know if she is good or evil, just that the gods summoned them to help her. They follow the will of the gods but they don’t trust magic and they sense magic flowing from Merewen. Gideon is ready to protect her from the very beginning while the rest of the group is a little wary of her but it doesn’t take long for them to hear her tragic story and to know her kindness.

The Warriors of the Mist just want to be released from their immortal duties to the gods. They really hope to one day be able to have a family and grow old. They are only able to help Merewen for about three months before they are sent back to the water, so they have to take action quickly to help her and her village. Merewen has a type of magic that isn’t evil but it isn’t entirely helpful either. Her magic is what has helped her village prosper but as the last in a line of “caretakers” she has to remain alive to pass on her heritage.

Merewen is truly a good lady at heart. She holds no ill towards anyone except her evil uncle and the second hand man that obviously wants to beat and rape her. She just wants the best for her village and wants her people to live in happiness not fear. She does make a few rash decisions that are kind of head-slapping annoying that make you think: why did she do that? why didn’t she tell anyone? Gideon is a man on a mission. He wants to break the curse and he knows he has to help Merewen but what he never expected was to fall in love with her. He is great in battle decisions, strong and quite baffled with Merewen when she doesn’t listen to him.

Magic and mystery are what binds this fantasy novel into an interesting romance. The romance is slow to build but once they both feel an attraction the novel heats up. Gideon and Merewen know they don’t have much time left together but they are going to spend it happily. They know they will be left broken-hearted but they see it as a chance to pass on Merewen’s gift to another generation. The magic is a little different but I loved how each of the warriors had an animal to call.

My Lady Mage is told in the third person and it does jump around to many of the different characters including Merewen’s horrible uncle, Fagan. There is a feeling of helplessness in this novel because even though Merewen has called upon help, it is unclear as to how she will be able to escape this mess alive.

The Warriors of the Mists’ story is not over and there is an open ending to My Lady Mage. Merewen’s uncle is just the beginning. There is an even greater evil threat and there are many mysteries left unanswered that may have you wishing you had the next book, Her Knight’s Quest, nearby.

Notable Scene:

“Lady Merewen, it’s young Edric. He was inside the stable, helping with the horses. Too much smoke, I’m guessing, because he’s . . .he’s not—“

It was hard to say whether the man ran out of breath or whether he couldn’t bring himself to say the rest. He staggered toward her, the limp body of the young boy in his arms. Merewen immediately straightened up, her own struggles to draw a full breath obviously forgotten. She met the stable hand halfway.

“Lay him down,” she ordered as she knelt on the ground beside the too-still body.

Everyone else stopped what they were doing, their faces painted with soot and stark grief.

“Edric, stay with us,” Merewen pleaded as she looked around. “I need a knife.”

Gideon immediately offered his. She used the blade to split the fabric of the boy’s shirt. After setting the knife aside, she laid her hands on Edric’s thin body and started chanting. The words tripped off her tongue in a rough whisper, her throat obviously still fighting the effects of breathing in so much smoke herself.

He recognized the flow of her magic, although this time desperation swirled in and around the chant. The longer it went on, the less likely her gift would work this time. He moved closer, wanting to help but not sure how. Finally, he simply dropped to one knee beside her, unsure what to do. If the boy didn’t respond soon, Gideon would have to drag Merewen away before she burned herself out completely.

“My lady,” he started to say, but she shook her head and kept chanting, her voice growing fainter.

He risked a hand on her shoulder. The connection between them surged hot as his own life force lent its strength to hers. Immediately, her words grew stronger, ringing out clearly in the night air. Her efforts were rewarded when Edric’s chest moved like a bellows as he drew a gasp of air.

FTC Advisory: I purchased my own copy of My Lady Mage. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

Reviewed by: Jen
Book provided by: contest win at Romance Junkies
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book

I admit, I have a weakness for medieval romance. And when this book landed in my hands, I was intrigued. I mean, the blurb says that our heroine is going to call forth warriors from the river to be her champion. That in itself hooked me.

So we have Merewen, a woman who is well, your typical headstrong romance heroine, but she’s not what you’d picture as the typical medieval lady. She stands up to her uncle, breaks the rules, goes and summons these cursed men to help her… and so on. Most of the time I enjoyed watching Merewen as she fought tooth and nail for what she wanted. Every once in a while, I would get frustrated with her (as did her hero, Gideon), but then things would right themselves and we’d move onward in our tale.

Gideon on the other hand is the captain of the five cursed warriors who are called forth by Merewen. He’s a bit jaded after centuries of damnation. But he’s intrigued about why the gods would grant Merewen her wish for a champion… and attracted to the lass as well. Gideon’s yo-yoing feelings were completely understandable, especially since he didn’t want to fall in love just to return to the river when their task is done.

The concept of the damned warriors rising to be champions is interesting, and one that I hadn’t really read before. I liked the twist that was provided with the men’s companions… each one was unique to the warrior, rather a animal reflection of their personality. The book is just the first step in what appears to be an overarcing plot with an evil wizard wrecking ruin on the land… and of course, these warriors are the ones who will stop him.

This is a solid debut to the series. I enjoyed the non-romance parts of the book more, since there is so much world building. The action scenes were vivid and I almost felt as if I was standing in the middle of the battles. The characters were plentiful and diverse. The bad guys were deviously bad, and the good guys… well, they sure weren’t saints but I was rooting them on anyway. I am definitely looking forward to future books in this story as I just have to know what happens next. ( )

Group review with my co-reviewers from The BookPushers.

Lou: When we received this request for review, E, Has and I all jumped at the chance. The premise sounded so intriguing with a fantasy vibe with a band of warriors rising from a lake to take up arms from whoever calls them and if the Gods desire them to. Unfortunately, the actual execution of My Lady Mage leaves much to be desired with hardly any world building, weak characters, and no exciting plot to drive the story through. The heroine Merewen ends up being one of those heroines that I can’t stand. One that is perfect, has no flaws, and is universally loved by those around her.

E: Like Lou I was really excited about reading this and ended up feeling let down. The world had a very interesting premise with this group of fearsome warriors who are stuck in limbo in a river waiting to be called upon to fight. They are serving their punishment for displeasing the Gods and really don’t have much hope left that they will ever see an end to their punishment. I liked the heroine in the beginning but then she was absolutely perfect! I ended up liking her uncle’s wife, Aline, a lot more because she showed character growth. I will admit that I also liked the other warriors better then the hero. They exhibited more personality which is a shame because they had less page time.

Has: I totally agree with you about being really disappointed about the premise of the book. I definitely agree that the heroine, who I found to be pretty bland and boring, was also too perfect, and I was much more drawn to the side character of Aline because she dealt with more darker issues that added to her personality. Whilst I like the idea of the use of magic such as the Avatar shields of the warrior brothers and even Merewen’s power over the horses, it didn’t add much to the world-building which I felt was very weak and bland. In a lot of ways this felt like a PNR disguised as a fantasy and I think this is why I was so let down by the story.

Lou: I don’t know if I would even call it Paranormal. It was just magical, but of the weakest kind. There wasn’t any history of where the magic came from, or how the magic is used and where it’s called upon. I also found the setting to be non-existent. All I know is that it took place in a forest and a big Keep and that’s it. Merewen had no personality to her. In essence, she felt like a Mary Sue character that everyone loved bar the baddies. Even animals loved her and Aline and I thought that was just a little too overbearing in the niceness factor. I also didn’t understand or feel the attraction between Gideon and Merewen. Why was he drawn to her because at first sight of summoning these warriors, Merewen faints in front of them. Oh my eyes rolled so hard at this. A heroine who faints because the warriors she summoned actually appear. And then she doesn’t listen to what they say?!

E: I can completely understand the fear of the dreaded infodump especially in the first book of a series but the pendulum can swing too far in the opposite direction. In this case I think that it did because I am extremely puzzled about what else is out there. Apparently there is an Abbey that should feature prominently in book two I think, three days away is where the real bad guy resides and um that is about it. I also wondered about the attraction that Gideon had from the first moment with Merewen. She certainly had several TSTL moments. I know if I risked my life to get some fearsome warriors to fight for my people I would certainly do what they said because they are the experts. Especially after they explained that if something happened to her they would lose their opportunity. I did really like the shields and avatars and I wished I knew more about them.

Has: Yes, it was all too vague and nothing was really detailed to establish the series. It also didn’t help with the Mary Sue heroine and Gideon was a bit too bland too. I totally agree that their romance was very lackluster and there wasn’t much of a connection between them. I have to admit that it was a bit of a chore to finish the book because everything from the characters to the world-building just felt one big cliche and nothing really stood out for me. I also felt there was no real danger threatening the characters and the villianish Uncle was a bit of a mustache twirling two dimensional bad guy. And because of this, the plot didn’t live up to the premise.

Lou: I agree that everything felt that it had been done many times before, but on a much weaker scale. The only character that intrigued me was Kane with his strange avatar beast, but not enough to pick up another book in this series. Nothing happened in this book that excited me or made me want to carry on reading this series. One aspect that annoyed me was that the big manly men had to rescue and make everything OK for the delicate and precious heroines. Give me a heroine who owns her own life and determines her own HEA anytime over a heroine who is oh so delicate and needs the warrior men to make everything OK. All in all I was very disappointed with My Lady Mage and I won’t be picking up any other book in the series. I give it a D

E: While I liked the other warriors and Aline I have to agree that the lack of connection between the hero and heroine along with her combination of perfectness yet TSTL moments really annoyed me. I loved the premise of the book but think the execution fell short. I know that the first book in a series can be somewhat rough because a lot has to be done in it so I will give the benefit of the doubt and read review on book two before I decide to give this series another go or not. Growing up a fantasy reader I need my characters and world-building to have complexity especially if it is going to be an epic. Both were too simplistic and choppy to give me that satisfaction. I give My Lady Mage a C-/D

Has: I feel exactly the same way. Aline, Kane and the Avatar shields were the highlight for me but they were not enough to draw me into the next book because the setting was so weak and I am disappointed because I did enjoy Alexis Morgan’s PNR series but I was very much underwhelmed by the story and most especially with the Mary Sue heroine and bland romance. I also give My Lady Mage D ( )