A Void of Magic

Series: Kennedy Rain #1

Author: Sandy Williams

My rating: 4.2 stars

Kennedy left her parents’ paranormal inn for a chance at a normal life years ago, but grudgingly agrees to return for a few days while her parents take a vacation. A unique spot that nulls magic, the Rain Inn is a highly popular place for werewolves, vampires, and other paranormals who want a break from the pressures of their magic. When things start going wrong over her watch, and her parents avoid communicating with her, Kennedy is in over her head with a potential Romeo & Juliet inspired war between werewolves and vampires, financial issues, snooping human police, and belligerent guests. Something is going on, and as much as she’d rather not, it’s up to Kennedy to fix all the problems.

I wasn’t too pulled in at the beginning. I was hoping for something more magical, like Illona Andrews’ innkeeper series. But Kennedy is just a regular human. She doesn’t have her own magic. She has no super special innkeeper powers. This was just a normal inn that happened to be a paranormal hotspot due to its nullification abilities. So yes, there were a lot of werewolves and vampires and all that, but I wasn’t too excited with it until about halfway through. Out wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t notable either. The latter half of this book has a lot of emotionally charged moments, and the characters’ choices and interactions became way more absorbing.

I like romances when they’re very well done or not at all. I have a lot more respect for characters who avoid romantic entanglements when it’s logically impractical. Half the urban fantasies out there have a hot supernatural and the protagonist jumping into a relationship at some point. I really enjoyed how Kennedy was often tempted by at least one paranormal man, but every decision she made was backed by logic and a very strong backbone, not by runaway hormones. Even if she ends up with the guy eventually – they do have a good chemistry when they’re not biting off the other’s head – it would be a sound decision on her part, not just because he’s supernaturally hot and very appealing. I respected her a lot every time she stood up for herself against him and against every other paranormal that tried pushing her around. She may be powerless magically, but she’s incredibly strong willed, and despite her humaness, most paranormals come to respect her for it as well.

The inter-character relationships were very nicely done. There was a good enemies to maybe friendship subplot, among other smaller, but still important side character relationships and individualized personalities. 

Given the way this book ends, I’m very interested in continuing the series. It doesn’t leave off on a cliffhanger, but there are plenty of unresolved issues that kept me up reading way past my bedtime, and I’m too emotionally involved now to drop it.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.