Blood Magick (The Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy, #3) in Audiobook Junkies

Apr 03, 2014 ☕️Kimberly (Caffeinated Reviewer) rated it liked it

Espresso Review of Blood Magick

“As we will, so mote it be"

I love the Ireland setting and the good verse evil theme throughout the Cousins O’Dwyer trilogy. There is witchy magic and spells to cast. We time travel a wee-bit as the cousins visit their bloodline from the past as they prepare for their final battle with Cabhan. The plot offers nothing new regarding witches but Roberts’ knows how to tell a story, and I quickly became caught up. The group as a whole has a great dynamic. Their friendshi ...more

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Nov 29, 2014 Kathy Martin rated it really liked it

This final book in the Cousins O'Dwyer trilogy tells the story of Branna and Fin's romance and finally ends a curse that has lasted 1000 years. For Fin and Branna's relationship you could sort of think of the Montagues and Capulets because Fin is descended from the villain of the story - Cabhan. They didn't know this until Fin and Branna became intimate and a mark appeared on his shoulder. This caused Branna, who was long since sworn to defeat Cabhan, to break up with Fin which managed to break ...more

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Oct 28, 2014 Vi ~ Inkvotary rated it really liked it

Shelves: novel, i-o-a-c, sc, english-orig

Style and Language
The final and anything deciding fight with Cabhan lies ahead of the Three - Branna, Iona and Connor - and their Companions Fin, Boyle and Meara. But for Branna is a lot more at stake then only destroying the evil.
For many years she´s blamed Fin for the failure of their relationship and what she might have had – if he wouldn´t have told her, that he was marked. Marked by the evil Cabhan, after he and Branna became a couple.
A situation, that brought her into an awkward situatio
Style and Language
The final and anything deciding fight with Cabhan lies ahead of the Three - Branna, Iona and Connor - and their Companions Fin, Boyle and Meara. But for Branna is a lot more at stake then only destroying the evil.
For many years she´s blamed Fin for the failure of their relationship and what she might have had – if he wouldn´t have told her, that he was marked. Marked by the evil Cabhan, after he and Branna became a couple.
A situation, that brought her into an awkward situation, destroyed her love and left her with pain. Nora Roberts shows all those emotions, how they fight – not only to destroy Cabhan for good, but also to be together and at least share a bit of a relationship in well written words. Okay, Blood Magick isn´t one of her best books, but there is a lot of entertainment and reading pleasure in this novel. All the values that matters come into action: loyalty, the love of a family, friends, staying together no matter what. And in combination with the great landscape of Ireland the reader´s presented with a wonderful and warm story about what love can achieve. And what it means to fight for something.

Characters
Nora Roberts brought in her O´Dwyer Trilogy very different characters together. And it is exactly that, what makes them such good friends. They complete each other perfect. Iona, Branna and Connor share the magic, their born with, in a beautiful way. Fin uses his for good and Boyle and Meara accept that there´s something, others can´t see but feel. All of them try to live a normal life as possible, even though they know that evil is always surrounding them and trying to tear them apart. Cabhan knows a lot of things, but he doesn´t understand the real meaning of feelings, especially love, and that comes through every line of this book. Nora Roberts gives her figures deepness, strength and the strong will to be successful that comes from deep inside them. They all know since many many years what their destiny is – and they accept it as much as they want to fulfill it.

Result
As entertained as I was, I couldn´t help but feel a bit weird when I came to those few passages, where the tone and the words Nora Roberts used, became a bit sappy. I don´t know her that way, so I was a bit irritated. But in general I have to say, that I liked Blood Magick. Okay, it hasn´t swept me of my feet like some of her other books have, but if you look for a novel that contains a beautiful landscape, some bloody scenes and dialogues, love and great friendship, then you will have fun with this book.
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Jun 19, 2016 Sara ♥ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, romance, audiobook, contemporary, 2016, challenge-audio-500-2016, ireland, 2019, challenge-audio-2500-2019, 2023

July 8-9, 2019

I agree with what I said down there... I was nervous about how this one was gonna go... most complicated couple... Is it really Fin with ONE n? That's weird. Anyway, I'm not sure I can add anything more/better to what I said down there, so I'm just gonna go with it. Except our 16th wedding anniversary is this week! Lol! #younglove

June 27-29, 2016

Okay, Blood Magick... It was better than I thought it was going to be. I get really nervous reading the last book in Nora Roberts' trilogi July 8-9, 2019

I agree with what I said down there... I was nervous about how this one was gonna go... most complicated couple... Is it really Fin with ONE n? That's weird. Anyway, I'm not sure I can add anything more/better to what I said down there, so I'm just gonna go with it. Except our 16th wedding anniversary is this week! Lol! #younglove

June 27-29, 2016

Okay, Blood Magick... It was better than I thought it was going to be. I get really nervous reading the last book in Nora Roberts' trilogies. I don't know why, because they're always good and turn out okay. But for some reason, she always seems to leave the most complicated couple for last. Like in almost all the trilogies, the 6 main characters are introduced by the end of book 1 or at least by the middle of book 2. Sometimes they still peripheral, but you've heard enough about them to anticipate, you know? In this case, the love interest, Fin, has been around since book 1... and we know quite a bit about the backstory between him and Branna.... And this one is a doozy. Plus, they've gotta kill the big baddy... vanquish evil.... Anyway, I'm always worried.

But it turned out okay. By the beginning of the book, most of the .... uhhh... resentment? harsh feelings? whatever... on Branna's side have subsided. She's been working with Fin for a few months by this point and, honestly, I'm really glad we didn't have her POV for the first two books. I didn't think I'd like her much, honestly. I mean, as the reader, we've seen that Fin is a great guy and it really just seems like she's blaming him for something he had ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL over.

So they've been apart for like 13ish years. Which, by the way, I hate. It's like all authors think young love can't last, so they invent reasons to separate the hero and heroine for YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS just so they'll be "old enough" to fall into real lasting love. Like if you haven't slept with a bunch of other people, how can you possibly know what you're feeling is love? *EYE ROLL* I got married at 19 and we've been married for almost 13 years now. So while this hero and heroine have BEEN IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER THE WHOLE TIME THEY WERE APART, they didn't let each other be with one another because he has some stupid demon-inflicted tattoo he can't get rid of. SO DUMB. They could have been happy the whole time and had 4 kids by then, but no. Tattoo = no way.

*UGH* ANYWAY, what was I even saying before that rant? Whatever. So 13 years later, she's finally gotten over the fact that some evil guy marked the guy she loves because he's CLEARLY NOT EVIL AND NEVER WAS, so they get back together in a sort of this-can't-last-but-that-doesn't-mean-we-can't-have-today sort of way, which is uber-depressing because it sort of taints everything they do together, you know?

But they there's this big curve-ball near the end before the final battle, and we're like, "HOLY COW!!! SEE, BRANNA, YOU DUMB WOMAN!!! HE'S CLEARLY A FREAKING AWESOME GUY!!!!" and I, for one, felt quite smug about it... even though I didn't see it coming. And they kill the big bad and (view spoiler) And then VOILÀ! Happy ending.

And, of course, Susan Ericksen is a goddess. Please read #allthebooks . It's amazing how there were three Irish heroes, but none of them sounded (much) like Roarke. Like that's how good she is. ...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Darcy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pnr, 2014, magic, audio-book, listened-to-at-work, witches

This book really brought about a good close to things. I liked how the 6 of these people had to work together, how 4 of them made a decision to share with 2, for the better of the group and the 2 accepted the gift they were given. It was interesting how the past really came into play, how Finn was able to show through actions that he didn't deserve what was thought about him. I was glad that everyone got a HEA, they deserved it. ...more

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Oct 03, 2014 Judy Hall rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-read-in-2016, 2016-nora, nora-roberts

The cousins have faced Cabhan twice and they have won each battle, but not the war. Branna is growing frustrated in her determination to complete the quest her family has been tasked with through the centuries. But she has, at last, found some peace where Fin is concerned. She has forgiven him for being descended from Cabhan, but she is still angry that Sorcha's ancient curse will deny her a life with the man she loves. Now, all she can do is plan for the final battle, and watch while the women ...more

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Jan 07, 2015 Liza rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was my favorite one in the series. I've loved watching Branna and Finbar's relationship change and grow over the span of the series. I also loved getting to see all the couples together. While I really enjoyed the first 2 books, I think this one had the most heart. ...more

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Jun 15, 2016 Elisa Ferrari rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the one I enjoyed the most, perhaps because of the cooking and because I have rooted for the two main characters since the first book of the trilogy.

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