BOOK INFORMATION
TITLE – Night Magic
SERIES – Magic Series
AUTHOR – Susan Squires
GENRE – Contemporary
Paranormal Romance
PUBLICATION DATE – September
8, 2014
LENGTH (Pages/# Words) - 374 pages, 110,000 words (including excerpt
from next book)
PUBLISHER – Susan Squires
COVER ARTIST – Rebecca Poole
Dreams2Media
BOOK SUMMARY
DESTINY ISN’T CALLING. Kemble
Tremaine is thirty-seven. He knows he’ll never get magic like the rest of his
family. The Merlin gene has passed him by. No true love, no magic power to help
the family in their fight against the descendants of Morgan Le Fay. Since it
doesn’t matter who he marries, he asks his sister’s best friend, Jane. At least
he’ll be rescuing her from a horrible home life.
CINDERELLA MISSES THE BALL. Jane
Butler has loved Kemble since she was twelve years old. She’s well aware he’s
not marrying her for love, but she hopes she can make him comfortable.
HAPPINESS IS RELATIVE. Comfort
isn’t on the menu for the Tremaines. Kemble’s sister has been having visions of
tragedy. The family finds one of Merlin’s precious artifacts, meant to increase
the power of those with magic. Morgan and her Clan want it too. They can’t be
far behind. Can Kemble and Jane find destiny in the face of danger and even
death?
BUY/TBR LINKS
EXCERPT
Kemble strode around the car without a word, got behind the wheel and
slammed the door. His lips were a thin, determined line. Then he seemed to see
her for the first time. “Jane, that…that cheek looks really painful.” His face
contorted with an angry look. “I should have been over here first thing this
morning.” He was angry with himself, of course.
“I could have gone to the doctor
if I needed to, you know,” she said.
He snorted. “You never want anything for yourself, Jane. I’ll take care
of that too.”
What did he mean by that? The motor purred to life and Kemble put his
arm over the back of her seat to turn and look out the rear window as he backed
out. His fingers brushed her shoulder. She closed her eyes as the sensation
shot up her spine. Did he have to be so careless?
As they turned onto Palos Verdes West she glanced over to him. He was
fairly vibrating with…nervous tension? Determination? She couldn’t quite figure
it out. He surprised her by sliding into the little shopping center behind the
Admiral Risty, an old-school, red-booth dinner place with a wide-water view of
the Pacific. “Aren’t you going to be late for dinner at home?”
“Yes, I am.” He nodded his head convulsively. The man was sweating.
“You want to loosen the tie or something?” He really looked like he was
about to choke.
“No.” He took a big breath and let it out slowly. Then he turned to
her. “I have something I want to ask you, Jane. And I don’t want you to say
anything until I’m done explaining.”
“Uh. Okay.” Jane was getting a very bad feeling about this. It was
going to be something about what he wanted to do with her mother. She just knew
it. And she wouldn’t be able to accept his largesse, so he’d try to bully her
into it.
He looked out over the parked cars. “I’m never going to get magic. I
talked to Senior and he agrees. We think the gene is recessive in me. I’ve
known it for a while.”
She started to protest, but he held up a hand. It was shaking a little.
That stopped her far more effectively than anything he could have said. He
wasn’t the kind of guy to tremble.
“So.” He acted as though that settled everything. “So he agrees that I
ought to get on with my life. Settle down. And if I’m not waiting for the bolt
of lightning, well, then I can marry whomever I want. So I’m asking you.”
Jane felt like she’d been struck deaf, dumb and blind by that lightning
bolt. Kemble was… asking her to… marry
him? After all these years, he’d realized he loved her…
“Now don’t say no,” he rushed on. “Just because we’re not in love
doesn’t mean this can’t work out. You need a refuge Jane, and if we marry, I
can give that to you.”
Jane carefully shut her mouth, though that didn’t mean she could
breathe.
Kemble looked down at his hands, still on the steering wheel. “The
family already loves you. And I’ll make sure your mother is taken care of.
Enough money cures everything, Jane, and if it’s one thing I have, it’s money.”
His eyes were so earnest it might break her heart.
He’d given up. So he might as well marry her. Something heavy sat on
her chest.
He got an anxious look. “So…uh…what do you think?”
She hardly trusted herself to speak.
“Oh. Wait.” He lifted his hips to get his hand into the pocket of his
slacks, and drew out a small square velveteen box. It said the name of the
department store at the top of the hill on the bottom. He fumbled with it until
he got it right side up and popped it open. A diamond ring gleamed in the rosy
light of the setting sun. The setting was simple, just a band with three medium
diamonds set in it. They glinted in the afternoon light.
“I didn’t think you’d want one of those big diamonds that are always
catching on everything. These… these are nice stones though.” He cleared his
throat.
It was actually just the kind of ring she would want the man she loved
to give her. But not like this. She took a breath. “Kemble, you don’t want to
marry me.” It took all the courage she had to speak those words.
“But I do,” he protested. “You’re perfect. You’re smart. You’re a
calming influence on the family, especially the younger ones.” His voice
softened. “And marrying me will give you a place, Jane. Let me take care of
you.”
She couldn’t marry Kemble when he didn’t love her. That would be too
selfish.
He put the box with the ring on the dashboard and took both her hands
in his larger ones. After the shock that went straight to her groin and the
points of her breasts, what she noticed was that the warmth, the slight
moisture born of his anxiety, enveloped her with his inherent goodness. She
felt…maybe not loved, but at least treasured. “I need you, Jane,” he said. “And
I think you need me too. Sometimes life just provides solutions we aren’t
expecting.”
The words were simple, spoken from his heart. He needed her. It was the
one ploy that might get her to agree to this. She couldn’t bear how unhappy
he’d been lately. Maybe this solution freed him from the razor-sharp pain of
wondering if magic would ever happen for him, thinking he’d never be good
enough. She wanted to believe that, because suddenly, she wanted to throw all
sense and caution off the cliffs at the Breakers and accept him. Married to
Kemble Tremaine, just as she’d dreamed since she was fourteen. A real member of
the Tremaine family, with a right to make tira
misu for their dinner or cut fresh flowers for the table.
There was another problem. “What if you find your destined love after
we’re married?”
“Never going to happen.” He shrugged as though it didn’t matter to him.
But in his blue eyes she saw that it did. He wasn’t over mourning his loss yet.
But maybe someday he could be. Maybe time would heal his regret. Maybe
they could have something together, if not true love, then companionship,
respect. That was more than she was like to have any other way. “You have to
promise me something, Kemble Tremaine.”
“Anything.”
He didn’t mean that, of course. He couldn’t give her the one thing she
really wanted. And God, he was so close to her, he was overwhelming any sense
she had at all.
“Promise that if you ever do find the one really meant for you, you’ll
tell me. I’ll set you free the next moment with no regrets.” Well, none she
wouldn’t have anyway, whether she married him or not. She’d always regret he
didn’t love her.
His brows drew together sharply. He really hadn’t thought this out, had
he?
Finally he nodded. “Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Does that mean you
will do me the honor of being my wife?”
God help her. She nodded.
CAT'S REVIEW
"Night Magic" by Susan Squires. The love story of Kemble and Jane. She's a Plain Jane - shy, introvert but sweet and loving. Having been in love with Kemble for as long as she can remember, she accepts his proposal, even though it's more of a convenience than due to his undying love of her. Kemble, one of a family of Merlin the Magician's descendants, is depressed because he doesn't have "the magic". He's a bit stuffy and quite business like, especially in the beginning. But it's mostly due to him not feeling like he measures up. He's cute too- he tries so hard to impress and take care of Jane that he usually ends up messing it up. His antics often brought a smile to my face. I enjoyed this book - the writing style flowed and, although there are many characters in the story, I was able to follow along. This is the fourth book of the Magic series. I have not read the other books and I would recommend reading them first. Although I was able to follow and the author did a good job of recapping events and characters from those stories, I still felt a bit lost at times, not fully understanding what happened. Overall, I truly enjoyed Jane and Kemble's story - there is danger and heartache but fun times too. I look forward to enjoying more of Ms. Squires works.
AUTHOR BIO
NYT Bestselling author Susan Squires published twenty-two novels and
novellas with Dorchester Publishing and St. Martin’s Press, as well as
self-publishing her new Magic Series. She’s won the Golden Heart and the Holt
Medallion, been a finalist in the Rita contest and garnered several Reviewer’s
Choice awards from Romantic Times
BookReviews. Publisher’s Weekly
named Body Electric one of the most
influential mass-market books and One
with the Shadows a Best Book of Year. She lives at the beach in Southern
California with her husband, who is also a writer, and two Belgian Sheepdogs
who help her by laying their chins on the keyboardddddddd.
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