Illicit Magic (Book 1, Stella Mayweather Series) [NOOK Book]

With her parents taken from her at a very early age, Stella Mayw

With her parents taken from her at a very early age, Stella Mayweather has spent most of her young life bounced around from foster home to foster home. The existence of unexplained powers has caused her to live a solitary existence, something she much prefers, since it allows her to live in anonymity. Keeping away from others is the only way she can ensure no one else gets hurt when bursts of her powers surface unexpectedly. Yet, at times, she yearns to have someone she can depend on. To have that one friend who would be understanding about who and what she is.

An unexpected attack on her one night draws her attention to the unexplained burnings occurring all over Europe. Woman are are being burned alive on supposed accounts of their being witches. The reasons behind such things elude Stella, yet she can't deny the fact that she has always been different. When help arrives unexpectedly, she knows she has no choice but to do what has been asked of her. Surviving to live another day is a must and she'll do anything to make sure that happens.

Accepting Etoile's helping hand, she's catapulted into a world she never really knew existed. She'd always know that there were others like her out there, yet she never expected to meet them so soon in so short a time. As secrets surrounding her true origins come to light, Stella begins to question everything she's ever known in hopes of coming to terms with her parents untimely deaths so long ago.

With no other option but to accept the new life she's been given, Stella immerses herself in learning all she needs to know. She's intent on making the most of the gifts she's been bestowed. Getting used to them, however, isn't as easy as it seems. Her new teacher, Evan, is determined to show Stella that she definitely has what it takes in handling her raw power. She's willing to do as he asks of her, yet never once did she imagine finding herself attracted to him.

When it becomes apparent that someone is out for blood, Stella's especially, the Council decides to protect her, at all costs. The repeated attempts on her life are jarring, yet she's willing to show everyone that she's more than what they think of her. As more and more secrets, both hers and those surrounding her new family, make it into the light, she comes to the realization that there's quite a bit she doesn't know. Things have been kept from her a reason. While curiosity has killed the cat in the past, Stella knows she'll need to get to the bottom of things if she's to live a peaceful life. But first, she'll need to stay alive long enough in order to achieve it.

This book is the beginning of a great series. Action packed and quite addicting to read, the reader finds him/herself immersed in a world full of magic and intrigue. A world where appearances are definitely deceiving. I'm definitely look forward to what comes next!

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Illicit Magic drew me in as each character made his/her way into

Illicit Magic drew me in as each character made his/her way into protagonist's Stella's life. The best part of this tale is that it unfold and we are treated to a great tale of magic and suspense, which should not be divulged to you, the "to be reader" in a book report format. No, you are too smart for that. Whom would you trust? Why does Stella have certain instincts? Who can she truly, truly trust? And, at the end, we are really only beginning to know her- as she is only truly beginning to know herself. Read it! Teri Lenz Filkins Iroquois Reading Council, NY

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I would like to thank R2R and the author as always for giving me

I would like to thank R2R and the author as always for giving me a copy to read for a review! These programs allow me to find fantastic new reads just like this one :)

I would like to start with saying that the bad guy totally threw me at the end. I was not expecting that one... I was guessing in those lines but wow! I know that's vague, but no spoilers! I like that it's written in first person for this book because I like that I get to see Stella's thoughts as she goes through the obstacles and I like the things she says to herself.

I also LOVE the characters, especially the supporting characters like Kitty and Etiole' (I think I'm spelling that right). And her original thoughts on people, like Robert, can be so off... Also, Evan is just HAWT!!!! I mean come on!!! Also, her growth with magic (stella's) is a fun ride.

The writing was a little funny, since it's a UK version, things like pyjamas cracked me up, and also some sentences like "snogging my best friend" made me laugh. Funny how everyone has their own wording yet we all know what it means! It is still well written and I am well on my way to getting book 2 & 3, as I REALLY wanna know what happens, especially after that last chapter :) Overall 4 stars for me :) Good book!

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is a great read, starting with the very first sentence. St

This is a great read, starting with the very first sentence.

Stella doesn't know she will soon be on the run for her life. All she knows is that "things" seem to happen when she's around. No family, no friends, working as a "temp" since she can't stay too long in one place (she makes people uneasy), and living in a grubby flat in London, Stella believes this is what her life is to be and she's become accustomed to being alone.

That all changes when a group called The Brotherhood gets her in their sights. Even though Stella doesn't know it yet, she's a witch and The Brotherhood has made it their mission to target and eradicate witches from the face of the earth. They are responsible for a string of murders where the victims are burned alive at the stake. And now they are after her.

Enter Etoile, who rescues her from them at the last minute, whisks her overseas to America, and introduces her to the Council, the witches' ruling body. While waiting for the Council to decide what should be done to protect her, she's attacked again and it's decided that she needs to be sent to a "safe house" where she can be trained in the use of her magic while being protected.

While there, she's introduced to a cast of characters that quickly become the friends and family she's never hard. However, throughout this almost idyllic time, trouble has been brewing and it's after her.

This is one of those rare books that reaches out, grabs you, and doesn't let you go from the very first sentence to the very last word and then leaves you wanting more. Thankfully, the second book in this series, Unruly Magic, has already been released. I'm headed to buy it now. Illicit Magic was that good of a book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

(I was given this book for free on a read-to-review basis.) Stel

(I was given this book for free on a read-to-review basis.)
Stella is 24 and has had a difficult life. She ended up in foster care at the age of 5, can remember very little of her life before then, and has also had to live with unexplainable occurrences which have in the past had people labelling her a witch.

On leaving work one night she realises that she is being followed, and tries to escape her pursuers. Narrowly avoiding them she makes it home, only to be harassed by a woman called Etoile, who randomly turns up at her door and demands to be let in. After ‘shimmering’ (like teleporting) her way into Stella’s apartment, Etoile explains how a group who call themselves ‘the brotherhood’ are chasing down women all over Europe who they believe to be witches and burning them at the stake.

Etoile takes Stella and they
catch a plane to America where she meets with a witch’s council, and is moved to a safe house where she will be able to learn about magic and how to use it, because Stella’s parents were witches, which means that that the magic is in her blood.

I quite liked this book. I found it a little difficult in the beginning – I just didn’t find that it held my attention very well at all. This improved at just over half-way through with the introduction of a sexy love interest, and the mystery surrounding him.

The ending was okay. It was a little odd that the main threat wasn’t what was really after Stella at the end, but I suppose this left the way open for the second book. I will say though that I am getting a bit fed up of all these books which leave a partial cliff-hanger ending. I hate not knowing how a story ends!

Overall, an enjoyable read, and I would consider reading the sequel.
7 out of 10.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Twenty-four year old Stella Mayweather is and has always been al

Twenty-four year old Stella Mayweather is and has always been alone. She spent her childhood in London’s foster care system and was shuffled from one home to the next because of the “strange things” that occurred when she was around. Now, as an adult, she shuffles herself from job to job to avoid the recurrence of any “strange things”. She is lonely and recognizes that her life holds little promise of change.

Boy is she wrong. We quickly find out that her life is in danger and that if she wants to stay alive she must embrace her new life and learn her craft fast. We are all taken on an adventure as Stella learns what those strange occurrences really were, who the Brotherhood is and why they want to kill her, and most importantly as she learns to trust and open her heart to friendship and possibly love.

This book is fast paced and has great characters that all have mysteries and stories of their own.

There is a blend of suspense, mystery, magic, romance, and fantasy that will have you staying up late into the night to finish the book, which is what I did. Thankfully book 2 was already out because I definitely wasn't ready for it to be over.

I ended up purchasing all of the books that are currently available in this series and read them one after another.

Great story

Well written with interesting characters. A little off the beaten path which makes it interesting. Looking forward to the next in the series. So glad to discover Miss Chafer's books.

I read it too fast - that was my problem, but I liked it so much

I read it too fast - that was my problem, but I liked it so much that I zipped right through it! Loved the characters, I fell in love with the safe-house where she stayed and the subject matter is different that your typical mystery. Really good reading!

Loved it!

Cant wait to read book 2

great story!

great story!

Entertaining

First few pages were hard to get through (awkward writing) but got much better thereafter

Great read!

Couldnt put it down. Ended a little too soon. Hope the rest sre good since they are not freebies

Such a great read!

This book was a great read from start to finish, towards the end I must say it sucked me in much more. Now I cant wait to read unruly magic, the next book! I enjoyed this book alot and if you havent read it yet I deffinately recommend!! Thank you for reading my review! I gave 5 stars and hope to enjoy the series all the same.

Fantastic!

What a great book. I can't wait to read the next in the series.

Stella Mayweather works at a temporary clerks job in London and

Stella Mayweather works at a temporary clerks job in London and lives in a very small, run-down flat after growing up in a series of foster homes. She’s odd, everyone either knows it or figures it out and soon she moves on because people can’t handle being around her because of that oddity.

And the news reports are filled with stories of women around Europe and then in England are getting taken and put into bonfires, burned to death as witches. In this day and time, someone called the Brotherhood has declared war on women. One night Stella gets chased home by these men who have every intention of making her their next victim. She manages to allude them and get home, only to have a young woman show up at her door telling her that she is in danger and she has to come along with her NOW. Etoile, the lady at her door, isn’t kidding around and as she convinces Stella of the immediacy of the need to move, the Brotherhood starts throwing firebombs into the apartment. Etoile gets Stella out, by magical means, and Stella’s life is completely changed from that moment on.

Illicit Magic is the first of a series about Stella and the world just on the edge of our own, one controlled by magic and headed by a Council of Elders that is fighting both the Brotherhood and something else, something deeper. Stella moves into a house kept by a lady named Meg with a lot of other students of magic, is taught by Evan and David to harness her skills, skills she has buried for many years. Things are not as they seem, there are questions about her parents, a missing sister of Etoile, odd behavior by another student without magic, and then there’s Evan. Stella is drawn to him like a moth to a flame, but will she get her wings singed?

This book is a lot slower that many of the other paranormal books I have read. Camilla spends a lot of time describing general life in the household and building up the relationships between the students and the teachers before she gets to the final few scenes that are the real meat of the book. Sometimes I found myself wanting to skip ahead and look for the good stuff when I got bored of watching Stella working on her lessons yet again. But the last 1/3 of the book made the rest of it well worth the wait as she pulled together several threads and explained a lot of the hinted upon background we saw all through the book. By the time I finished, I was in tears and wanting to pick up the next book, Unruly Magic.

A wonderful debut filled with magic, mystery and romance!

In Illicit Magic, we're introduced to Stella Mayweather, a twenty four year old who lives a solitary life in England due to her special abilities that she brushes off as her simply being accident prone. Her boring life soon becomes quite the opposite on a night when she's followed and nearly kidnapped by a group of men called the Brotherhood, who believe she is a witch. Barely escaping, Stella rushes home where she encounters a young woman by the name of Étoile, who has come to take her to American in order to protect her from the evil hunters that wish her dead. In her journey to America, Stella will uncover the truth about herself, her family and be introduced to a world far beyond her wildest dreams. This book starts off a little slow for me and I have to admit I didn't feel a connection to the heroine in the beginning. While in England, Stella comes off as bitter, lonely and quite boring. Everything changes when the story shifts to America. We finally begin to see her true personality and the story takes off. Her growth throughout the book is notable and what won me over when I was on the fence about liking her. Étoile is a fascinating character with plenty of charisma that plays a key role in Stella's "personality makeover" and helps her adapt to her new life and surroundings. Stella's love interests Marc and Evan are total opposites but each has their own mysterious charm and sex appeal that can make it hard to choose between the two; my favorite of the two is the suave and sexy Evan! Ms. Chafer gives plenty of depth to her characters and slowly divulges tidbits of their lives that flawlessly tie everything together. Throwing a semi-love triangle into the mix adds uncertainty and a bit of drama to the romance of the story which I love! The action and constant suspense are thrilling and keep you guessing until the very end. The magical element in the story is described thoroughly, giving the reader a bit more insight into this paranormal world of witches, vampires and daemons the author has created. Plenty of loose ends will leave you wanting to start the next installment right away. Illicit Magic is a perfect read for those who love their magic with a little danger!

Good start to a new series

I had a little trouble getting into Illicit Magic at first. The first 80 pages or so are a lot of new information that wasn't quickly digestible for me. However, once Stella gets to America the pace really picked up, and I was glued to the pages.

The characters in Illicit Magic are very well written, and I enjoyed learning about each of them. Stella's life since foster care has been terribly mundane. She didn't have any friends because people noticed that she was different, and they were scared of her. She was horribly alone, and she came across as drab, dejected, and well.. boring. Once she arrives in America and is surrounded by people like her she really becomes a different person. Watching her bloom truly was magical. The rest of the characters are so much fun to get to know. They each have their own mystery and instead of knowing everything there is to know about each of them right off the bat, the author slowly reveals their pasts and secrets in this very slow but satisfying way. I really enjoyed that about Camilla's writing style. I had just settled into this lovely story line and all of the sudden a new and unexpected twist was thrown at me. All kinds of hell broke loose, and it was thrilling to read. I was instantly in love with a few of characters and really hope to see them again in the next book. Yep, Illicit Magic is book 1 in the Stella Mayweather series. I was so glad to find out that the ending of this book wasn't really the ending of the story.

Side note: Just a little pet peeve I had with the book was that the editing wasn't great, and sometimes I got distracted by Camilla's English dialect. This may be why it took me a little while to really fall into the story as well.

Magic, Romance, and Danger= Good Read!

Stella's life is suddenly turned upside-down when after being attacked; a strange girl takes Stella to an entirely new life. Stella finds out that she is a witch, and there are other people like her, people with special abilities, magical abilities. This group of witches wants to train Stella in her magic, and keep her safe from witch hunters. However, danger continues to plague Stella wherever she goes.

It took me a little while to get into Illicit Magic. When starting a new series, I know that it can take some time to understand the characters and the world, but I had a difficult time with the flow at first. However, the more I read, the more I was able to get into the feel of the story. When Stella begins her training at the house with her fellow witches, I really began to love the book, and Stella. For a girl who was clumsy and a bit socially awkward, Stella adapted really well to her circumstances, and even experiences some steamy romance. I also enjoyed the other characters in the book, especially Evan and Etoile. The magic is very cool, with spells and teleporting, and everyone having their own unique gifts and strengths. This book has a younger generation feel, kind of like a college dormitory group. It was not too young at all, definitely adult and definitely entertaining.

I grew to really like Stella. By the end of the book, Stella is a new person. She has new knowledge and new determination. She holds herself responsible for more than she should, and I am hoping that she continues to learn and grow. I also enjoyed the other characters in the book, especially Evan and Etoile. I am looking forward to seeing what's next for Stella and reading more by Camilla Chafer in the future.

First book of Stella Mayweather series... Awesome!

Right now, if I could, I'd love to read the second part of this series just because I really want to know what happens next to Stella.

But first thing first, you need to know what I'm taking about, right? Illicit Magic is the first book of this series and introduce us to Stella, a simple girl with a simple boring life, and not because she wants a boring life but because everybody is scared of her so they keep their distance.
Why? Well, as you can guess from the title of the book there's something special about Stella: she can use magic. But since she doesn't know what's "wrong" with her all type of weird things and calamities happen around her. So she is always alone and kind of used to it. That is of course until a series of horrible murders happened in England and her live turns upside down as she turns out to be the next target...

Stella is a strong girl, she has learnt to take care of herself and, despite the fact that she never had a friend is a very nice and easygoing person.
In this book we can see a "love triangle" between Marc - a warlock that for some reason can't use magic-, Stella and Evan -Stella's teacher- that is a very handsome man that hides a secret and that seems to dislike her a lot. At least in the beginning, that's it.

Camilla's writing was very good, I could always picture the people, the scenes and the fights and for that I'm really happy. The variety of characters and their personalities was really... how can I describe it? Entertaining I think is the right word. I personally enjoyed this book a lot, I can't wait to read the next one!

Illicit Magic, first in the unique Stella Mayweather adventures

Blurb More than three hundred years after the most terrifying witch hunts the world has ever known, it's happening again. Young witch, Stella, has to put her faith in strangers just to stay alive but she might not be any safer in their midst than from the danger she is running from. There is more than one dark secret in her new family: Étoile's sister is spoken of in fear and sadness; Marc is supposed to be a powerful witch but is missing his magic; where does the owner of their safe house vanish to every day and why does Evan have the eyes of someone not quite human? There is only one secret that someone will do anything to keep quiet, but whose secret is it and will Stella have to pay the price for silence? My Thoughts Stella Mayweather has been sent from pillar to post most of her life after losing her parents at the tender age of five... Never staying in one place for long due to strange occurrences which cause her foster families to quickly pack her up and ship her back to social service workers. After finally turning eighteen Stella moves out on her own and makes her way as best she can... Now at twenty-four Stella has settled into a routine of living in one place, going to work each day and coming home each night without much variance from day to day... Suddenly attacked one night she is thrust into a nightmare from which she barely escapes when a strange young woman appears at her flat and whisks her away before she loses her life in a fire set by her previous attackers when they find her at home... Throughout Stella's story as we work our way through all the mysteries that surround her past and all the day to day drama that encompass her present circumstances one thing becomes clear, she is a special young woman who despite her harsh beginnings has strength and admirable amounts of courage. The unraveling of the answers as to who, what, why, when and where take place at a good pace and by the end of the book when the final showdown occurs the reader has learned quite a bit about each of the young witches and the instructors that Stella is placed among to learn how to utilize her craft... The eye opening reveal of the person responsible for the attacks against Stella and her new friends was one that I had figured out a bit before the final showdown but I still had a few surprises to come when other secrets were revealed as well, all in all this was a well thought out original story that had just enough romance thrown in to appeal to a wider audience than just those looking for a good paranormal read! The burning questions in my mind is what will Stella do next? What happened to Evan? What happened to Marc and Kitty? To find out one must continue the series with book 2 Unruly Magic which I intend to do as the story was just getting to the good part when it ended! I strongly recommend this book to those YA readers looking for characters who are young adults in their 20's that can be sympathized with by older people like myself as they have more relatable circumstances going on in their life than someone who is only in their teens. The book is geared more towards adults over the age of 17 as there are sexual scenes that while not explicit are not meant for young readers... I have to disclose that this book was an e-arc copy submitted to me by the author via The Bookish Snob Promotions for an honest review and that there is no other compensation from her, the tour host or the publisher.