ARC Review: Damned Souls and a Sangria - Annette Marie

My rating: {★★★★☆}

Urban Fantasy
Published October 2nd 2020 by Dark Owl Fantasy Inc

Source: Review copy via Publisher
Once upon a time, I was your average spunky redhead with the lamest employment history ever, a shaky relationship with my only family member, and no idea what I was doing with my life.

Now, I'm a pseudo mythic with the best bartending job in the world, the most amazing (and hot) best friends I never knew I needed, and a guild of misfit magic-users who've become my extended family.

And I'm about to lose it all.

In my desperation to save Ezra, I stumbled into a web of ruthless deception—and seriously pissed off a sleeping hydra. Now its every murderous head is turned toward me and my guild, and I don't know how to stop it. I'm not sure I can.

I'm not sure anyone can.

But if we don't, we're all doomed—Ezra, Aaron, Kai, and my beloved guild.

** I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Absolutely epic.... And that's about the best way to describe it I tell you. My brain has been stuck churning for words for days and I'm STILL failing to come up with adequate English...

You'd better buckle up for this one as it's an insane, epic, adventurous, amazing ride.

Let me start with the parts I didn't like.... IT'S THE END OF THIS BEAUTIFUL SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure what I'm going to do without Spellbound in my life anymore. I've become accustomed to life at the Crow and Hammer and between this and Demonized ending in a week I'm going to be left with a huge hole (and possibly the worst book hangover in history). That's about all I've got for negatives.

I adored seeing the whole gang together in this one with cameos from both Robin and Zylas and Amalia from Demonized AND from Kit and Lienna and co from Warped. I cannot urge you enough to read all the books in this world - firstly, you're going to want all the Guild Codex goodness you can get your hands on and the series do intertwine a lot, so there are spoilers if you read only one of the series and then decide to go back to them later. PLUS it builds the whole universe up so you can see it from different sides and POVs and the enjoyment is really just that much richer.

Throughout this entire series I have loved watching Tori learn and grow. She's still the same feisty, hot-headed bartender we met in Three Mages, and yet she's also learned to (sometimes) look before she leaps and that relying on other people isn't always a bad thing. Her growth as a character, firstly by dragging herself into the world of magic and not letting go; then by slowly attaining her own magic and then losing it all and learning that her own personal strength of character is her best asset; and then by clawing her way back and always, always being there for her friends has endeared her to me as one of my favourite characters. If you had told me that I would love a loud mouthed red headed bartended that struggled to hold down a day job I might have laughed - but that would have been before I first picked up this series.

As with every Annette Marie series, I've come to love and care for ALL of the other characters, not just the main three mages either, but a whole host of others. I was thrilled when a certain druid came back to redeem himself and I'm even more excited than usual about the announcement at the end of this one (ASAGDFGJL - the one about an entirely NEW Guild Codex spinoff with The Crystal Druid front and centre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Thank goodness between this new series and Warped I'm not saying goodbye to the Guild Codex universe for a while yet.

There's always intense action and high stakes; nail biting moments and heart stopping moments; moments that made me well up with emotion and moments that made laugh out loud, and this, the finale did not disappoint. I loved the way this one ended for all my favourites from this series although I must admit that if I wasn't reading ALL OF THE BOOKS, I may have been slightly disappointed in the outcome of a certain X's story, but it is hard to say. Would I be invested if I hadn't read the other sides of the story? (I can't start writing spoilery reviews now after so many non-spoiler reviews so this will stay vague!) But since I am reading everything I can about this world and it's characters, I can't help but feel the utmost contentment with the way this one ended. Not everything has been tied up in a neat little bow (just like real life I guess!), and there's plenty of space for the return of all my favourites in the ongoing spinoffs.

Anyone looking for a fantastic adult Urban Fantasy series shouldn't look any further than The Guild Codex (unless of course you want to try any of Annette's other series, because I recommend absolutely every one of them too!).


Other books in this world (in my recommended reading order):

THREE MAGES AND A MARGARITA (THE GUILD CODEX:SPELLBOUND #1)
DARK ARTS AND A DAIQUIRI (THE GUILD CODEX:SPELLBOUND #2)
TWO WITCHES AND A WHISKEY (THE GUILD CODEX:SPELLBOUND #3)
DEMON MAGIC AND A MARTINI (THE GUILD CODEX:SPELLBOUND #4)
TAMING DEMONS FOR BEGINNERS (THE GUILD CODEX:DEMONIZED #1)
THE ALCHEMIST AND AN AMARETTO (THE GUILD CODEX:SPELLBOUND #5)
SLAYING MONSTERS FOR THE FEEBLE (THE GUILD CODEX:DEMONIZED #2)
DRUID VICES AND A VODKA (THE GUILD CODEX:SPELLBOUND #6)
DAMNED SOULDS AND A SANGRIA (THE GUILD CODEX #8)



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