Magic Emporium
Publisher: Indie
Pages: 137
Characters: Theodore/Samuel
POV: 1st
Genre: Paranormal, Series
Blurb:
Theodore Knight has a curious nature. Ever since he was a child, he’s loved books that are full of danger and adventure. In real life, he’s a simple bookstore owner. But in his imagination, he’s a hero who goes on great quests to save the princess, or in his case, the prince, from evil dragons.
Until one day, real life starts to look a lot like his imaginary world. . . and the fate of an entire kingdom rests on his shoulders. The world is more magical than he ever thought, and he will have to learn to accept the impossible as possible, if he and Samuel are to succeed.
Samuel Day had never journeyed to the human realm, and he sure didn’t mean to get stuck there. That said, he’s found it all incredibly fascinating. Especially Theodore, the adorable human who holds a piece of the puzzle necessary to stop an evil immortal and save the magic realm known as Evorea. His loyalty is to his king, but it doesn’t take long for Theodore to become equally important.
They come from different realms and are as different as night and day, but together they have everything they need to save Evorea from ruin. They just have to find their way back there.
Knight and Day is part of the Magic Emporium Series. Each book stands alone, but each one features an appearance by Marden’s Magic Emporium, a shop that can appear anywhere, but only once and only when someone’s in dire need. This book contains a magic realm, a handsome guardian, one clueless human, and a guaranteed HEA.
Review
I loved this story. It had so many of the paranormal tropes I love – fish out of water, magic, different realms, a geek, and dragons. I’m looking forward to reading more in the shared world.
I loved Theodore. He’s so wonderfully geeky, and I had fun recognising all of the pop culture references, and even more fun in that Samuel had no clue what Theodore was talking about, and fell for him so hard and fast. These two are very sweet together, and I liked that Samuel was cautious and wanted to confirm Theodore liked men before making a move. The way his suspicions were confirmed was brilliant. I liked how Samuel is delighted by our world, exploring every new bit of it. And sweatpants! My favourite moment is when he’s mistaken for a cosplayer.
Marden’s is such a cool idea! I loved how it appeared in both realms and that it charges for the magical item as “it’s not a charity shop.” The world building is fabulous, and not just the shop. One of my favourite fantasy tropes is the mix of high fantasy and contemporary, and this hit all of that perfectly. I loved Theodore’s reaction to Evorea too, and his learning that his world isn’t as ordinary as he thinks it is. The dragons were wonderful, as was the reveal as to who they are. I did guess some of it, but not all. Nicely done.
I thought this was a wonderful low angst story with likeable characters, and an interesting plot with a few twists. The ending was perfect, but I would love to see more of them. And a story for Stefan too.
5 out of 5 stars.
