Oh, that was fun. This was apparently written a few years after the last book; there is a lot of infodump in it, some disguised as bringing old friends up to date but a lot of it just straight out dumped. It didn't annoy me too much, although since I'm reading straight through it was all quite familiar. The other thing is - the first story arc was a pelting adventure, with solid characters and relationship development. It was fun, and good. This book maintains that, and also has some of the funniest scenes I've read in a long time. The heart-to-heart in the wine cellar had me laughing loud enough to be heard three rooms and a staircase away. I liked the books, but I was starting to get a little burnt out on them, and thinking I'd wait a while before reading the next - now I'm looking forward to it. Raine and Mychael are getting married; since it's Raine, there's also an existential threat. The losers in the previous arc aren't giving up quite yet (there are a lot of dangerous and protective mothers in this series - on both sides). But this book ends with the wedding; while there are plans to deal with the threat, it can wait a bit. Next! ( )

Well...

I liked the series. And the story flows well, with good characters and some suspense and peril. But...

Trying to double down after saving the world; making your main characters so powerful in previous books to defeat the evil.

Mary. Sue.

Didn't even have the decency to kill a central character. Heck, trying real hard to set things up so you can resurrect the bad guy you toasted in the last one. The biggest conflict Raine was facing, with her MIL, ended with a laugh and a shared bottle of rum.

This was just an unnecessary book. I still enjoyed some of it, because the writing is good. But this story didn't ^need^ to be told. ( )

I enjoy this series and this author! Raine is getting married but before she does, there's a peace talk to get going with the Seven Kingdoms. She also finally gets to meet the in-laws and they get to meet the Benares clan. ( )

It was really fun to reconnect with Raine, Mychael and the rest of our favorite secondary characters in WEDDING BELLS, MAGIC SPELLS. Raine is getting ready to marry the love of her life, but complications arrive when people start getting attacked while traveling through the mirrors. Wedding plans are still on, but Raine and her friends need to find out who is behind the attacks and put a stop to it.

I always liked Raine's character. She has a great way with words and I always love following her inner dialogue. There was a lot of lead-up to her meeting Mychael's parents and I was pleased with how that all unfolded. I missed Tam. He had always been a pretty big part of past stories, but he only had a small part in WEDDING BELLS, MAGIC SPELLS.

I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to get back into the story since it has been a few years, but Shearin did a great job—although there was a lot of it and there probably could have been less—recapping the previous events in the series. There wasn't a whole lot of action in WEDDING BELLS, MAGIC SPELLS and the action we did get was a bit short, but the 'feel' of the Raine Benares series was still very present in every part of the story

As I said, it was great to get another Raine story and it's even better that the ending of WEDDING BELLS, MAGIC SPELLS doesn't end the conflict introduced in the book so there has to be more right? Very exciting.

I gave it 3.5/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )