by LE Sterling
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
I am a third generation Torontonian, born and raised in the city and I will read just about anything that takes place in the city. A paranormal Romantasy is very specific so I was really excited to pick up this book.
The Toronto of The Magus Club is a modern day Toronto, but not Toronto the world class metropolitan. This is the Toronto of neighbourhoods and local bars, of old families that live in established neighbourhoods that look like Forest Hill and also old families that live in the traditionally blue collar neightbourhoods of East York or the west end where the subway is a busy ride away. Sterling never name drops where her characters live or where the bars exist (although I know where Ted’s Wrecking Yard was). Or they mention our protagonists do a reading to a house in the Annex, which is an Easter egg for us that know who lives in the Annex. This is a book that lives in Toronto, not just using it as a “big city location”.
The novel introduces us to Esme, who is making her way in her late twenties as a part time bartender and a tarot card reader with her best friend, a Jewish hippie named Shira. Shira books the gigs and Esme goes along, she has always had an affinity with cards and the supernatural, but tries to downplay her talent and actively blocks out the desperate messages she gets through the cards. She’s learned that most people don’t want to know the truth, they just want the good things and a glimpse into the mystery. Esme doesn’t have the greatest home life, a sick mother who won’t leave her abusive cheating husband and Esme learned early that being clairvoyant doesn’t necessarily protect you from evil.
During one of these gigs, Esme is approached by a very handsome stranger. He leaves his card, but she does not trust him, although she is drawn towards him. Eventually she agrees to do a reading for him at his mansion for his very wealthy and slightly menacing friends. She leaves, full of unease and bad portents, but Julian keeps pursuing her, and she can’t help but fall for him as she gets to know him better. He is mysterious and she wants to know more. She is drawn into his small group of magic users. Julian provides her with comfort and a sense of belonging and honours her magical skills that she barely understands. He seems to have the key to opening whatever it is that has been missing in her life up to this point. She feels….happy.
Of course, that’s just the beginning because she soon learns that not all is what it seems. Esme is challenged and must connect to the parts of her that she has turned her back on for most of her life – not only her innate magic, but also trusting others and asking for help when she needs it, coming to terms with the circumstances of her life. The magic is an important part of the book’s plot, but also a story about allowing yourself to be loved, and not running away from your life.
I really REALLY loved this book. The main story about Esme discovering the magic society that lies beneath old Toronto families reminds me of Robertson Davies books, that stodgy, WASPy, boring Toronto actually has magic in it’s corners and in the people who make up this city. I feel like it’s a story that can only take place in Toronto, as Montreal or New York or Chicago would have their own magic. Maybe I’m biased, but I feel that this is a picture of my Toronto and it speaks to me.
But that doesn’t mean it won’t hold up for those who don’t know the city. The writing is superb, the story is surprising in places and the author takes some risks with the love story that many romance writers don’t like to explore. One of the most unexpected reactions for me is that this is one of the steamiest, sexiest novels I have read in some time and is not at all explicit. Most sex scenes are closed door, or maybe 3/5 for details. I’ve read a lot of romantasy/ romance novels and low spice usually means the author is uncomfortable with sexual attraction between characters and the romance is dragged out, like the author needs to explain that the characters could not be attracted without being in love. This is a novel that creates high sexual tension without a lot of baggage. I loved it.
This was a 5/5 book for me.
