[Blog Tour] Mine To Spell By Janeal Falor & CoffeeAM Jalapeño Coconut Flavored Coffee

Title: Mine To Spell
Series: Mine Series #2
Author: Janeal Falor
Publisher: Chardonian Press
Publication date: May 5th 2014
Page Count: 269 pages
Age Rating: YA, NA, Adult (violence)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received a ARC to review
Purchase: Amazon B&N Smashwords

Cynthia has always hidden from her father’s hexes behind her older sister. When her family gains independence unheard of for women, she’s relieved that her days of harsh punishments are over. But as her seventeenth birthday approaches—the typical age to be sold to a new master—death threats endanger her sisters. She now faces two options: run or meet society’s expectations.

For once, Cynthia isn’t going to let her older sister shield her from the problem. She’s going to prove to herself, her sisters, and society that her family isn’t a threat to their traditions. She willingly chooses to be purchased by a new master. A bold step that takes her somewhere she never thought she would go and to a man she might possibly fall in love with. With his help, she may just find a way to save her sisters while discovering how to stand up for herself. If she lives long enough.

Excerpt:

“I didn’t think there would be so many applicants for my ownership.” The stack is just so large. I knew there would be a lot of interest in me, but this much is unfathomable.

Serena and Zade exchange a look but say nothing. I’m too busy trying to keep myself together to figure out what the look is even supposed to mean.

“This is good.” Not really, but I press on. “We’ll be able to find a worthwhile warlock with so many options.” There has to be at least one. Please be one.

Serena places her hand on mine. “Not we. You. We will aid you as much as we can. However I won’t make the decision of who will own you next. If I could decide anything, you’d be gaining your freedom instead.”

My Review

The Mine series is set in Chardonia – a place where women are possessions and male warlocks use hexes, spells, and the threat of being tarnished (magically made to be bald, tattooed, and unable to have children) to keep them under their thumbs. In the prequel to the series, Mine To Tarnish, Katherine refuses to be owned and finds herself among the tarnished. In book one, You Are Mine, Serena realizes what it means to be free and finds freedom within her grasp. In Mine To Spell, Cynthia (Serena’s sister) has reached the age in which society dictates she be sold to a new owner – one who will only value her for the magic contained in her blood.

Everyone in Chardonia knows that only male warlocks can do magic and the magic in women only exist to be taken by men to increase their own powers. But everyone is wrong and Cynthia refuses to let her magic be taken. She sets out to prove that women are not merely possessions and that they are as capable as any man – even if she has to become a martyr to do so.

A budding female equality movement set in a background of magic and romance makes me really love the Mine series more and more with each book. I love to cheer on each female protagonist as they pave new roads in the quest for recognition as people and not things. I also really like that romance and independence are not pitted against each other. Cynthia could find love and be her own person at the same time; loving a man didn’t make her any less of a strong, independent woman. Another trait of hers that didn’t make her any less in my eyes was her insecurity. That Cynthia was insecure, scared, and unsure as she set out to change history, and yet still refused to back down made her someone to be admired even more. She knew that she wasn’t just doing this for herself; she was setting a precedent for females all over Chardonia.

I love this series and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Beautiful writing flows into beautifully told stories of women finding their own power in the face of oppression. Lovers of women’s fiction, romance, and fantasy will all find something to like here.

As with the other female leads in the Mine series, Cynthia is an intriguing mix of stubborn and strong, and yet softhearted and caring. Cynthia is terrified of becoming her father, who used hexes to hurt people just for kicks, but at the same time she’s fierce and determined to beat the haughty, cruel male warlocks at their own game. I’m recommending CoffeeAM Jalapeño Coconut Flavored Coffee – sweet and creamy with just the right amount of kick to get the job done, because Cynthia is sweet and ladylike, but bold and biting when the situation calls for it.