Review: Lovers of women’s fiction, romance, and fantasy will all find something to like here.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 6, 2014
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.*I received an ARC of this book to review.You can find this review and others like it at BookAndCoffeeAddict.com, along with recommendations for a fantastic cup of coffee.