Kimberly Cates has such a beautiful way with words. In MAGIC, she touched my emotions right off the bat with her portrait of a lonely and scared little girl whose belief in magic and legends is her only solace in an emotionally empty world. I think I was in tears by page two. But don't get me wrong this is not a dismal book at all, it's sprinkled with humor and it's oh-so-very touching. I have no complaints, no nits to pick. I devoured and loved every second of it.

This story is filled with heart-tugging emotion and three dimensional characters. I really recommend it to those of you who enjoy strong character driven stories that aren't over done with intense intrigue and political subplots galore. It has a villain but he doesn't take center stage and unlike many villains nowadays he's portrayed as a human with faults rather than a cardboard bad guy. Even he intrigued me. Mostly it's a warm, loving and sometimes funny love story. There was a small group of secondary characters who were drawn so well their plight managed to bring tears to my eyes. The hero is strong, stubborn, caring and virginal (!) and the heroine is immediately likable and his perfect match. My favorite thing about her was her realness, she wasn't perfect. She had a short fuse and was as stubborn as the hero and she never, ever turned into an irritating heroine. I appreciated that she wasn't suddenly transformed into a paragon of perfection by the novels end too. I'm tired of the patient, virtuous and tolerant heroine. This one fibs when put on the spot and ends up getting herself into all sorts of trouble. She was great as was the entire book.