The Cursed Key

I loved the Indiana Jones series growing up & thought about becoming an archeologist as a girl..... This is an adventure of a lifetime for Olivia..... or is it lifetimes??...Is the key just the physical aspect or does it also have a figurative meaning?? Got to read to find out.. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

I received this little gem of an ARC for my honest opinion and review. HAPPY READING!!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

The Cursed Key captivated me from the first page. Olivia is an experienced archeologist but also a little bit of a rule breaker in the name of discovery. Early in the book, this lands her in a dangerous adventure through a lost tomb where she emerges only to nearly be attacked by a Jaguar, who later turns out to be a shifter who works for a paranormal agency.

The artifact she’s lifted from the tomb is cursed, and we spend the beginning portion of the book immersed in the mystery of what this item is as well as the character experiencing a bit of madness, almost like a mental break with disturbing visions and impulses.

But when she tries to get rid of the key someone else gets it and this ends up bringing the jaguar shifter back into her life. The two of them now have to work together to get the cursed key back from the mage. This was the part in the story where things really took off for me even more.

The novel takes place all over the world, Brazil the United States and even Scotland, and one thing I appreciated was the accuracy of world representation. Most authors would forget for example that Brazil is below the equator and hot weather in Brazil would be cold weather on the other side of the world. Yet Brock and Hamilton depicted a short passing of time and weather that lined up based on location. As someone who travels a lot, this attention to detail did not go unnoticed.

Olivia’s character fascinated me from the onset. She lives on her own, no real friends or family and no romantic life, as she’s chosen a job that involves a lot of travel. She has a boss to answer to, and a career to uphold, but in the end her magical calling ends up being even more exciting than her chosen life of adventure and discovery. Although Olivia has previously lived a life of solitude however it is clear that she cares about humanity, which played nicely into her developing feelings for Kael, or at least not wanting him to die because of her, despite her finding him aggravating at times.

On Kael’s part we see both his serious side as a man who works for a paranormal agency as well as his softer side and his weaknesses. His shifter nature comes through wonderfully when we see how protective he becomes over Olivia whether that be due to his simple attraction to her or because he is tasked with getting the key and needs her help. His need to keep her safe does however seem to evolve from needing her as an asset to caring about her as a person as one might expect when working closely with someone in a life or death situation where teamwork is needed to survive.

Overall this was a fun read. I read it in a day, which make it feel like a short read, but when I looked at the page count, it’s on the longer side of a full length read in the genre. I think that speaks volumes to Miranda Brock and Rebecca Hamilton’s ability to entertain and sweep the reader away with their storytelling.

A lot happens in this fast-paced urban fantasy and I appreciate that the authors haven’t rushed the relationship with Olivia and Kael. There’s attraction, hesitancy to trust one another, and by the end of the book, they are certainly friends with feelings for one another. I look forward to seeing how that develops more in book two.

Overall, I enjoyed the book far more than I thought I would when I first opened it up. I am excited to see the following books be released so I can follow Olivia's journey in finding who she is and what will happen with her soul.

I claimed a free copy of this book from BookSprout but am leaving my review voluntarily.

This is book 1 of The Cursed Key Trilogy. I absolutely love this series. It’s very well written with great lovable characters. The authors are very talented and I highly recommend reading.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.