Review: He’s a Magic Man

by Susan Squires
Rating: 3/5

Drew is sure of her destiny. The Tremaine family carries a magic gene and hers will come alive when she meets the true love who shares the gene. Lightning strikes when she glimpses a gorgeous man on television and gets a vision of the future. Her power has arrived. She’s off to Florida in search of the man who is her destiny. Dowser, can find things, anywhere, anytime. But he only uses his gift to find sunken treasure for rich dilettantes when he needs money to stay drunk, trying to numb his pain. When Drew finds Dowser, she’s shocked. This derelict can’t be her destiny. Still, she’s undeniably attracted to him. And he’s attracted to her, guilty as that makes him feel. But fate has played a cruel trick on them both. The man who is Drew’s destiny still loves his dead wife, Alice. Now a shadowy group wants Dowser to find Talismans handed down from Merlin to intensify their power, and they can give Dowser the one thing he wants: Alice. Drew and Dowser must make choices, and they look like they’re going to be painful.

This is the second in the Children of Merlin series. This series is self-published by Susan Squires and I consider it at least a spiritual successor to the Companion/Da Vinci Time Travel series’ on account of the sentiment in The Mists of Time. I really liked Do You Believe In Magic? because it really captured the way that you can love your family and still feel like you don’t belong there.

Drew Tremaine is not an easy character to like at first but this is not just a story where she falls in love, it’s also one where she grows up and sees beyond her own wants and needs.

At first Drew is with Jane, a friend of the family and I hope Kemble’s future girl because she deserves it. Jane tries to caution Drew about going all in with her boyfriend but Drew ignores it because when Drew finds her other half she’ll make Jane look ordinary in comparison. Yes Drew repeatedly disparages her “best” friend assuming her to be jealous in the first chapter.

So when she finds out that her boyfriend, whose name escapes me, is a douche picking up women from all over campus it’s almost something you want to happen. So finally humbled, Drew is watching TV when she sees Dowser in the background. Alternately disturbed by how attracted to Dowser she was and convinced that it means he might be her destiny, Drew decides to go and look for the guy from the show after she has a vision of herself in Miami.

What really makes this book is the way that Drew grows as a person. Upon meeting Dowser and discovering that he’s older than she expected and very, very drunk Drew experiences a crisis as he’s not what she envisioned for herself and she now has to face the fact that she isn’t in control.

Dowser’s conflict is also really interesting, it’s not that he loves Alice it’s that he feels guilty for doing as she asked and ending her suffering as well as that he has stopped grieving. I like this as it doesn’t diminish what he had before and it doesn’t make the process of getting over her be to fall in love with Drew. He has already gotten through the bulk of his grief and he’s now missing Alice and feeling guilt and an Alcoholic.

The real show stealer for me though was Kemble. Kemble is desperate to please his father and fulfill the expectations that he has for him. He’s also jealous of how easy his father has it as an Adapter and he thinks that the fact Tris and Drew have found their mates first means that he doesn’t have one. Added to that the way he hacks through anything to get to his sister… He’s a bit of a nerd. And if you don’t know already you do now, I love a hot nerd for my hero.

The other thing I really liked was how Brian Tremaine (their father), is struggling to connect with his kids, only now realising after the first book and something shortly before it how much it makes them feel inadequate when he masters in half an hour something they’ve worked hard to learn. And you can tell he just wanted to share their passions so he feels guiltier over it now.

The plot of Morgan La Fay also takes a more sinister tone with the other side gaining the first artefact they want. The Sword, or Excalibur, linking back to both Arthur and Tarot cards.

What I will say is that the Tremaine family refuse to believe a person has Celtic ancestry unless they look it or have a Celtic last name. For such smart people they forget it has been centuries since Merlin was around. Long enough that marrying someone with the gene isn’t disturbing. What happens if someone got the gene from their mother and had a very non-celtic father? Inheritance works both ways and the gene doesn’t have to be active to be inherited. In fact in this series the only people with the magic activated and children are the Tremaine parents and Tris and Maggie from book one. So Dowser might have gotten his power gene from his mother as well as his Italian appearance. I understand that obvious Celtic ancestry is the best way to be sure, but to ignore everyone without obvious Celtic ancestry is silly.

In short I really liked this, it captures a realistic view on all the issues a person can have with their family and still get the love aspect right. Read it.

Currently Listening: What I’ve Done – Linkin Park