Immortal City

The Immortal City (Magicians of Venice)- Amy Kulvalainen
BHC Press
Release Date: September 19, 2019

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: In the heart of Venice, a woman is sacrificed to a forgotten god, sparking a mystery lost for thousands of years.

Dr. Penelope Bryne is ridiculed by the academic community for her quest to find the remnants of Atlantis, but when an ancient and mysterious script is found at a murder site, she flies to Venice determined to help the police before the killer strikes again.

Penelope has spent her entire life trying to ignore the unexplainable and magical history of Atlantis, but when she meets the enigmatic Alexis Donato, everything she believes will be challenged. Little does she know, Alexis has spent the last three years doing his best to sabotage Penelope's career so doesn't learn the truth--Atlantis had seven magicians who survived, and who he has a duty to protect.

As Alexis draws her into the darkly, seductive world of magic and history, Penelope will have to use her heart as well as her head if she is to find the answers she seeks. 

With the new MOSE system due to come online, and Carnivale exploding around them, Penelope and Alexis will have to work together to stop the killer and prevent dark magic from pulling Venice into the sea.

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Dr Penelope Byrne has become a pariah on the outskirts of the academic world, ridiculed for her theories on the lost island of Atlantis.  When symbols appear at a Venetian murder scene that match symbols she believes belong to Atlantis, Penelope goes to help the investigation.  But she doesn't come close to the truth until meeting the mysterious Alexis Donavato.  He may be able to help find the murderer, but only by exposing new secrets: that the city of Venice, and the rest of the world, are in danger from an evil Alexis thought drown with Atlantis ten thousand years ago.

Penelope is a strong, stubborn woman who refuses to stay down when her parents, her colleagues, and the academic world knock her down.  She thinks of herself as an ordinary, risk-adverse person, but can't deny the part of her imagination that wishes magic and dreams were real, and that there is something special she is supposed to do with her life.  So when a Venetian detective asks for her help on a case, Pen is on a flight to Venice before she thinks about it.  Penelope is a wonderful heroine- pragmatic, logical, yet a dreamer with an open mind about the world around her.  She accepts that things aren't always what they seem, and more importantly, she accepts that love and fate can arrive when they are least expected. She wasn't looking for a man, but when she meets Alexis she is willing to accept that not all life's plans fall out the way we expect.

Alexis is a man who takes things seriously: protect his people, protect Atlantis' secrets, and stay away from mortals.  He's seen death and destruction so often over the years he can't see himself as anything but a jaded warrior.  But Penelope gets under his skin before he knows what's happened, and he is helpless to deny the incredible pull between them.  As he helps Penelope solve the mystery that brought her to Venice, he realizes that the threat is worse than mortals can imagine, and he and the magicians of Atlantis need to work past their fears to protect the world again.

The Immortal City is a fantastic book that gives magic lovers an entirely new world to enjoy, and leaves you waiting breathlessly to see what will happen next.  Well written, edge of your seat action, and marvelous chemistry between Alexis and Penelope kept me reading until I had devoured the book in one sitting, and was only disappointed that there wasn't a sequel out yet to go on to!  Full of delightful secondary characters that I can't wait to find out more about (I especially loved Marco and hope he shows up in more of the series! Loved his "Venetian" version of CPR at the end!), magic to learn, and pasts to explore, the Magicians of Venice promises to be a must-read series for fantasy lovers!  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review