Book 1, Natural Witch: Magical Mayhem

Another Fantastically funny lead in one of my new favorite series. Strength and relationships and quirky mayhem. Loved how the story moved and also helped develop and expand the world. Look forward to more of Penny and her mayhem.

There's a few things guaranteed to make me dislike a book. Bigotry, poor writing, a plot moved along by stupidity, utter predictability, and characters who are nothing but a walking pile of tropes. I'll say this for Natural Witch. There doesn't seem to be any obvious bigotry.

First, without providing too many spoilers, there's the writing. The pacing is jerky and distracting. There were about twice as many pages as necessary to move the story from A to Z, and the padding was not entertaining. The dialog was stilted at best. The movement between viewpoint characters goes from first to third persons jarringly. We can tell exactly which inevitable twists and "surprises" the action will take, when the next fight scene is coming, and just how much better and cooler the heroes will be than everyone else this time. If the reader skips ten or twenty pages here and there it won't matter. The blanks fill themselves in.

Then there's the plot. Falling Down the Rabbit Hole. Refusal To Do Anything Grown Up. The Men in Black. The LURV Interest Arrives. The Flight. The Sexy Dangerous Allies. Lots of Fights. The Pie Fight. The LURV Interest Leaves. That's not horrible in and of itself. There hasn't been a new plot since Aristotle's Poetics or the Ramayana. The tooth-grindingly awful part is how it's moved along by stupidity and unwillingness to take adult responsibility for adapting to a new situation (multigenerational stupidity as it turns out) combined with a profound lack of curiosity and utterly impulsive behavior.

Of course, none of this matters because Our Heroine is Mary Sue. She's more powerful than anyone else in the world. She has powers in her powers, and even though she's completely new at it she is more skillful, more sophisticated and gosh darn it just BETTER than anyone else. Even her tendency to say ignorantly offensive things just ends up endearing her to people (and monsters) instead of getting her throat torn out. Even more, she's the Magic Pixie Dream Girl. Her naive zest for life will heal that brooding ol' hero and give him a reason to smile again. When a guy writes like that we smack him around for sexism.

So no, I am not going to read any of the rest of the series. I'm not really inspired to read anything else the author has written. But she is a USA Today bestseller, so someone must like this.

I love when an author continues a previous series with a character that wasn't the main character but a prominent one and K.F. Breene doesn't disappoint with Penny's story. A natural witch coming into her powers, that is out of this world, always finding herself in trouble in one way or another. One man with his own demons to slay, coming to her rescue unknowingly. This story also explains were Darius went in the Fire and Ice Trilogy sometimes. I can't wait for more of Penny's story.

Penny (Penelope) Bristol is a young woman trying to find herself and the first time she tries, it's a disaster. With an overprotective mother, how is a girl supposed to learn anything? Then along comes someone who can not only teach her, but is also her complement. With people trying to either kill you or capture, what's a girl supposed to do? Use magic!
K.F. Breene has given us a new heroine to root for.

There's a few things guaranteed to make me dislike a book. Bigotry, poor writing, a plot moved along by stupidity, utter predictability, and characters who are nothing but a walking pile of tropes. I'll say this for Natural Witch. There doesn't seem to be any obvious bigotry.

First, without providing too many spoilers, there's the writing. The pacing is jerky and distracting. There were about twice as many pages as necessary to move the story from A to Z, and the padding was not entertaining. The dialog was stilted at best. The movement between viewpoint characters goes from first to third persons jarringly. We can tell exactly which inevitable twists and "surprises" the action will take, when the next fight scene is coming, and just how much better and cooler the heroes will be than everyone else this time. If the reader skips ten or twenty pages here and there it won't matter. The blanks fill themselves in.

Then there's the plot. Falling Down the Rabbit Hole. Refusal To Do Anything Grown Up. The Men in Black. The LURV Interest Arrives. The Flight. The Sexy Dangerous Allies. Lots of Fights. The Pie Fight. The LURV Interest Leaves. That's not horrible in and of itself. There hasn't been a new plot since Aristotle's Poetics or the Ramayana. The tooth-grindingly awful part is how it's moved along by stupidity and unwillingness to take adult responsibility for adapting to a new situation (multigenerational stupidity as it turns out) combined with a profound lack of curiosity and utterly impulsive behavior.

Of course, none of this matters because Our Heroine is Mary Sue. She's more powerful than anyone else in the world. She has powers in her powers, and even though she's completely new at it she is more skillful, more sophisticated and gosh darn it just BETTER than anyone else. Even her tendency to say ignorantly offensive things just ends up endearing her to people (and monsters) instead of getting her throat torn out. Even more, she's the Magic Pixie Dream Girl. Her naive zest for life will heal that brooding ol' hero and give him a reason to smile again. When a guy writes like that we smack him around for sexism.

So no, I am not going to read any of the rest of the series. I'm not really inspired to read anything else the author has written. But she is a USA Today bestseller, so someone must like this.

I love when an author continues a previous series with a character that wasn't the main character but a prominent one and K.F. Breene doesn't disappoint with Penny's story. A natural witch coming into her powers, that is out of this world, always finding herself in trouble in one way or another. One man with his own demons to slay, coming to her rescue unknowingly. This story also explains were Darius went in the Fire and Ice Trilogy sometimes. I can't wait for more of Penny's story.

Penny (Penelope) Bristol is a young woman trying to find herself and the first time she tries, it's a disaster. With an overprotective mother, how is a girl supposed to learn anything? Then along comes someone who can not only teach her, but is also her complement. With people trying to either kill you or capture, what's a girl supposed to do? Use magic!
K.F. Breene has given us a new heroine to root for.

Action packed, slow burn sizzle and an incredibly sad, sort of, ending for now. Makes me want the next book that much sooner, that's for sure. Just like the author's other series, this one packs one heck of a magical punch and it was so good to see Darius in action too. Rumour has it we'll see Reagan in the next book too and that can't help but be fun.

Loved this one. Stayed up until I finished this one. So very good. It has snark! Lots of action. Love Penny. She is a riot and her Mom is Crazy! I laughed out loud! Can’t wait for the next one.

I could not even finish this book. Nothing really happens in it just on and on about how magic works it gets so old so fast. So I was 50% through and i thought here to we got some action no maybe a page of that. It a children book baby name calling more baby name calling theN when it's get to a good part maybe a page of that the another lessen in magic and more baby name calling . They tell you the same thing over and over again one of the worst book i read in a long time. Don t waste your time.

First chapter, odd and choppy with a seriously unappealing main character who appears to be missing any common sense. Second chapter, ditto. Third chapter, ditto. By the time I got into the fourth chapter, as much as I am always loathe to do it, I stopped reading. I have gone back and read other reviews thinking "maybe it gets better." I have no faith that it does. Time to select the "Remove from Device" option. Waste of my money and 30 minutes of my time. What a disappointment.

I am so glad Breene has written about Penny. It’s not needed but I recommend reading the Fire and Ice Trilogy first simply so you know in advance who some of the characters are and because they are awesome books. 
Penny has always been different than other kids and bullied in her younger years. With her curiosity getting the better of her she takes a trip to New Orleans to attend what she believes is a witches retreat. What she finds is a whole bunch of trouble. After Reagan, Callie & Dizzy (from Fire and Ice Trilogy) dispose of the trouble Penny goes back home to find her troubles are far from over. 
Penny meets Emery, a natural Mage with vengeance on the brain. Emery starts to help Penny all while seeking revenge on the person who killed his brother. They form a quick bond that Emery didn’t expect and isn’t ready for. 
I love reading about Penny coming into her own and growing stronger with her abilities. I also enjoyed how this book pulls in characters from other books but you don’t need to read them to keep up with this story. 
Like with all of Breene’s writing, this book was too good to put down. I can’t wait until the next installment so I can watch Penny evolve into the powerful witch she should be and to see what happens between her and Emery. Until then I will re-read Fire and Ice Trilogy.

While not an uninteresting premise, the clunky writing and lack of character building detracts from the story in a big way. For example, the main character is "clumsy" but also "remarkably agile", she's a basket case but calm under pressure, she is completely untutored in her unprecedented power but somehow manages not to screw up too badly... trying to keep track of her supposed traits gave me whiplash. The tortured hero is two dimensional, the baddies are 100% evil with no interesting backstories or shades of grey - a shallow book all around. Not really worth the time to read.

"Natural witch" is the first book in a trilogy set in KF Breene's DDVN world. It's told mainly in 1st person from the heroine's perspective, with some chapters told in 3rd person from the male counterpart. It's a gripping story about Penny, a young woman discovering her exceptionally strong and unique magical talent, which suddenly makes her a powerful and desirable pawn in this new society she is thrown into. In "Natural Witch", we meet the magical players in the DDVN universe and their corrupt governing guild. You don't have to read the "Fire & Ice" trilogy but some of the characters have a cameo and it adds to the depth of the world and the delight in being reconnected.

Penny's story is expertly told in Ms Breene's wonderfully funny, addictive, engaging voice of writing - with charming characters, hilarious situations and interactions, lots of action and some romance. There are many things that set this author's work apart, but just to name one that pops in my mind: I absolutely love reading about how the world looks from a witch's eye, how the fabric of magic permeates and constructs things, how it works, how elements/ingredients "talk" to the heroine, how they come together to weave spells. In that regard, I simply adore Ms Breene's recurring theme of equipping the main couple with complementing powers. It gives the connection between the protagonists an essential substance that is a pleasure to experience. And it makes the romance oh so deep and touching. Combined with the humour, this book makes for a fun, heart-warming and light read that I'd recommend to pretty anyone.

This was an excellent book and Breene once again hooked me in a world that I want to be part of and created characters that were fun to read about. I laughed and smiled so many times while reading this book. The author really has a way of writing a story that is easy to get sucked into. I loved everything about this book and now I have to wait until the next one comes out!
Natural Witch is about a young woman named Penny who finds herself a bit strange and not knowing why until she sneaks away on a trip to a retreat hoping to learn about magic, only to discover she actually has some! Unfortunately, the retreat is a cover for a lot of witches and mages who are about to be under attack. After doing some magic and not liking the result, Penny manages to hide. When the battle is over she meets some other people and finds out a little about the mysterious world she is a part of but doesn't know anything about.
She goes home and tries to forget everything and go back to normal but that never ends up working out for anyone. She realizes she can see magic now, and near her own house, and ends up running someone over who was trying to attack a good-looking guy. It gets so much worse, yet so much better, and so much magic!
Read the book in two sittings, I couldn't put it down, but I had to sleep. I recommend this book if you like a good story, reading about magic, witches, vampires. If you like a well written story and lots of humor to make you smile and laugh. The characters are so relatable and fun to read.