The Rebel Witch (Outlaws 3) by Lexi Blake-review tour

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 7, 2023

Kelsey Owens just wants to settle in with her gorgeous husbands, surrounding herself with her reclaimed family. Preparations should be made for the arrival of their new son. The world has other plans. War is brewing, powerful forces are lining up against everyone she loves, and her latest prisoner also happens to be her best friend in the world. Being the sheriff of the supernatural world really sucks sometimes.

Olivia Carey lost everything. Stripped of the magic that gave her life color and substance, she thought it couldn’t get worse. Then Kelsey was gone. She found a light in the darkness. A path back to her magic, but claiming it somehow put her on the opposite side of a war with everyone she knew and cared for. She knows that her cause was just, but lately things are confusing. Captured by the rebels she tormented and once called friends, she is forced to question everything she knows.

When someone dear to them both is struck down, Kelsey and Liv must join forces again. Only Liv can work the spell to save them, but that spell requires a unique ingredient found only on the Hell plane. Stealing it will mean risking everything—including the growing bond between Liv and her old boyfriend, Casey Lane. Hell has some tricks up its sleeve for both Liv and Kelsey. And in the midst of battle, Liv will be forced to decide between saving their world and burning it all down.

••••••

REVIEW:THE REBEL WITCH is the third instalment in Lexi Blake’s adult OUTLAW erotic, paranormal/fantasy series set in the world of the author’s world of the THIEVES. This is the continuing story of witch Olivia Carey, and guardian/hunter/wolf Kelsey Atwood. THE REBEL WITCH should not be read as a stand alone as many of the events of the current timeline are as of a direct result of the previous instalments and the original THIEVES series. Kelsey’s story begins in book six of THIEVES. I strongly recommend reading both series in order.

SOME BACKGROUND: Approximately twelve years earlier, along with the Queen of all Vampire / and the wife of the high priest of the Seelie and the Unseelie Zoey Donovan-Quinn, and king of the vampires Daniel Donovan, Kelsey Atwood travelled through a portal, a magical painting where they would spend four days in the land of the Faery but upon their return discovered twelve years in real time had passed, twelve years in which a war between the supernatural creatures killed many, destroying friendships and families, leaving Kelsey struggling for the years that she lost with her friends, husbands, family and children.

Told from first person perspective (Kelsey and Olivia) THE REBEL WITCH follows in the aftermath of the return and imprisonment of witch turned demon Olivia Carey. Olivia appears to have been the confident and uncaring slave to a man determined to destroy them all but Olivia has been missing for as long as her best friend Kelsey, and upon her return, Olivia is steadfast in the belief that the people she once called family and friends abandoned her, and left her to be used and abused. A curse has threatened the life of someone close, forcing Olivia to work alongside the people she blames for the past torture , torture that has ultimately blocked her magic, leaving her broken and lost. As Olivia struggles through the memories of the past, it will become readily apparently not everything was as it appeared to be. Returning to the Underworld at Lucifer’s command, in an effort to save their friend from final damnation, Olivia and Kelsey along with a large number of family and friends including Kelsey’s mates Trent Wilcox and Gray Sloane, find themselves at a crossroads, when Olivia is unable to mediate her own memories of truth and lies.

The world building is complex and multi-layered; detailed and intricate with many of H*ll’s more notable characters including Lucifer Morningstar and his first love Lilith. We are up close and personal with Olivia’s memories, both real and false, as our heroine must come to terms with what she had done, and with whom she has recklessly and unknowingly betrayed.

THE REBEL WITCH is a story of secrets and lies, magic and mayhem, betrayal and vengeance, manipulation and control, family and friendships, forgiveness and love. The premise is meticulous and elaborate; the romances are fated; the characters are broken, determined, desperate and lost. THE REBEL WITCH ends on a cliff hanger-you have been warned.

Reading Order and Previous reviews

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband, three kids, and the laziest rescue dog in the world. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance and urban fantasy that she found the stories of her heart. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome, or foursome may seem.

The Rebel Guardian (Outlaw 2) by Lexi Blake-Review Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 11, 2022

After fighting her way across another plane of existence and facing off against ancient witches, there should be nothing more satisfying than coming home. Unfortunately, Kelsey Atwood had a different experience. The world she returned to has changed. Twelve years have passed, and they’ve been twelve hard years for the friends and family she never meant to leave behind. The little boy she adopted is now a grown man. The husbands she longed to see are scattered and on different sides of a war for control of the supernatural world. Her most trusted friend is now the leather-clad minion of the enemy, Myrddin.

Dealing with the wreckage of her personal life will have to wait, though, because the only chance at a hopeful future is deciphering an obscure prophecy, and she means to solve it. This quest will take her crew to a nest of primal vampires and the fierce world known as The Under. Filled with fantastic creatures and wonders she never imagined she would see, this new discovery leads her to something she is all too familiar with—a murder to solve and a killer to catch.

Trying to reconnect with her husbands and her son is already challenging enough, but as she begins piecing together the story behind the crime, it becomes clear that this mystery may tear down The Under and everyone who calls it home.

••••

REVIEW: THE REBEL GUARDIAN is the second instalment in Lexi Blake’s adult OUTLAW erotic, paranormal/fantasy series set in the world of the author’s world of the THIEVES. This is guardian/hunter/wolf Kelsey Atwood and her husbands werewolf Trent, and half-demon/ lord of H*ll Grayson Sloane’s story line. THE REBEL GUARDIAN can be read as a stand alone but for back story and cohesion, I recommend reading the series in order, as well as the author’s THIEVES series.

SOME BACKGROUND: Approximately twelve years earlier, along with Queen of all Vampire / and the wife of the high priest of the Seelie and the Unseelie Zoey Donovan-Quinn, and king of the vampires Daniel Donovan, Kelsey Atwood travelled through a portal, a magical painting where they would spend four days in the land of the Faery but upon their return discovered twelve years in real time had past, twelve years in which a war between the supernatural creatures killed many, destroying friendships and families, leaving Kelsey struggling for the years that she lost with her husbands, family and children.

Told from first person perspective (Kelsey) THE REBEL GUARDIAN focuses on Kelsey’s rekindling relationship with both of her husbands in the wake of the fall-out of time spent apart but all is not well in the ‘Under’, the plane where Kelsey and her family have been secreted away, when Kelsey is called in to investigate two murders that may or may not be connected to a prophecy foretold by her demonic husband. Along the way, Kelsey must contend with her best friend turned demon Olivia, a former friend who is determined to return to the H*ll plane with our heroine in tow. The search for a magical book of spells and Kelsey’s blade ‘Gladys’ only adds to the possibility that Myrddin Emrys aka Merlin, intends to close the portal to the Heavens, opening the portal to H*ll using the bloodlines of three powerful families, a portal he is hoping to send through the H*ll demons to Earth.

Lexi Blake has built a world of magical creatures and supernatural powers traversing several planes of history, times, and existence, as well as the intricate character revelations both living and dead, and the recently deceased who have become something else.

Like THE REBEL QUEEN, THE REBEL GUARDIAN is a complex, detailed, multi-levelled, action packed, character-filled and often humorous story line of power and control, betrayal and revenge, magic and mythology, family and love. I highly recommend reading the series in order, as well as the original THIEVES series as the history, background and world building is necessary in order to avoid any unnecessary confusion due to the references to previous encounters, and the complicated and intricate entanglements between characters including family, friends, and enemies.

Click HERE for Sandy’s reviews of book one THE OUTLAW QUEEN

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

I blinked in the bright light and allowed my eyes to adjust yet again. I’d gone from Frelsi, where magic kept the city warm, to the chilly depths of an underground nest to… I wasn’t sure where I was, but it was warm and there was water nearby and a small cabin. Trees rose around me, and I realized the water was more like a bayou.
That was the moment I knew someone was watching me.
The world went watery because Trent stood near the cabin. His beard had grown out and his hair was longer. He looked far more like the wolf he was than the soldier he’d presented to the world twelve years before.
I stood there, our gazes locked.
Twelve years. He’d taken in Fenrir because we were going to make a family together, and I’d left him alone. He’d had to raise not only Fen, but Lee and Rhys and Evan. He’d gone from single and free one day to raising a pack on the run, protecting and sheltering them.
From what I could tell the only person he’d been able to rely on had been Sasha Federov, a vampire. While Sasha had no doubt been an amazing general for their little army, he would also be dead at least half the day.
Years will pass. Your wolf will howl but he will remain steadfast.
Gray’s prophecy had told me that we would be standing here, Trent and I. We would be standing here with the years between us, my wolf’s steadfast faith still binding us.
I knew that because I could feel him. Even with yards between us, I could feel Trent’s love.
I had never seen my wolf cry, but there were tears rolling down that face I loved.
That was when my walls broke down. Trent was here, and we’d lost so much. We’d lost all that time, and he was still here with me. I recognized somewhere in the background that the old me would have wondered if he’d brought me out here so he could explain that he’d moved on.
But I’d meshed my soul with his, and I trusted and believed in him completely.
He was my mate.
The wall crumbled because he was here.
The world went watery, and I heard someone scream. Me. I let the pain out.
Twelve years. Twelve years. Myrddin had taken twelve fucking years. My son’s childhood. Twelve years of my marriage, of love between us. Gray was gone because I’d been trapped.
Olivia. He’d taken my best friend.
He’d killed people I knew, people who had lives and loves and should have had more of both. All gone because one wizard wanted power.
He’d scattered our families to the winds without a care for any of us.
I started to fall but Trent was there before I could hit the ground. His big arms went around me and through my wracking sobs, I could smell him. That woodsy, wolfy smell that felt safe, that brought me home, hit my soul, and I wrapped myself around him.
“I’m so sorry.” I was sorry I’d gone into that painting, sorry I’d spent the four days I’d been on the outer planes not thinking much about him. That was the worst. I’d practically viewed it as nothing more than a job. I’d felt inconvenienced, while his world had been turned upside down and he’d lost everything.
He squeezed me so tight. “I missed you. I missed you every second of every day for twelve years, Kelsey.”

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The Rebel Witch (Outlaws 3) by Lexi Blake-review tour

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The Rebel Guardian (Outlaw 2) by Lexi Blake-Review Tour

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