Heart of Malice

Alice Worth Series, Book 1

By: Lisa Edmonds

Narrated by: Felicity Munroe

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

The first time Moses Murphy's granddaughter killed on his orders, she was six years old.

For 20 years, she was a prisoner of an organized crime syndicate, forced to use her magic to make Moses the most powerful and feared man on the East Coast. To escape his cruelty, she faked her own death and started a new life as Alice Worth. As a private investigator specializing in cases involving the supernatural, Alice walks a precarious line between atoning for the sins of her grandfather's cabal and keeping her true identity hidden.

Hired to investigate the disappearance of a mysterious object of power, Alice enlists the help of Malcolm, a ghost running from a past as nightmarish as her own. It soon becomes clear the missing object was taken by someone with a dangerous secret and an unknown agenda. When her client is kidnapped, Alice must find her and the object of power before a vengeful killer destroys the city and slaughters thousands - starting with Alice.

Contains mature themes.

©2017 Lisa Edmonds (P)2017 Tantor

Great series

I really liked this book. It’s not easy to find well written paranormal series after reading amazing ones like Kate Daniels series but this is good!

My New Urban Fantasy Obsession!

As a die hard urban fantasy fan, I was HOOKED from page one! Alice Worth is a mage running from her past, her true identity a closely guarded secret, but a gal still has to make a living. She operates under the radar as a private investigator who handles cases that involve magic and supernatural matters - with the occasional mundane investigation thrown in. Unfortunately, her latest case threatens her secrets, not to mention her life. It involves a missing object of power that may or may not be of interest to some seriously evil blood mages - the very group Alice is trying to avoid. Throw in an unexpected ghostly sidekick, a vampire who has more than a passing or professional interest in Alice, a smoking hot alpha werewolf whose intentions toward our heroine may or may not be honorable, and you've got a fantastic adventure with plenty of twists and turns.

Alice is a fascinating heroine. She has some serious (though understandable) trust issues and a near pathologic independent streak, which is often at odds with her colleagues and love interests. She does not work and play well with others, at least not at first. As the story progresses, we see Alice grow as she learns to trust Malcolm (sidekick) and Sean (wolf). While tough as nails and determined, she's also human (with magic), and loneliness and longing for a life that could've been give her the courage to let a few people in.

Off to grab the next one - audiobook recommended. The narrator is FANTASTIC!

A great read!

I love a book that dives right in with action and suspense! Can't wait to continue this series with the other books and novellas.

New and enjoyable 3.5 rating

This is good for a start. Our heroin, Alice, is a powerful earth, fire and blood mage. She is both spunky and self-deprecating. She is living under the radar from her Mafa like family. She is a mage private investigator who works alone.

There is an association called the Cabal. The Cabal hires/use mages. What can start as a work place with virtuous intentions evolves into an association, which uses its’ resources for evil. Mages are tortured and killed if they do not obey the Cabal. Alice’s family is a powerful Cabal and being used and abused she escaped. Consequently, she keeps people at a distance.

Michael is a mage ghost who once worked for the Cabal. He refused to use his work to destroy and was killed. Their mutual disdain for the Cabal was an impetus in their working relationship.

The first part of the story moves at a good pace until she begins her investigation her family for the stolen object of power from the home of her client. While looking for the artifact, she must deal with Sean, a werewolf and one-night stand, who wants more than one night.
The story picks up at the last two hours when her client is finally kidnapped. Of course, there are the usual impediments to make the rescue nearly impossible and the close call with death and world destruction.

Alice is badass and troubled enough that her character is appealing. Her relationship with the vampire and werewolf has some originality to make the romance factor in the story interesting.

There are the assorted characters of vampires, werewolves, and an inquisitive police detective.

No spoilers

What a great start to a new series. This is a first read/listen by Edmonds and I must say wow. Loved the story very well written. Lots of action, suspense, mystery, and the start of a romance, mix in magic and bad guys and you have a fantastic book. Like I said very well written. The narration by Monroe was done well also. Without a doubt i want to know more about Alice and will be moving into the next book. Highly recommend both author and narrator.

Good enough to want to keep reading the books

the story started really well then all of a sudden there was this random sort of forced attraction between the main character and another character and it was like the brain dropped out of the main characters head. I mean here she was one of the most powerful characters who knew all this stuff but doesn't know anything about werewolves and vampires mating rituals blood sharing and biting and she's just sharing and biting with both then she gets pissed off when all these bonds are formed without her permission really! so all of a sudden you too dumb to realize you should not be drinking a master vampires blood. uh no one is that dumb. anyways that's the worst of it yhe rest is good enough. it could have been better was sort of slow in the beginning but its enjoyable and I was ready to read the next in series right after so give it a go

A very narrow 4 stars for me cuz of the love interest

I liked this book, not loved it but I will be continuing on to see how book 2 goes. I like Alice and her portrayal of being “tough” or how the author thinks touch woman should act like. I think the author had the right idea but having people get over on the lead when she should’ve realized what’s going on around her made me mad. The biggest issue for me is the love interest. Books never seem to get it correct except for Kate Daniels series. A strong female and a strong male. It always seems to be one and not the other. More of a weak female (but in the book description this female is touch and everyone loves her of course). I don’t like Sean, simply put. I don’t understand how this big strong alpha man can be practically drooling over a female who has treated you like shit over the first meeting. It got worse from their. How do you burn yourself half to death after one f*ck??? How!?? He seems like a needy boy, not an “alpha” wolf. Lol it’s really laughable. At least give him some dang grit. This author really needs to review some other books with Alphas or even just study a dang wolf pack. I don’t know. Sean kind of ruins it for me. Also the voice for Charles but I like the vamp for than the wolf to be honest. Hmmm I’ll take him any day. He can use me all he wants!

Alice is awesome

I was approached by Lisa Edmonds to read her second book in the Alice Worth series Heart of Fire. Well if you follow my reviews you know I won't start a series in the middle and when I saw that there was an audiobook version available of book one Heart of Malice I purchased the copy for myself.

I was beyond surprised by how much I LOVED this story, and I devoured it. I stayed up late into the night listening; I did not want to stop. I only shut it off when I would start to fall asleep. The story is fast-paced, exciting and so incredibly thought out and intricate. I loved the details that went into the character development. I loved Alice and all her nuances. She is one tuff cookie. She is a kick-ass chick! And then there is Sean, can you say yummy! OMG! There was nothing, and I mean nothing, I didn’t love about this story.

I want everyone, and I do mean everyone, who loves Urban Fantasy to give this book and this series a try. You won't regret it! I can’t wait to read the next book, and So far Edmonds has officially got herself a fangirl!

I want more like this one!

I really liked everything in this book, the writing, the story, the characters, the action, the universe, ... really everything! One of the best urban fantasy I've listened to and one of my favorites now. The first thing I wanted to do when I got to the end was to start again straight away. More please!

I enjoyed it

I liked this book because I like these kinds of books. That being said it's still werewolf, vampire, insecure girl and hot sex. I tended to fast forward through the sex scenes because I wanted to see where the story went. So in that respect the plot is a little predictable. But.. There are interesting characters and possibilities for them. I would definitely read a next book if there is one. I hope that she brings a different approach on how Alice fights the bad guys, with more personal strength and less angst.

Nice but lacks substance

This a is a nicely written and well read book. However, though the ideas and magical elements are carefully thought out, the plot is rather lacking. The writer relies heavily on physical danger to bring drama to the story, but the heroine is at death's door so frequently by the time it reaches its scooby do type exposition climax, it all feels a bit meh. The characters are stronger than the plot, but it has some charm, however there are better books out there