Ultimately, A Trinket for the Taking was entertaining while I was reading it, but not particularly memorable. I will pick up the next book if I see it, but I probably won’t go looking for it. Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. A solid three. If you’re into magical mysteries, it’s worth checking out.

I featured this book in a new release video prior to publication and was very excited to read a cozy fantasy with a sassy main character! It's giving Knives out but if Daniel Craig had no idea there was magic afoot lol. And also possible fell in love with a magical sassy 200 year old [but hot] deputy. Amazing. Will update when final review posts, but I'm expecting 5 stars!

A Trinket For The Taking by Victoria Laurie, when the book started, I really liked Dovay and even liked her relationship with Elrick, but as the book went on, there were many things I disliked about the book. I can’t stand in a book when a female acts like she can’t get over how hot a male is as if all She thrives on is base emotions. I am even OK with predictable storylines if it is funny or entertaining and some other way, but sadly, I just couldn’t get into this book and think it just wasn’t my jam. it wasn’t a bad book just not my type of book. #NetGalley, #KensingtonBooks, #VictoriaLaurie, #ATrinketForTheTaking,

I loved the quirky characters and their dynamics, which added depth to the unfolding mystery. The pacing was generally good, keeping me hooked as the plot unraveled. However, there were a few moments where the transitions felt a bit abrupt, which made certain plot points less impactful.

4.25⭐
First in a new series that's as entrancing as Dovey Van Dalen, the female lead in this modern day cozy fantasy. As the gorgeous 200 year old mystic, charged with retrieving magical trinkets from mortals, sets out to find and return The Promise, a trinket that makes someone kill themself in the manner that scares them the most. Along the way we learn about the magical world and meet plenty of interesting characters, including an ex-model FBI agent. Lots of fun and very entertaining!

A Trinket for the Taking is a really interesting series debut that blends magic, mystery and urban fantasy.
The world building surrounding Mystics and trinkets is well done. The idea that there is more than one Pandora’s box is fairly terrifying especially when you learn the description of what several of them do. They call them Promises. One Promise has been stolen, and that forms the basis for the mystery.
Dovey is a 200 year old Mystic bound to an eon old Mystic named Elric. She is tasked with finding the Promise that is missing.
There is death, a gorgeous FBI agent going by the moniker of Gib, and a hedgehog.
The hedgehog sounds adorable. Dovey has definite tastes in clothing. And she gets into all sorts of trouble on the way to solving the theft.
I enjoyed the book. I would be interested to see what direction the series takes.
Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Cozies for the opportunity to read this book.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked up this book. But I was pleasantly surprised and really became enraptured right from the very beginning!

How does one bring together magic, a mystery, and a hedgehog? Apparently this is how they do it. And the author has done it. Well! I cannot wait for the next entry in this series!

It currently smells really good in our house. Be jealous. But anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of November, so it’s book review time! This month, I went with something more on the fantasy side. It’s a mystery, but with a pretty detailed magical system and some extra world building even though it’s mostly just a real world setting. A Trinket for the Taking by Victoria Laurie was released on Tuesday the 26th by Kensington Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

A Trinket for the Taking follows Dovey Van Dalen as she sets out to celebrate her 200th birthday in style. Unfortunately, work gets in the way when a super powerful and deadly trinket (magical device) goes missing. She’s tasked with finding it before the unbound (non-magical) world gets suspicious. It doesn’t help that the thief seems to be targeting a prominent unbound family. And to complicate matters further, she keeps running into a ridiculously attractive FBI agent and she can’t seem to escape him. Nor does she really want to, which is a whole problem within itself. Can Dovey figure out the case and retrieve the trinket before it’s too late?

The plot was pretty good. Entertaining. Standard combination of mystery and fantasy. Magical item must be found before death and destruction ensue. Oops, too late. Magical person teams up with plucky non-magical sidekick. Weirdness happens. Last minute saving of the day. Happily ever after… until the next book. But the pacing was off. The first two thirds of the book was loaded down with world building and character histories and it dragged. A lot. Especially when the same info was repeated two or three times. And because of all this excess information, the last third of the book felt super rushed since it didn’t have any. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of the information was necessary. It just could have been incorporated more strategically. But the three scenes when her hedgehog helps her pick an outfit are completely unnecessary. The first one was cute and by all means keep one scene for fun. But three? During which nothing important is conveyed? No. Either utilize the other two scenes to pass on relevant and new information or cut them. Otherwise, it makes the story drag. Aside from that, there were also a couple of deus ex machina things that made me roll my eyes. One of them made it apparent that a particular character was thrown in as an afterthought just for that moment instead of utilizing any of the existing characters. And the hedgehog in the pocket thing was random and not really necessary when the reader was already told that she had what it gave her. If it had been a surprise, it would’ve been cool, but she literally brought the thing with her in case she needed it. No hedgehog needed.

As for the characters, there were a lot and so many of them did nothing. For instance, there’s a perv at the elevator within the first couple of pages. He literally does nothing but ogle Dovey, then let her take the elevator by herself. And he never shows back up. It was weird. A lot of the characters could have been combined into a one or two. Mostly they do one thing then disappear. It’s annoying. But I mostly liked the main characters. Dovey is interesting. I don’t understand why she randomly falls in love at first sight. It’s creepy. But otherwise I like her. Gib is fun. Ursula could’ve been utilized more. And Elric is just a gross old dude. But overall, I enjoyed most of the characters.

The writing itself was fun. Despite the pacing issues and iffy characters, I read the book pretty quickly and didn’t dread picking it up after a break.

Ultimately, A Trinket for the Taking was entertaining while I was reading it, but not particularly memorable. I will pick up the next book if I see it, but I probably won’t go looking for it.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. A solid three. If you’re into magical mysteries, it’s worth checking out.

I loved this book which isn't a surprise since Victoria Laurie always delivers an excellent book. The magic system was unique and was fun to read something that was new and different. I'm really hoping there are many more books in this series! Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy.

This was okay. I really liked the premise of this book but it feels like one big run on sentence and all they talk about is rich people clothing? I think the right people will like this but it’s not for me!

The beginning felt very cozy mystery-esque but just fell flat for me. I will try more of this authors books in the future though!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fun adventure!
This book captivated me from page one!! And every page after it!! I’ll never hold anything for a stranger again but I definitely wish I had all of Doveys trinkets

Dovey Van Dalen is supposed to be pampering herself on her birthday, instead she finds herself jumping feet first in to a murder investigation that at first look appears to be a suicide, after all, the victim lit the fire that killed him. The twist, Dovey is a mystic, able to use power and skill from trinkets, or objects, imbued with magic, and the birthday she’s celebrating is her 200th. When her boss and lover, Elric, orders her to find the stolen trinket that is causing havoc in an unbound (non magical mortals) family she’s conflicted as she’s forced to join forces with an FBI agent who is the first man to interest her since she fell in love and was bound to Elric when she was 18. I love Dovey’s badass character when she negotiates the cutthroat world of mystics and unbound bad guys, and her ability to have empathy when good lives are ended too soon. She's smart, funny, has a killer wardrobe with outfits often chosen by her pet hedgehog, and a fabulous group of friends who have her back.
This is a perfect mix of fantasy, with a blend of magic in the real world, mystery and fraught relationships. I shared Dovey’s frustration as she searched for a motive and the killler, and did not see the end coming.
Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing/Kensington Cozies for the opportunity to read an advance copy of what is hopefully the first in a new series, in a new genre for an author I’ve enjoyed.

Dovey Van Dalen, a mystic who is charged with recovering magic property from mortals no matter what it takes, plans to spend her 200th birthday pampering herself - once she has dropped off her latest recovered object that is. However, once she arrives at her place of employment, her boss assigns her a new task. A powerful artifact has been stolen, and he fears it’s causing chaos in the unmagical world. The trinket is a ring which, once a person has opened the box and looked at it, will die in the manner in which they fear the most. When the rich and connected Ariti family suffers a string of suspicious deaths, with no signs of foul play, Dovey knows that the ring is involved. She will have to race against time to find the culprit and the ring before more people die. The only problem is FBI agent Grant “Gib” Barlow, who has taken over the case. She will have to coordinate her efforts with him without revealing her magical abilities.

This is the first book in a new series, and I am already anxiously awaiting the next book in the series. I LOVED this book. I couldn't put it down. Everything about this book - from the premise of a group of mystics who work in plain sight in the D.C. area while trying to keep their magic hidden, to Dovey (who was delightful by the way) , to the potential romance between Dovey and Gib, to Dovey's pet hedgehog Bits, who quite frankly, stole the show. This book was so much fun, and the mystery kept me guessing until the very end. I highly recommend it!

Unputdownable! The book is set in a world where immortal mystics live alongside unsuspecting humans. Dovey Van Dalen is one of them and is celebrating her 200th birthday when her boss and lover, the powerful Elric, is asking her to retrieve a magical object, which belongs to another court and was unfortunately stolen in Elric’s territory. This trinket is so powerful that it will kill anyone who looks at it in the exact way they fear most. Sure enough, it doesn’t take long before members of a prominent human family turn up dead in mysterious ways. During her investigation, Dovey runs into the handsome FBI agent Grant Barlow, and they join forces.
I was drawn to this story from the very first pages all the way to the end. I loved the writing style. The story is creative, suspenseful, funny and wittily told from the POV of Dovey. I adored the characters, especially Dovey’s pet hedgehog who made me laugh out loud. With the magical world woven into the ‘real’ world, I didn’t feel like reading a fantasy novel but rather a perfect blend of mystery, magic and romance. This book exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to the continuation of the Trinket series.
Thank you Netgalley, Kensington Publishing and Victoria Laurie for the opportunity to read this advance copy. The above is my honest review and my own opinion.

For readers who:
*like serial mysteries
*like magic/mystics/fantasy
*read romantasy
*want to see what a serial mudlrder mystery + romantasy look like together


This was a fun read. It won't be one I remember forever, but most cozy mystery series aren't. I enjoyed the main characters - their chemistry was borderline too cheesy at times, though 😅 - and the typical FBI agent-seeks-killer is passed up with 200 year old mystics and magical objects.

A Trinket for the Taking
by Victoria Laurie
Spellbound
Mystery Fantasy Urban
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2024
Kensington
Ages: 14+

Dovey Van Dalen is a Mystic, transformed by Elric in 1840 after given to him by her own father to settle his gambling debts. Today, she is still tied to him by the spell, and not only does she still love him, she also works for him, and after a very powerful trinket, (a magical item), is stolen from a visiting diplomat, she is put on the case.

When investigating a suspicious death, Dovey runs into FBI agent Grant Barlow.


I requested this because the blurb kind of made it sound like vampires... It's not. This is about magical people who can turn humans magical and age really slowly. BUT... when a person is turned into a mystic they are usually 'owned' by their creators, who can release them. So Dovey is in love with Elric, the man who won her from her father in a card game, then turns her magical, and while they are intimate, he also has other women, including a wife that he hates, (and his wife hates Dovey and has tried to kill her,) but Dovey isn't allowed to have others because Elric is a possessive, violent, powerful Mystic.

Yeah, I did not like this ownership! (But I can see why and where it could go.)

The attraction between Dovey and Grant is typical especially since he is 'absolutely gorgeous', as it seems are all of the Mystics and main characters of this story.

But the story, the world, and the magic were interesting, and I wish there had been a little more backstory of the how, why, when, so to better understand how powerful and old some of these Mystics are. Then there is Dovey's pet hedgehog. Even though he's cute, I have suspicions about the real purpose of this little creature.

This is a good story with an interesting plot, world, characters, and a quick read at just around three hundred pages, but I have no interest in reading the next book in this potential series... Why? Because these people are materialistic.

I don't want to have to read pages about the fancy clothes; color, shape, fabric, brand, fit, etc that are in their closets and how they look wearing the outfit. I get having nice things, but this much filler was over the top and boring. I don't care about the struggles of looking for the perfect outfit in a closet filled with clothes that probably cost more than my house, cars, and what my family makes in a year (or more) put together. (I thought we were supposed to reduce our carbon footprint not encourage it.)

There is some violence and death, but not gory, and there is romance but not descriptive, so this book is suitable for readers fourteen and older. BUT I have suspicions there are going to be scenes in upcoming books that will change the age range.

(And it looks as if, according to GR, there is another book in this series already out, called 'A Spell to Unbind', and takes place at the same time as this one does.)

3 Stars

This was a really fun read, it kept me interested throughout and had pretty good drama. I feel like the magic system was explained just the right amount too.

Dovey Van Dalen is celebrating her 200th birthday when her boss, Elric, tasks her with hunting down a powerful magical trinket that is causing chaos amongst the humans (the unbound). While she must keep her distance from humans, Dovey ends up having to work with the handsome FBI agent, Grant 'Gib' Barlow, who is human and must not learn about the world of the mystics.
I really enjoyed a lot of this novel. The world-building and magic system were great. There weren't huge info dumps, the reader is thrown in to this magical world set within our own very quickly, and the author does an excellent job of providing enough information so that I was never lost or confused. The world and magic system was revealed in a great way. I really liked Dovey and her immortal pet hedgehog, Bits, who absolutely was my favorite character. Dovey's friends are great and I really wanted to love this book.
Unfortunately, I really had a problem with the Elric situation. I won't go into spoilers, but it made me uncomfortable and the author spent a good portion of the first part of the book trying to justify their relationship, and it never sat well with me. As a result, it was also hard to connect with Gib as Dovey spends the entirety of the book proving why they can never be together. So I ended up feeling like I was in this weird limbo where I just wanted her to run off on her own and leave both behind. Also, the ending is incredibly abrupt, both within and without of the case of the missing trinket. I was enjoying the mystery aspect of this, and while there are clues there that sort of help you figure out where it's going, it's like a lightbulb just goes off in her head and everything's pieced together without much of an explanation. While this doesn't say that it is the start of the series, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more books coming.
Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for a free copy of this eARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"A Trinket For the Taking" by Victoria Laurie is a light-hearted, magical cozy mystery series set in modern-day Washington, D.C. If you're a fan of the cozy mystery genre and enjoy a witchy element in stories, this is probably a book for you. It was short, fast-paced, and filled with lots of fun and intriguing character introductions. Our main character, Dovey Van Dalen, is very typical of the cozy genre, though I wish we'd learned more about her. Since it was so short and quick, some topics were glossed over, but I can see them being explained more in future installments, assuming this becomes a series. My only gripe with this book was the info-dumping for the magic system; it was a bit haphazard, and I still didn't fully understand the lore by the end of the book.

I'm not a romantasy reader but I gotta admit this one has all the feels for those who are. There's good world building and a terrific character in Dovey. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.