Review: Magical Midlife Dating (Leveling Up #2) by K. F. Breene 

Rating: 4.5⭐️

“Maybe we’d all had a fire inside us, clawing to get out, and we’d kept it at bay to fit into someone else’s mold of what we should be as women.” – Jessie

Other people have marked this quote and it’s because it’s impactful. To Jessie, the woman still navigating her way through the shambles of her life after the divorce left her homeless, her base of security and family gone in her middle age. 

She packed up and moved cross country to a small remote village that she visited with her friend as a child. Now she’s a caretaker of a sentient magical mansion, got powers she needs to learn to control, and an enormous universe of paranormal beings that are increasingly interested in her and Ivy House. 

Every aspect of Jessie, her character and emotional challenges is beautifully crafted. She stumbles, fights, figures things out, asks for help. She’s a very real, believable woman.

And the way the author builds up the need for not only Jessie but for Austin, Niahm, Mr. Tom, Edgar and the rest of the crew here to find their own places in the new order being established and help Jessie develop? So remarkable and layered emotionally. 

I’m so looking forward to Jessie further exploring this new role and coming into her own in Ivy House, scary dolls and all. 

Fabulous storytelling. 

Leveling Up (13 book series):

Magical Midlife Madness #1

Magical Midlife Dating #2

Magical Midlife Invasion #3

Magical Midlife Love #4

Magical Midlife Meeting #5

Magical Midlife Challenge #6

Magical Midlife Alliance #7

Magical Midlife Flowers #8

Magical Midlife Battle #9

Magical Midlife Awakening #10

Magical Midlife Rescue #11

Magical Midlife Rogue #12

Magical Midlife Conclave #13 – Nov 12,2026

Buy link

        Magical Midlife Dating: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel (Leveling Up Book 2)

    

Blurb 

She must learn to fly, but can she withstand the allure of the handsome new teacher?

The decision has been made. Jessie has taken the magic, and all the weird that goes with it. Including wings. There’s only one problem – she can’t figure out how to access them.

Through a series of terrible decisions, Jessie realizes she must ask for help. Gargoyle help.

But she could’ve never predicted who answers her call – he’s an excellent flier, incredibly patient, and a good trainer. He’s also incredibly handsome. And interested. Maybe flying isn’t the only thing she needs help with. Maybe she needs help getting back on that saddle, too, emerging into the dating pool.

Except, the new gargoyle is also an alpha, just like Austin, and the town isn’t big enough for two.

Turns out, flying is the least of her problems.  

date

August 11, 2020

Language

‎English

Print length

468 pages

Book 2 of 13

Leveling Up

Review: Witch At Last (The Jinx Hamilton Series Book 3) by Juliette Harper 

Rating: 3.75⭐️

Witch At Last, the third book in The Jinx Hamilton Series by Juliette Harper, resolves several of the issues I mentioned about this series in the previous stories. 

Having a character or two main characters who are both consistently lied to about deeply important matters and elements about themselves from those closest to them is highly toxic. Especially when the excuse is because “it’s for their own good “, “they aren’t ready”, or whatever that means when someone takes control or consent away from an adult(s) for important decisions in their lives.

It needed to be rectified by the author for me to go forward with the series, and in a way that makes sense for all the characters involved here. 

I’m not sure if they have addressed it throughly but I can see this being a part of the plot and series . 

The mothers of Jinx Hamilton and her best friend/cousin, Tori, play important roles with their daughter’s future magic powers and in the process of making the town safe.  And Harper somewhat addresses part of the drama behind the neglect of the friends’ lack of understanding and knowledge. 

Chase and his father, Festus, along with the magical gang from the sentient house/shop herself are all involved from a story that carries over from the previous drama of book 2.

While the characters are enjoyable, the plot overall seems a bit flimsy, especially when given the ages of the characters, the details revealed by the plot, and some of the most memorable elements. Where is the real planning? Heavy duty wards or anything that would make sense for something on the scale that’s represented here? 

Aside from some narrative plot holes here and there, I noticed a few things that weren’t caught by the author or editor. Harper has Jinx telling Tori how happy she is they opened up the shop early at 7, with people flooding in at 6 filling the tables with their papers and tablets.  Uh, what? Things like that. 

Plus she barely knows Chase but they love each other? With no realistic relationship having been established between them other than one of lies? That’s not credible. 

I think there’s some terrific things here but the foundation for all of it needs to be better layered. Give the relationships, other than Tori and Jinx, a depth of dynamic that is missing. Chase and Festus come the closest to a real father and son interaction here. 

As a cozy witch and warlock mystery, it’s good. I’ll eventually pick up another one in the series. But I’m in no rush.

The Jinx Hamilton Series (16 book series): complete and all released. 

Witch At Heart #1

Witch At Odds #2

Witch At Last #3

 Buy link

        Witch At Last (The Jinx Hamilton Series Book 3)

    

Blurb 

A lot has changed for Jinx Hamilton in just a few months. After the mishaps that befell her in Witch At Odds, Jinx just wants to enjoy the rest of the summer, but she’s not going to be that lucky. Just as she’s poised to tell her friends she’s a witch, secrets start popping out all over the place. Between old foes and new locations, Jinx isn’t going to get her peaceful summer, but she may just get an entirely different world.

*Note: This is a republished version of Witch At Last.

Cabot Publishing Group

Publication date

September 8, 2025

Edition

2nd

Accessibility

Learn more

Language

‎English

Book 3 of 16

The Jinx Hamilton Ser

Review: Magical Midlife Madness (Leveling Up #1) by K. F. Breene 

Rating: 4.5⭐️

“A woman starting over. A new house with an unexpected twist. A cape wearing butler acting as the world’s worst life coach.”

I found this urban fantasy tale totally charming, with its laugh-out loud moments, endearing characters, and wonderfully mysterious plot.

Breene’s series about a divorced woman who takes a chance on a new life by accepting a job in a place she vaguely remembers from her childhood is a brashly funny, often revealing tale of a woman remaking her life, even as her own world view of what’s real is turned inside out. 

Jessie is a marvelous character, believable, relatable in her emotions as she navigates the challenges she faces after her divorce from a cheating husband, with no real plans for her life or a place to go. And the job she finds herself doing places her back in a small town where she visited as a child, one with fuzzy fond memories and dreams of strange things.

How I love everything about her, the other characters and the many strange situations Jessie finds herself in.  Ivy House, the magical weird structure that’s revealing its secrets reluctantly, is richly detailed and mysterious. As is its inhabitants, Mr Tom, or intriguing members of the community like the alpha Arden, who’s constantly being told to reevaluate his position on women by Jessie, each one has staying power both within the narrative and with the reader.

Jessie and all the others demonstrate personal growth and self development as she discovers what the town and Ivy House is about, as her potential role, if she decides to accept it.

A fantastic story, great characters, and a journey I’m happy to follow. 

A winner!

Leveling Up (13 book series):

Magical Midlife Madness #1

Magical Midlife Dating #2

Magical Midlife Invasion #3

Magical Midlife Love #4

Magical Midlife Meeting #5

Magical Midlife Challenge #6

Magical Midlife Alliance #7

Magical Midlife Flowers #8

Magical Midlife Battle #9

Magical Midlife Awakening #10

Magical Midlife Rescue #11

Magical Midlife Rogue #12

Magical Midlife Conclave #13 – Nov 12,2026

Buy link

 Book 1 of 13: Leveling Up 

Blurb 

A woman starting over. A new house with an unexpected twist. A cape wearing butler acting as the world’s worst life coach.

“Happily Ever After” wasn’t supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of twenty years packs up and heads for greener pastures and my son leaves for college, that’s exactly what my life becomes.

Do-over.

This time, though, I plan to do things differently. Age is just a number, after all, and at forty I’m ready to carve my own path.

Eager for a fresh start, I make a somewhat unorthodox decision and move to a tiny town in the Sierra foothills. I’ll be taking care of a centuries old house that called to me when I was a kid. It’s just temporary, I tell myself. It’ll just be for a while.

That is, until I learn what the house really is, something I never could’ve imagined.

Thankfully forty isn’t too old to start an adventure, because that’s exactly what I do. A very dangerous adventure that will change my life forever. I have a chance to start again, and this time, I make the rules.

February 16, 2020

Language

‎English

Print length

316 pages

Book 1 of 13

Leveling Up