I saw the plot twist the moment the revelation occurred (it was dark & I hated it! & not the guilty pleasure, secretly-loving sort of thing! downright hate that I was wondering about lowering my rate, but in general I liked the book, so... let's be fair) Regardless, I can't wait to see what becomes of the Muppet Babies, the New Muppet Babies, the Next Generation, lovely Tobe, the SDC, Finchs' curious and elusive Purge Beast and all those things I can't mention because of spoilers.

Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven - Google Books Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven - Google Books

Wade - one of the main characters, I could connect with him as a person easily enough and liked him. I can happily say things aren't being too dragged out, we're starting to learn Katherine's plan, more of Harley's past and we actually meet Katherine. I was worried that we wouldn't see our bad guy and would continue lurking in the shadows forever a looming figure. She's actually pretty fun and I really like her, she's at that point of crazy where she's more annoyed that Harley got her dress dirty. I'm looking forward to Katherine becoming part of the story. Harley visits New York Coven with Santana and discovers a trove of material about her family and discovers her father may be innocent. There’s a lot of action, particularly when they come face to face with Katherine. But she has no clue where she got these freakish powers because she spent her childhood jumping from home to home in the foster system, and her father left her with nothing more than a cryptic note. Sometimes the writer would preempt something that the book might be critiqued upon, case in point -

Publication Order of The Gender Game Books

The whole administrative system and hierarchy inside the coven seems haywire and it's obvious that the writer did not put a lot of thought into it. As I said, lazy writing. I loved the quirks of the characters, Melody with her rainbow magic, Santana with Slinky, Tobe and his hugs, and of course Harley & Finch glowing! Also, the writer literally used dialogue in the worst, most awkward ways as info dumps - and not for world-building at that - but character-building. Which brings me to my next issue. I wanted to read about a magic school with a heroine, in modern world (our world), so I decided it's time for this one. (& it also gave me Linsey Hall's long continued series (many books!) vibes, with heroine & Magic & School setting, which I haven't read yet (so I don't really know if they have same vibes! but I'll let you know when I'll read them), but I'd like to)

Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven by Bella Forrest | Goodreads

Well I did like the premise of this story, but I had a few peeves with the characters that kept this from being a 4 star read. The Character-building - Other than Wade (the love interest, which was laughably obvious from his intro) I couldn't connect to ANYONE in the book, including our MC.I loved the ups and downs, and the book kept my attention. I couldn't tell what was going to happen next! I loved Finch and thought that this was an amazing book to finish the series. This author is amazing! Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven is the first book in the Harley Merlin. The book follows Harley, a nineteen-year-old girl with special powers. Harley can feel other people’s emotions. Thanks to her skills, Harley lands her first job in a casino where she can tell the cheaters. While she should be happy about her power, Harley has no idea where her power comes from. Her parents are long gone, and her father left her nothing more than a cryptic note. After years of moving from one foster home to another, it is hard for this teenage girl to trace anything about her origin. Edit: I read a bunch of Bella Forrest's Sagas and felt I really had to add this point to this review. In all of her books and there are many, every pairing is always between the different sexes. This is especially astonishing since one of her storylines (not Harley Merlin) literally spans universes, and in all those universes, somehow everyone is straight?! After having read 3-4 books of hers they become incredibly predictable, badly edited (spelling mistakes) and quite frankly boring, because the same things happen again and again and you guessed it, AGAIN! I cannot over stress this, as she has authored over 100 books, if you have read one of them, you have read them all essentially. World-building - There wasn't much to begin with. It's not exactly a radical idea. Secret society, keeping magic from the world for their and its own good. The Harry Potter influence is actually quite heavy, there are scenes which literally feel like a retelling. It's not completely off-putting though. Some of it I even enjoyed. Finishing off a series that's been going for so many editions is not simple, but this brought both Harley and Finch's main adventures to a very satisfying conclusion. It felt like a natural end for their tales as protagonists. It brought a very hearty, yet thorough conclusion to a story that could have had a loooot of loose ends.

Harley Merlin 21: Persie Merlin and the Dying Song Harley Merlin 21: Persie Merlin and the Dying Song

As Harley works to save the children and uncover whatever her aunt is up to, she is still trying to find answers to some questions about her past. For example, what pushed her father to murder her mother? What is the extent of her magical powers? Is there a chance that Wade Crowley will stop being so annoying? Holly continues to grow in friendship and loyalty to a team of young magicals who are all in their late teens like her. They include Tatyana Vasilisa, Santana Catemaco, Raffe Levi, Astrid Hepler, Dylan Blight, and Wade Crowley, who is Harley’s romantic interest throughout this series. In addition, Garrett Kyteler, who was formerly close friends with Finch before his betrayal of the SDC, is now a member of their team. Up until now, he has been presented as continually acting like a sneering jerk, so it is a difficult transition for the team incorporating him into their midst. When a rogue 19-year-old witch is recruited to help guard an ancient magical Bestiary, a breath-stealing journey begins... Harley Merlin can sense people’s emotions, among other things. It’s how she snagged her first job pinpointing cheaters at a casino. These are all the Harley Merlin books in this extensive series in which Harley is the main protagonist:And so we end Finch's section of the Merlin family journey. It felt more like a whimper than a bang. Most of the reason for that, though, is going into spoiler territory, so be warned. The short version, is it seems like more effort was put into setting up Persie's story than ending Finch's. Maybe I wouldn't have had this feeling if it weren't for the final chapter in this book, but Bella Forrest put it there, so I'm judging the series on it. Harley Merlin used to be in an orphanage. She went from foster home to foster home, but got treated very badly in each one, and also in the schools she went to. Because of her magical abilities and the fact that she was an orphan, people called her a "freak". Also this "elitist" behavior that the MC keeps harping on about, there was no payoff to this supposed characteristic of the magicals' society, something to be seen in Chapter 33, the second-last.

Harley Merlin Series by Bella Forrest - Goodreads

Nineteen-year-old Harley Merlin can sense people's emotions, among other things. It's how she snagged her first job pinpointing cheaters at a casino. But she has no clue where she got these freakish powers because she spent her childhood jumping from home to home in the foster system, and her father left her with nothing more than a cryptic note. It is what it is, Harley. This thing is going right into a junkyard. Get over it and worry more about why there are gargoyles following you around in the first place.”

Publication Order of The Child Thief Books

rather than the author’s writing style, the plot or the characters that tanked this for me. Let me explain.