Review: A Breath of Magic by Teresa Medeiros

Breath of Magic (Lennox Family Magic #1)

by Teresa Medeiros

Published February 1st 1996 by Bantam

Precocious Puritan and aspiring witch Arian Whitewood spends her lonely nights dreaming of magic and excitement. She gets more excitement than she bargains for when she crash lands straight out of a witch hunt into the 20th century and the arms of Tristan Lennox, a reclusive billionaire. Arian blows through Tristan's climate-controlled existence like a breath of magic, only to discover that the spell he weaves around her heart is more compelling than any enchantment.

Genre: Adult, Romance

Publication Date: Feb 1st 1996

Publisher: Bantam

Format: Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages 

Series: sort of, but not really

Source: My own copy

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My Review

It's been forever since the last Teresa Medeiros book I've read. I forgot how much I enjoyed her storytelling and her characters. :)

A Breath of Magic felt more like a breath of FRESH AIR after so many 'bad' or simply 'ok' adult books I tried this week... I laughed SO hard with it! Really, I can't stress how much fun I had reading it. :) It really came at the best possible moment for me.

Arian is the French daughter of an unmarried woman in the 17th century and never met her father. She's sent to live with a stepfather in the middle of a bunch of Puritans.... which would be okay, if not for the small fact that, uhm, she's a witch. A WHITE witch, sure, but a witch nonetheless. And all is evil in the eyes of the Puritans. Arian finds herself in the middle of an Inquisition, just about to drown when she utters a last-minute spell to try and make time stop, but that actually sends her 300 years in the future, in her flying broom.

Tristan doesn't believe in magic, but, ironically still has some inner hope to find it in the world. Which is part of the reason why he promises a million dollars to whoever proves to him that there is such a thing as real magic out there. Tristan is getting fed up with all the charlatans when, out of freaking nowhere, a girl dressed as a nun appears flying/crashing a broom up in the sky. When she falls/lands right into the middle of the contest. He saves her, and sends her broom for examination, certain that it must had some gadget that made it fly. But while his team of researchers find themselves busy trying to prove it was NOT just a broom, Tristan is about to find himself believing in magic again... and also in love.

Tristan could be very bossy and demanding and rude sometimes, but he constantly made up for it, so all was well. He wore his past wounds as an armor around his heart, but it was very satisfying to see Arian slowly melt it away.

Speaking of Arian, she had everything that could have made me dislike her as heroine, but, surprisingly, did not. I actually LIKED her. And you guys must know by now how bitchy I can be. :P She was smart, but kind and pure in a way that was BELIEVABLE and fitting, not coming out as stupid or over-the-head as they usually do in romance books these days. She was genuinely good and naive. But still strong-willed and determined. Authors, take note of this. Your characters don't need to be total losers/pushovers in order to be good/kind-hearted. 

Their romance was also pure and so, so adorable. There were very few sex scenes, only a couple, as a matter of fact, but they were so... gentle and nonexplicit and just, well, romantic. (I'm very eloquent today). They were heart-warming in their simplicity and candor, and very much perfect in their context. This was a real love story. I liked it immensely. And I'm most certainly NOT a romantic. Yes, I am slightly astonished myself. O.o

I was also charmed by the lovely secondary characters! Copperfield, Tristan's (only) best friend and Indian lawyer. Sven, the poor bodyguard, former manicurist/hairdresser, turned goat. Hilarious! I wish they had books of their own. XD

Miss Medeiros, you managed to write a real gem! One that still remains modern, even after sixteen years!!! I congratulate and thank you for such a feat/treat. :) It will come out a bit cheesy, but it was simply... magical. Really, just enchanting.