666 Park Avenue (666 Park Avenue #1)

666 Park Avenue (666 Park Avenue #1) by Gabriella Pierce

Paperback, 336 pages

Published 2nd August 2012 by Constable & Robinson

My shelves: adult-fiction, arc-or-review, better-than-expected, books-i-own, chick-lit, cover-appeal, currently-reading, magic, magical-realism, read-in-2012, series-or-companions

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Jane thought she was living a fairy tale. Now she has to contend with burgeoning magical powers and a soon-to-be mother-in-law who is a witch ... literally Welcome to New York City, where the socialites are witches.

Jane Boyle has been living a fairy tale. When her boyfriend Malcolm proposes, Jane can't believe her luck and decides to leave her Paris-based job as a fledgling architect and make a new start with him in New York. But when Malcolm introduces Jane to the esteemed Doran clan, one of Manhattan's most feared and revered families, Jane's fairy tale takes a darker turn. Now Jane must struggle with newfound magical abilities and the threat of those who will stop at nothing to get them.

Welcome to 666 Park Avenue...

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My thanks go to Constable & Robinson for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Before I was asked if I'd like a copy of 666 Park Avenue for review, I had never heard of the book. Thankfully, I was introduced to this very interesting, contemporary book series and I'm happy to see more people reading it. This book deserves a whole load of popularity - it's fun, it's captivating and it's truly addictive! This is a new, exciting trilogy and is definitely something to keep your eye on!

The first instalment in this trilogy introduces us to Jane Boyle, a young woman living in France who is quickly swept off her feet by a very well-off american man named Malcolm Doran. Unfortunately, not everything is as perfect as it first appears - when visiting her caring grandmother to tell her the news, she discovers her dead, leaving behind only a note and a powerful ring which opens up a world of magic and witchcraft. When Jane and Malcolm arrive in New York City, lots of strange things begin to happen and she realises that she's not the only one who holds supernatural powers. It was very interesting to see  how things unfolded in this book and the discoveries were fascinating. I also really enjoyed seeing how Jane adapted to her new-found powers. Though this an easy to read, chick-lit type book, I thought that the magical plot was very impressive.

I really liked Jane - it was easy to relate with her and to sympathise with her. I think that most people will find it easy to put themselves in her shoes whilst reading this book. I did find her to be a little bit of a pushover at times, but thankfully she did stand up for herself at points. I can't really blame her for being a pushover when it came to her mother-in-law to be, Lynne, though as she was really quite terrifying! The Doran family are an extremely complicated bunch, and I can't wait to get to learn even more about them in the next two books. I really loved meeting all of the members of their clan (however awful they were!) and seeing how they interacted with both Jane and each other member of the family. Without giving too much away, I particularly loved  reading about the issues of Malcolm and his siblings. 

This was different to many other paranormal books that I've read. This book is aimed towards the adult market, rather than young adult but it could be easily be enjoyed by either of these age groups. Though 666 Park Avenue certainly does have a main paranormal element to it, it is also a quite contemporary book and will be enjoyed by those who like chick-lit. I think that this would be an ideal book to give to someone who usually reads realistic fiction but who is willing to give paranormal a try, or vice versa. I think that it's fantastic that there's a book to bridge this gap. I really enjoyed this book and I am very excited to progress onto the second in this trilogy!