The Cursed Key - Miranda Brock & Rebecca Hamilton

The Cursed Key

By Miranda Brock & Rebecca Hamilton

  • Release Date: 2020-01-14
  • Genre: Historical Fantasy
Score: 4
4
From 128 Ratings

Description

A forgotten past, a dark mage, and an unyielding curse.

Another team beat free-spirited archaeologist Olivia Perez to the dig of a lifetime, and now she’s left with the choice to wait for scraps or brave a dangerous, dusty tomb in hopes of finding other priceless artifacts. Her reward? A mysterious key she has no idea is cursed. Soon, Olivia realizes she’s brought home more than just an ancient rarity.

Malevolent visions begin to plague her. Unnerved by what they reveal, she casts away the key…unknowingly placing it into the waiting hands of a dark mage bent on destruction. Only when a shifter agent from the Paranormal Intelligence and Tracking Organization arrives searching for the key does Olivia realize what a huge mistake she’s made.

Forced to team up with the ill-tempered shifter, her journey to reclaim the cursed key leads down a twisting path of dark histories, dangerous magic, and deadly obstacles. But Olivia’s efforts to take back the ancient relic before the dark mage can destroy the lives of humans, shifters, witches, and fae alike are thwarted by her own dark past…and a price steeper than what she’s willing to pay.

Fans of Tomb Raider and Ilona Andrews will love the blend of urban fantasy, magical adventure, and paranormal romance in THE CURSED KEY from Miranda Brock and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Hamilton!

Scroll up and one click to start this slow burn urban fantasy romance adventure!

Reviews

  • Great Adventure

    5
    By LadyTera
    Loved this book. I even got the rest of the series that is out so that I could find out what else happens to Olivia and Kael. Olivia has an ancient power that has been awakened inside of her. Kael is a shifter panther that stays by her side. They keep trying to figure things and out and getting into a lot of trouble. It will be great to see what else they get into and where Olivia ends up. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
  • See below

    4
    By Kjnnurpl
    I loved the Indiana Jones series growing up & thought about becoming an archeologist as a girl..... This is an adventure of a lifetime for Olivia..... or is it lifetimes??...Is the key just the physical aspect or does it also have a figurative meaning?? Got to read to find out.. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! I received this little gem of an ARC for my honest opinion and review. HAPPY READING!! I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
  • Love love love!

    5
    By MrsP2k13
    Absolutely loved it! Can’t wait to read book two!
  • Superb!!!!

    5
    By DSS302
    Great Story! This was full of action with drama and suspense throughout it. It was a unique story. Olivia was a kick butt of a woman who at times shows a softer side. Kael is this grouchy but protective. It is gripping and beautifully developed with beautifully developed characters. Even the support characters are amazing. It is definitely worth reading and doesn’t disappoint. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
  • Most original urban fantasy that I have read in years!

    5
    By Jamie P. Goodman
    The Cursed Key captivated me from the first page. Olivia is an experienced archeologist but also a little bit of a rule breaker in the name of discovery. Early in the book, this lands her in a dangerous adventure through a lost tomb where she emerges only to nearly be attacked by a Jaguar, who later turns out to be a shifter who works for a paranormal agency. The artifact she’s lifted from the tomb is cursed, and we spend the beginning portion of the book immersed in the mystery of what this item is as well as the character experiencing a bit of madness, almost like a mental break with disturbing visions and impulses. But when she tries to get rid of the key someone else gets it and this ends up bringing the jaguar shifter back into her life. The two of them now have to work together to get the cursed key back from the mage. This was the part in the story where things really took off for me even more. The novel takes place all over the world, Brazil the United States and even Scotland, and one thing I appreciated was the accuracy of world representation. Most authors would forget for example that Brazil is below the equator and hot weather in Brazil would be cold weather on the other side of the world. Yet Brock and Hamilton depicted a short passing of time and weather that lined up based on location. As someone who travels a lot, this attention to detail did not go unnoticed. Olivia’s character fascinated me from the onset. She lives on her own, no real friends or family and no romantic life, as she’s chosen a job that involves a lot of travel. She has a boss to answer to, and a career to uphold, but in the end her magical calling ends up being even more exciting than her chosen life of adventure and discovery. Although Olivia has previously lived a life of solitude however it is clear that she cares about humanity, which played nicely into her developing feelings for Kael, or at least not wanting him to die because of her, despite her finding him aggravating at times. On Kael’s part we see both his serious side as a man who works for a paranormal agency as well as his softer side and his weaknesses. His shifter nature comes through wonderfully when we see how protective he becomes over Olivia whether that be due to his simple attraction to her or because he is tasked with getting the key and needs her help. His need to keep her safe does however seem to evolve from needing her as an asset to caring about her as a person as one might expect when working closely with someone in a life or death situation where teamwork is needed to survive. Overall this was a fun read. I read it in a day, which make it feel like a short read, but when I looked at the page count, it’s on the longer side of a full length read in the genre. I think that speaks volumes to Miranda Brock and Rebecca Hamilton’s ability to entertain and sweep the reader away with their storytelling. A lot happens in this fast-paced urban fantasy and I appreciate that the authors haven’t rushed the relationship with Olivia and Kael. There’s attraction, hesitancy to trust one another, and by the end of the book, they are certainly friends with feelings for one another. I look forward to seeing how that develops more in book two. Overall, I enjoyed the book far more than I thought I would when I first opened it up. I am excited to see the following books be released so I can follow Olivia's journey in finding who she is and what will happen with her soul. I claimed a free copy of this book from BookSprout but am leaving my review voluntarily.
  • An urban fantasy that has an interesting premise but isn't quite fully developed.

    3
    By taytothelor
    *Spoilers* Mild spoilers below. So, I wavered on what I should rate this book. I initially was going to score it lower, but as the book progressed and I got more wrapped up in the story I began to see a more redeeming side of "The Cursed Key." However, calling it an "Adult" urban fantasy book seems a little off as it read more like a young-adult novel to me. That might just be my perception though as I tend to read more young-adult than adult novels. My biggest issue with the book is that the beginning (around 1/4 of the book) seemed to drag on, but then the last 3/4 seemed to go by very quickly and almost felt rushed. The book isn't very long to begin with (Amazon puts it at 229 pages, on my iBooks it was around 400 pages) and I feel like it would it did the plot and character development a disservice by keeping it shorter. While it is a trilogy, the first book almost gave me whiplash with all the scene changes and rapid character/relationship development. There is no clear timeline presented in the book, but it did not seem like that much time had passed from when Olivia was sweating bullets in South America and then freezing in Scotland. I don't believe a lot of time needed to pass to be a believable timeline for the plot, but I do think Olivia and Kael's relationship developed pretty quickly for how much they seem to care for one another. Overall, I enjoyed the book far more than I thought I would when I first opened it up. I am excited to see the following books be released so I can follow Olivia's journey in finding who she is and what will happen with her soul. I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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