A Review of Harmony Black (Harmony Black Series Book 1) By Author Craig Schaefer

A Review of Harmony Black (Harmony Black Series Book 1) By Author Craig Schaefer

Excerpt from the back:

Harmony Black is much more than your average FBI special agent. In addition to being a practicing witch, she’s also an operative for Vigilant Lock, an off-the-books program created to battle occult threats—by any means necessary. Despite her dedication to fighting the monsters threatening society, Harmony has become deeply conflicted about her job. Her last investigation resulted in a pile of dead bodies, and she suspects the wrong people are being punished for it.

While on a much-needed vacation, Harmony gets pulled back into action. This time, though, she’s gone from solo work to being part of a team. Their target: The Bogeyman, a vicious and elusive figure…and the creature that destroyed Harmony’s childhood.

Surrounded by quirky, fascinating characters as dedicated to one another as they are to their new partner, Harmony must learn to trust her team—and a new romantic interest—on a dangerous and deadly mission that conjures up memories she’d much rather forget.

Rating: 3 out of 5 

 I really wanted to love this book it had such a good premise that is right in my sweet reading spot. I bet you saw the “wanted to “I began reading this book and usually I start a book and cannot stop until the end (luckily I am a fast reader) I had no issues putting this one down. It was not a bad book but it was not nearly as good as it could have been with a few tweaks to the story and some character development.

This is a story about a young female FBI agent who is also a witch working for a black ops division of the FBI. Such as promising story there was so much the author could have done with this and so very many possible ways he could have made us love this character Harmony Black. I never felt that pull of a character with Harmony that I normally do with a main player in a story there are a few reasons for this disconnect but I honestly want to care about the people I am reading about I want to feel their trumpets and get a little weepy when they fail mostly the only thing I felt though this book was a desire to go and read different book.

 There was not enough backstory to about Harmony Black who is she? How did she get her powers? We know they come from her mother's side but what more is there too it? How Many other witches are in this world is there a coven or some kind of society for them? None of this is addressed just simply “one day my mom shot magic at a monster and taught me to use magic” keep in mind Harmony is around 7 or so when this happens so you're telling me that in all that time she never saw magic from her mom before? That honestly is all there was to the backstory of her magic. Part of the best journeys of stories like this is to learn how the character developed her magic, how she or he feels connected to others, I got none of this connection I feel I know nothing of this magic and that is a disappointment.

During this book I was really hoping the author was going to build up Harmony and make me fall in love with this character there have been times in past books where I start off not really liking the main character but by the end I grow to enjoy them and know them. Instead of that gradually like I normally find Harmony comes off as a by the book boring backdrop to the other livelier characters in the book. I never found myself liking Harmony while she had some back and forth about blurring the lines in her by the book black and white life in the end predicatively she always leaned on the right side of boring and predictable.

The plot holds some interest it could have been better but it was good you have the tragedy that the main character is trying to overcome followed by the new interest and/or friendship then you get the emotional rawness of abducted children followed with a really creepy villain and in the end the hero wins and the villain is defeated. While this story has all that it was not written in a way that made crazy for the next line or wish for the next book. I honestly think that it was the character and not the story that I have issue with.

I honestly loved the idea of the boogeyman in this book and the way the author went with the villain it was creepy and emotional especially since it was dealing with children something that always tugs at you. The emotional tragedy that was put upon Harmony as a child due to this villain perhaps this leads to her need for order it certainly leads to her need for justice. The way they worked magic for the other characters in this book was interesting a little more explanation would have been nice but overall the premise and creepiness was there in relation to the villains in this story was good and is what keep me reading.

The other villains and a few possible allies (got to love the body hoppers) were pretty entertaining and had the right amount of creepy and downright dirty. There was a lot of childhood trauma in this book and since it at its core is about the boogeyman that is not surprising so be prepared to feel a little scared for your own children while and after reading this book. There are a lot of action paragraphs in this story something that is always good and one of the few times you get a glimpse into what Harmony could have been as a character. There is nothing I love more than a shootout with a demon!

The sidekicks because let's face it there are always side kicks in these stories you love them or are annoyed by them but there are always sidekicks. Harmony's new partner is an emotionally scarred young agent who had a tragic childhood (insert lively shared tragic childhood commiseration here). Honestly I loved the partner I thought she had real emotional issues that over time I am sure will come to light and lead her to new places. I really liked reading about her more than the main character Harmony she was funny, crazy, and a lot out there.

Also in the sidekick line up was an agent that was hurt in the line of duty and now plays a more research and profile role I do not want to spoil what happens in the line of duty but it plays a part in some of the other character’s development. The computer whiz kid that can hack into pretty much anything and I love simply because the author brought up my favorite MMO World of Warcraft in relation to him. After finishing the story, I didn't think that we saw enough of these two they had light cameos even though they were right there traveling with Harmony. The four of them staying in the same hotel and so on yet we only get a few brief intermissions with them and this is a shame. 

      There always seems to be a love interest in these stories this one is no different however this one seemed more like an afterthought, I felt like the author thought “well this is what is supposed to be in there so I will add it”. The love interest held some good possibilities but in the end I found him lacking and starts off too Ernst followed by too down in the dumps by the end. I found myself wishing the body hoping demon and Harmony would make a go of it that would have been interesting. It's difficult to take a story like this and try and add romance into the mix if you do it right it is amazing if you don’t it brings down the story I wish the author would have just left this out and came up with a better option in the next book.

      All in all, this is not a bad book would I read the next one in the series yes, if it was another free or highly reduced option because I believe there is a lot of hope for the premise of this story line. I hope the author take into mind how to make Harmony a more enjoyable participant in the story instead of being outshined by her partner and other players we see in the story. There needs to be more background and information on the witches in this book maybe this is all addressed in the previous series but if you are going to make a stand alone series you need to add this in. I liked the villain and think the author excelled at making them unique and I find the idea of how he does Hell in this series interesting and something I would like to know more about maybe this is going to be a story line as the books progress.

Amazon link http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZX99WCA?keywords=harmony%20black&qid=1456712546&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1