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He’s a Keeper of Magic
The Keeper’s Code follows a determined journalist investigating her mother’s suspicious death who hires a PI with mystical connections to help her get answers. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
This is book 2 in my series. I wanted Ash Hunter, an important secondary character from book one, The Witch Whisperer, to have his own story. He’s a Keeper of Magic, so who better to pair him with than a determined journalist who wants to out his secret witch society. Falling in love with her, a Reg, makes his life doubly more difficult.
Skye is a woman with strength and determination. What do you think makes her a valuable and worthy heroine?
Skye doesn’t take any guff, and with her trust issues, she’s going to keep Ash on his toes. There’s not much she hasn’t seen or done, so she’s resilient and resourceful and adventurous.
In fantasy novels, it’s easy to get carried away with the magical powers characters have. How did you balance the use of supernatural powers?
When I was initially creating my world, I didn’t want the witches to embrace all the usual conventions, like spells and wiccan and black cauldrons, waving wands around. They come from another dimension of Earth called Tae-wen, driven out hundreds of years ago by a warring race called the Malgren who hate the mage. They traveled to our world through portals. They are pacifists extolling reverence for life and worshipping the One Mother. They set their own realm within Tae-wen in a deep sleep before they left. I gave them spectrums of powers from lower magic to high magic, calling them Quaints, Specials, and Elites. I didn’t want any one of them to be all-powerful like Superman. I did keep the convention of having consequences for using magic. The big issue with their magic is it has become unstable. More and more incidences of broken magic have been reported, which is a HUGE problem for their secrecy.
Where does the story go in the next book, and where do you see it going in the future?
I’m excited about book 3, the final book in the series. The story takes place 3 years after The Keeper’s Code and 5 years after book 1. I took two secondary characters from book 2, Gryph (a Malgren with witch-tainted blood) and Myst (a Keeper of Magic) to become the protags and love interests in book 3. The witch society has found that time spent in their ancient homeland by security forces seems to enhance their powers. They send a small group to their old sleeping city with 2 problematic witches, hoping the magic that still infuses the land will heal them. Myst, a Keeper of Magic who worked with Ash in book 2, is there for security because some warring Malgren are still hating on mage. She persuades her good friend and witch sympathizer Gryph to go with her after the Malgren who are hunting all the mage creatures. There be unicorns and tiny dragonites and other cool magical creatures. Of course, both Gryph and Myst have their own deep issues to deal with—I love to keep things interesting, maybe impossible?
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So believes Skye Parker, an investigative journalist with major trust issues. She is hell-bent on proving her mother’s murder was staged as a suicide by someone with paranormal powers. She follows a suspicious man connected to mystical events and discovers he’s a P.I. What better way to keep an eye on the enigmatic, sexy Ash Hunter than to hire him to find her mother’s killer? But danger escalates when the killer targets Skye.
Ash Hunter, a reluctant Keeper of Magic, is tasked with preventing Skye from finding out about his secret global witch society. He determines a witch is killing Reg (people without magic) and mage alike. Ash must reveal to an incredulous Skye, someone he’s fallen hard for, that he’s a powerful witch and so is the killer. When forces conspire against them, he takes Skye through a guarded portal to a safe place, Tae-wen. That mystical land proves anything but safe. Will Ash and Skye learn that trust works both ways when life and love are at stake?
The Keeper’s Code
Barb DeLong’s The Keeper’s Code, the second book in her Keepers of Magic series, is a romantic urban fantasy that mixes danger, desire, and a secret magical world just beneath the surface of Manhattan. It follows Skye Parker, a determined journalist with a haunted past, and Ash Hunter, a reluctant magical enforcer tasked with protecting the secrecy of the mage society. When their paths collide after a strange street incident and Skye begins investigating her mother’s suspicious death, they become entangled in a web of secrets, surveillance, magical politics, and unexpected feelings. The story builds on DeLong’s rich world of modern magic, complete with familiars, portals, memory wipes, and a hidden society trying to stay off the grid in a world of nosy journalists and viral videos.
I really enjoyed the character work here. Skye is fierce, smart, and emotionally raw. Her skepticism, fire, and relentless need for truth make her so easy to root for. I liked how DeLong let her flaws stand alongside her strengths. Ash, on the other hand, is this brooding, conflicted mix of noble and guarded. The dynamic between them felt fun, a little sexy, and believable. They get under each other’s skin in all the best ways. The writing is snappy with flashes of humor, especially in the dialogue, and I found myself smiling often. Soot the cat was a quiet standout for me, witty, magical, and the emotional glue in a lot of scenes. The pacing moved fast, sometimes almost too fast, but never dull. The romance had that slow-burn, “we definitely shouldn’t but we definitely will” vibe that I love.
The magical world-building can get a little heavy with exposition. There were a lot of terms, secret bureaus, memory wipes, shadow organizations, and portal jargon that could overwhelm readers not familiar with the first book. The story doesn’t shy away from pain and moral gray zones, either. Ash’s internal battle over saving lives versus staying hidden hit hard, and Skye’s grief is raw and real. DeLong didn’t just write a love story; she wrote a story about choosing what matters most when the stakes are personal and magical.
The Keeper’s Code is a great read for anyone who enjoys magical realism, romantic tension, and stories with hidden societies and ethical dilemmas. I’d recommend it especially to fans of Leigh Bardugo, Deborah Harkness, or early Buffy vibes with more grown-up edge. If you love snarky banter, a healthy dose of longing, a bit of mystery, and magic that crackles just beneath the surface of reality, then this book is for you. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for book three.
Pages: 318 | ASIN : B0DZ6X6FJ1
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