Review to come! 
 Update 12/19/15: 
 See more reviews on my blog Novels and Necklaces 
 Actual rating: 4.5 stars 
 Dark Heart of Magic is packed to the brim with action and excitement, and is the perfect middle book in the Black Blade series. Jennifer Estep balances the fighting/action with the mafia-style plot wonderfully, and it makes for a great read! This book was a bit different than the first book in the series, as this was centered on the Tournament of Blades, a magic competition that pits each of the Families against each other to see who's the best of the best. While the monsters aren't as involved in this story, each of the character's experience significant growth and development which culminates in some mind-blowing twists by the end of the book. 
 The Tournament of Blades was a very interesting competition, and it made for a great change of pace from the previous book. However, even though the competition made up the majority of the book, it also allowed Ms. Estep to focus more on the mafia-like families and ruling that make up the Black Blade world that she has created. I greatly enjoyed this aspect of the story, and it also allowed Ms. Estep to do some more world-building. Ms. Estep incorporated a fun whodunit into the plot as well, which made this book even more enjoyable! I had my suspicions throughout the book as to who was behind everything, and even though one of my picks ended up being correct, I was still surprised by how everything went down. The entire ending of this novel was brilliant in my opinion. It was packed with twists and turns, followed by a couple very sweet moments. 
 However, my favorite aspect of this book was watching all of the characters evolve and grow in their own unique ways. Jennifer Estep always writes her characters feisty, sassy, and tough, which I absolutely love. All of the characters have me cracking up with their one-liners and adventures. No matter what, her characters are always a breath of fresh air and something new and unique. With every book, Ms. Estep shows more and more depth to each of these characters, and readers are able to feel as if they are friends with them as well. This is something that I always love with books, and I think that it takes a truly gifted author to accomplish this. There are some developments with Lila and Devon in the romance department, and I am very happy with how Ms. Estep has handled their relationship thus far. It has had a natural flow to it, no insta-love. Plus, no love triangle. These two things together make me love this series even more! I absolutely love Lila and Devon together, and I'm interested to see where Ms. Estep takes their relationship in the next book. 
 Dark Heart of Magic is the perfect follow-up to Cold Burn of Magic and is a must-read for all fans of Jennifer Estep and this series. This novel is perfectly paced and has non-stop action and crazy adventures that readers have come to expect from Ms. Estep. You won't be disappointed! The wait for the next book in the series will be killer, and I can't wait to see what happens next! 
 Happy reading :)