Arthurian legend revisited in modern tale

 Priya Ardis channels King Arthur in her young adult paranormal romance series, My Merlin.
 The first novel in the trilogy, My Boyfriend Merlin, begins with a natural disaster, a world tremor and the appearance of a rock with the handle of a knife poking through. Now people all around the world are vying for their turn to try to pull the sword out of the stone.
 High school senior Arriane (Ryan) DuLac is thrown into a whirlwind when she discovers that her ex-boyfriend Matt Emrys is a magician and gargoyles have been trying to kill her and her family for years. To top it off, Ryan and her soon-to-be adoptive brother Grey are candidates to be the next King of Camelot and have to travel to Europe to train with wizard Matt before they try to pull the sword from the stone.
 The best part of this novel is the back-and-forth romance between Ryan and ex-boyfriend Matt, who Ryan has just found out is Merlin from the original King Arthur story.
Matt and his almost identical brother Vivane Northe compete for Ryan throughout the novel.
The reader can determine that this tug-and-pull romance will transcend the three novels of this series.
Now Ryan, Grey and the other candidates have to learn how to defend themselves and use the skills they have to defeat the gargoyles before trying their hand at the sword in the stone.
This fast-paced page turner is just over 150 pages and is never dull. The attention to Arthurian detail gives the novel an old world mythic quality while staying modern through the use of iPads. The struggle between Merlin's old traditions and modern technologies keeps the story interesting.
Book two of the series, Awakening, has been set up to be just as great as the first and I had to buy book two before I even finished book one. Priya Ardis knows how to write a paranormal romance.