Cast a Lover's Spell
Claire ThompsonHistorical erotic romance
Available from Romance Unbound Publishing
ISBN: 1449546773
October 2009
| Paul Windsor is a warlock who, although he has closed his heart to love, has a propensity towards helping mortal women heal from past hurts. Anne Kaliner is a young widow wallowing in grief at the death of her husband. After a chance meeting, they are both surprised by the depth of the attraction they feel -- Paul because his emotions run deeper than he is used to; Anne because she hasn't been able to move past the loss of her husband. As Paul and Anne explore the desire between them, he introduces her to his world of magic, inadvertently giving her the tools to free herself from a crazed abductor.
Cast a Lover's Spell seemed set to explore themes of letting go -- of grief, of control -- in order to find and accept happiness. Paul is used to manipulating women's thoughts and emotions, and early on realises he doesn't want Anne to only surrender to her desire for him under those circumstances. Anne has made something of a career of mourning and through her desire for Paul begins to realise life must go on. I was looking forward to a more in-depth expansion of that premise, but ultimately was rather disappointed, as the book moved away in other directions. It was a somewhat interesting read, but the style of writing, while having nothing wrong with it per se, wasn't to my taste. I grew impatient with the exposes and details that slowed the story down and ended up skimming to get to the dénouement I had seen coming far too early on. The characters spent a great deal of time inside their own heads, feeding me information that could have come out in other ways, or perhaps in smaller increments. I found the explicit sex scenes occasionally repetitive, and the villain rather over-the-top.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Moe |
