Available at Amazon.com

The line between good and evil is clearly drawn in the first Elemental Witches novel. Coven = good. Duskoff Cabal = evil. Mira Hoskins doesn’t know she’s an air witch until there’s a home invasion, where she’s rescued/kidnapped by fire witch Jack McAllister who claims he’s hiding her away for her own good. Jack trains Mira to use her magick until the time comes to move to the Coven in Chicago.

The cover art depicts a scene that didn’t happen quite like that. Yes, Mira’s tied to the bed, and even the pentagram necklace detail is right. But she wasn’t wearing a dress, at least not that one. I think she wore her diner waitress uniform, or borrowed sweats.

The author has some interesting ideas, and I look forward to learning more about the elements and what they do. And even though he’s evil, Stefan Faucheux is my favourite character here. He’s French ? that’s hot! There was a time when either Mira or Jack thought of him as a “French bastard”, which disturbed me ? pick one or the other, or else that sounds xenophobic. (But it’s okay, readers: as far as I know Anya Bast speaks fluent French and married a Belgian, of the French variety rather than the Flemish, I think. No sign of xenophobia from the good-natured author who’s a joy to be around.)

Because it’s paranormal romance, the focus is on Mira and Jack’s relationship, though I would’ve loved to see more danger and fight scenes. Still, the world-building is interesting enough that I’m already reading the sequel (where Mira and Jack become secondary characters rather than primary).

Review by Tez Miller

Tags | anya bast, magic, paranormal-romance