Review - Witch Heart

Title: Witch Heart
Author: Anya Bast
Publication Date: 2009
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: DNF
Sensuality: Hot

Witch Heart is book three of Anya Bast's Elemental Witch series. Claire is a human that has been living as a handmaiden to a demon in another world Eudae, since she was six years old. After Thomas, head of the Chicago witch coven accidentally went through the portal and found himself in Eudae, Claire helped him to escape back to Earth (Book 2, Witch Blood). Claire's demon gifts her with a powerful magical weapon, the Elium which is attached to her core magic. She goes through the portal to Earth because she is being hunted by other demons who will kill her to get the Elium. When Claire arrives on Earth she meets up with Thomas's coven. Thomas assigns Adam, a fire witch, to protect her while they work on a solution to detach the Elium from Claire without killing her.

Okay, Witch Heart was the book I was referring too that sparked the poll on whether or not I should review a book that I was unable to finish. Many of you expressed an interest in hearing why I was unable to finish it and so I will give it my best shot, even though it has been two weeks since I attempted to read it. I did manage to read 200 pages out of 300.

Basically, the problem I had with the book was that there was so much potential for intricate world building, by showing how Claire had to adapt from going from the culture on Eudae to Earth. Unfortunately, there were just brief snippets of information that barely scratched the surface. The book definitely would have benefited and would have been more interesting if this aspect would have been better developed.

Another thing that really bothered me, was that both Adam and Claire were constantly internalizing every thought they had. It wasn't so much what I would call mental lusting, but more of just an internal monologue of their thoughts about the other person and any issues they had - and they did have issues. Adam's issues ranged from dealing with his new feelings for Claire and his old feelings for his dead wife. Claire had issues with having the Elium inside her and not wanting other people around her to get hurt, plus she didn't know how to deal with her attraction to Adam either. All these issues, instead of moving the book forward, seemed to stall the momentum of the plot and it made for some very boring reading. I think the main problem for me was my own expectations and unfortunately, Witch Heart didn't live up to them.

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Review - Witch Blood

 

Title: Witch Blood
Author: Anya Bast
Publishing Date: March 2008
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: B
Sensuality: Burning

Isabelle Novak, a water witch, has been hunting down the demon who viciously murdered her sister Angela, the one person she has allowed an emotional attachment to. Since the Demon has eluded her, she settles for destroying the warlock (a witch turned bad) who allowed the demon into this world, Stefan Faucheux. She poses as his latest play thing, luring him into her clutches. Finally, she gets him where she wants him - with his pants down; a very vulnerable position, indeed. Yet, right when she has him in her grasp, Thomas Monahan snatches him away and imprisons Stefan at Gribban. Thomas, head of the Coven, notices the desperation surrounding Isabelle. He convinces her to stay at the Coven and join them in tracking down the demon.

Witch Blood had a more serious feel to it; lacking the humorous feel Witch Fire had. In Witch Fire, the heroine didn’t even know she was a witch. So we learned about the new world and her new powers right along side her. In Witch Blood, Isabelle and Thomas are already well established in the use of their powers. There is less written about how they use their powers. What they do discover, the hard way, is that their magic is useless on the demon they are hunting. Therefore, they have to discover what its weaknesses are. We are introduced to more world building as they research the demon. We also meet many new characters in the Coven. Adam, the ‘man-whore’ (what Isabelle calls him in one scene), is a particular favorite. Theo and Micah are interesting as well.

Isabelle is they type of heroine who grates on my nerves. She has had a hard past and because of it, she pushes everyone who gets too close to her away. After two-thirds of the book, this really got old. I thought for a moment in the middle of the story we were going to see some growth, but it didn’t come well until the end. Thomas, bless his heart, knew what he wanted and never took no for an answer. He could read Isabelle like a book, and just bulldozed over her crap. I liked him. As a character, he was much better than Isabelle. One disappointment, though, was we were given no background on him. Isabelle has a fully developed back story, where Thomas has one sentence. It would have been nice to have a better balance here.

I would have given this book a lower grade if it had not been for the kick-ass twist at the end of the book. I totally did not see this coming. I give my congratulations to Bast for her ingenious imagination. The last forty pages had me on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. That being said, I can’t wait to read the next book in the series and see what direction Bast leads us in. It is sure to be interesting.

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