Helpful Score: 4
A terribly disappointing book. I've read and enjoyed everything else that Melanie Rawn has ever published, and enjoyed them all, but this book was a major departure - and really just not good. Rather than epic fantasy soap-opera (like her previous works) this is a modern-day supernatural romance - with the emphasis on romance. I've noticed before that Rawn has a distressingly conservative streak regarding relationships, but it's easier to excuse when the characters are living in a pseudo-medieval world that DOES care a lot about the production of heirs and women NEED to have children, blah, blah. But in modern-day New York (not that the setting of the book EVER feels like New York), it's, to me, inexcusable.
Holly McClure is a practicing witch (good) and also a massively wealthy and successful novelist. She mysteriously falls for a blue-collar Irish cop who doesn't know that she's a witch OR rich. When he finds out she's rich, her has such issues with her making more money than he does that he tries to break up with her. Basically, the guy is a jerk through-and-through, there is not ONE attractive thing about him. Why Holly likes him is a total mystery to the reader. Anyway, Holly has a rival, who is ALSO a sucessful, Anne-Rice-type novelist, who is a Slut and a Bad Witch. Her hi--jinks lead (slowly - this book is very long and rambling) to a showdown with Evil Occultists which gets some people murdered and her cop boyfriend dragged into the mess... along the way gratuitously insulting New Yorkers (and all city folks), goths, most pagans, most fans of bad supernatural novels such as this one, etc. (Although, surprisingly, there is a positive portrayal of gay characters, and pains are taken to portray Good Paganism as a positive religion). Still, in the end, Holly and the cop Get Out of the Big Bad City, Settle Down on a Nice Country Farm and Have Children. I roll my eyes.
Holly McClure is a practicing witch (good) and also a massively wealthy and successful novelist. She mysteriously falls for a blue-collar Irish cop who doesn't know that she's a witch OR rich. When he finds out she's rich, her has such issues with her making more money than he does that he tries to break up with her. Basically, the guy is a jerk through-and-through, there is not ONE attractive thing about him. Why Holly likes him is a total mystery to the reader. Anyway, Holly has a rival, who is ALSO a sucessful, Anne-Rice-type novelist, who is a Slut and a Bad Witch. Her hi--jinks lead (slowly - this book is very long and rambling) to a showdown with Evil Occultists which gets some people murdered and her cop boyfriend dragged into the mess... along the way gratuitously insulting New Yorkers (and all city folks), goths, most pagans, most fans of bad supernatural novels such as this one, etc. (Although, surprisingly, there is a positive portrayal of gay characters, and pains are taken to portray Good Paganism as a positive religion). Still, in the end, Holly and the cop Get Out of the Big Bad City, Settle Down on a Nice Country Farm and Have Children. I roll my eyes.
Helpful Score: 2
I got through the first 30+ pages & put it down. The story made no sense to me, the characters left me cold & I just couldn't get into it. Maybe someone else will like this book.
Couldn't get into this tale of modern-day witches in New York City. One problem was too many characters, introduced too quickly.
I am a Melanie Rawn fan, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It is completely different from her earlier books, I've read those and love the fantasy/science fiction genre. Keep an open mind and give this bok a chance, it's a good story.
Excellent book!
