Review: Mark of the Witch

Reviewed by Jen
 

Night after night, Indira has the same nightmare.  She is being killed for practicing witchcraft, along with her three sisters.  Only, it's no dream. It's a memory of her past life.

Tomas is priest who has trained his entire adult life for a single mission: to stop a witch from freeing a demon from hell.  When his sister Rayne calls him to consult about the strange dreams one of her sister witches is having, he realizes the nightmares match the circumstances of his calling. Right away, he sets out find Indira.

Both Tomas and Indira have been feeling disconnected from their faith. Indira had already stepped away from Wicca and Tomas turned in papers to leave the priesthood.  But once they are thrown together, they both begin to reconnect with their beliefs.  The effects of Indy's dreams are beginning to manifest physically and together, they work to find the amulet and the portal necessary to free the demon. Of course, they do this with the plan to keep the demon safely locked away.

It's only a matter of time before these two are drawn to each other, but are the feelings real or remnants of their past life together?  Is Tomas's mentor a true believer or a crazed zealot?  Who are the heroes and who are the villains in this story?  It's hard to tell until the very end.

It took me a little while to invest in the story.  Tomas was really kind of a waffler.  It took too long for him and Indira to get together and I thought the sexual tension could have been better in the meantime.  I usually really like the whole forbidden priest relationships, but this one was just ok.  I understand he had to let go of some long-held beliefs but I wanted to shake him more than once for how long her bought into the lies he was told.

I will give the book credit for an unpredictable plot. There was nothing obvious about the direction the story would take... and I liked how it all played out.  And I'm intrigued about the potential reunion story between Indy's sister Lilia and her man.  I will definitely read that story.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. The romance just fell a little short of its potential.

Rating: B-

*ARC Provided by Mira via NetGalley

Click to purchase: Amazon

Mark of the Witch

by Maggie Shayne

Release Date: September 18, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Mira