Title: Shadow Spell
Series: The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy bk 2
Author: Nora Roberts
Genre: Paranormal
With the legends and lore of Ireland running through his blood, falconer Connor O’Dwyer is proud to call County Mayo home. It’s where his sister, Branna, lives and works, where his cousin, Iona, has found true love, and where his childhood friends form a circle that can’t be broken…
A circle that is about to be stretched out of shape—by a long-awaited kiss.
Meara Quinn is Branna’s best friend, a sister in all but blood. Her and Connor’s paths cross almost daily, as Connor takes tourists on hawk walks and Meara guides them on horseback across the lush countryside. She has the eyes of a gypsy and the body of a goddess…things Connor has always taken for granted—until his brush with death propels them into a quick, hot tangle.
Plenty of women have found their way to Connor’s bed, but none to his heart until now. Frustratingly, Meara is okay with just the heat, afraid to lose herself—and their friendship—to something more. But soon, Connor will see the full force and fury of what runs in his blood. And he will need his family and friends around him when his past rolls in like the fog, threatening an end to all he loves.
Thoughts: I’m a HUGE Nora Roberts fan. This news doesn’t come as a shock to anyone who knows me or has read my reviews of her books here before. What will come as a shock is that when I got Dark Witch the first book in this series I had no desire to read it. In fact I still haven’t read it. I’ve been told I need to go back and read it, and while I’d like to say I will, I probably won’t only because the two characters who are in it didn’t spark any interest in me when I read them in this book.
When I started this book I wasn’t sure what to think about it. Having read ever single book that Nora has published (yes I’ve read all two hundred and something of them and own almost all of them) this book it became clear was not like most of her books. I expected it to be like the other books of hers that are set in Ireland, and while it was similar it wasn’t the same.
I normally can get so completely caught up in one of her books that I ignore everyone and everything. That wasn’t the case with this book. It was very hard to read because it was written in a way that flowed like they talk in Ireland, very lyrical. Because of this it took me some time to get into the book and every time I had to put the book down it took me a couple of pages to get back into the flow of the story.
At one point I will admit I wondered if she’d pulled a James Patterson on us, but then Nora’s voice came out and I realized she’d just done a fabulous job of channeling Ireland in this story.
As far as the romance between Connor and Meara is concerned I loved them. Loved the way they moved from being life long friends to lovers and how everyone around them knew it was more than sex and were all finally it’s about time.
I do have to confess I was more intrigued by the back story and contention between Branna and Fin the characters for the next book, than I was the romance of Connor and Meara as good as it was, and I can’t wait for their book.
In all of Nora’s other paranormal/magical stories the characters have never been as blatant about their magic as they are in this book. Which I really liked. They were witches and power and they used it. Especially when it came to getting Meara naked for Connor.
If you’re a fan of Nora’s paranormal stories you won’t want to miss this series.
Grade B+
