Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Tor Books (2006), Edition: First Edition, 400 pages
Description
There is magic in the big city literally. New York City has a small, and by preference discrete, population of witches and wizards who live and love and go dancing just like everyone else. Holly McClure is one of them, a successful writer who tries to ignore her heritage, except when the local Magistrate needs her special gift in his coven. Holly is far more interested in Evan Lachlan, the handsome federal marshal who works with her best friend, assistant district attorney Susannah Wingfield. But trouble is coming to the City in the form of a black coven run by a murderous psychopath, and deputy marshals and ADAs are powerless to deal with that kind of crime. The danger to Holly is extreme, for her special gift is the power of her blood to strengthen and bind any spell, for good or for evil. Holly's passionate love affair will be derailed by those who want to drain her for their own purposes. In the end it will be magic against magic, and Holly McClure will have to risk all for life and love."… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Meijhen
The only reason I gave this 2 stars was because the writing flowed well enough, and was enjoyabled enough to keep me going to the end. The subtitle of this work is "A love story with magical interruptions," and that is exactly what it is -- a romance novel with some paranormal trappings. If you are
I had real problems with this book. First, all of Rawn's books have an element of romance in them, the "One True Love" concept (Rohan & Sioned, Pol & Sionell, Tobin & Chay, Sara & Collan, Gorynel & Cai, etc). I have no problem with this in a fantasy setting; it only bothers me when the setting is the "Real World," because it just doesn't work that way.
Also, the Magic in the book was really confusing me. At first it seemed that a person's magic (something they were born with) and their religion or faith were separate things (hence being a Catholic Witch). But at other points in the book it became clear that if you were born a Witch than you became a Wiccan. The description of Holly's family is a prime example of that. Despite everyone else in the family being at least nominally Christian, if you were born with the talent, then you were Wiccan. Why? Doesn't jibe with things spouted by the characters at various other places in the book.
Holly's character was inconsistent. She was apparently supposed to be this big, strong woman, who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to go it alone, etc etc, prime example of feminist womanhood, blah blah blah. Except she dissolved into tears and insecurity at a moment's notice, particularly regarding men, she constantly whinged on and on about WHAT she was, and despite that educated intelligence she was supposed to have, that was so good at understanding other people, she hadn't the faintest clue what was going on with herself. I know that is common, but it seemed a little excessive with her. It's rare that I don't like a main character, but Holly pretty much just got on my nerves.
The whole scene with Evan and his breakdown just irritated the hell out of me. If it really did happen like it was described in the book, no way would he have been treated like that.
The fact that Evan and Elias don't like each other is harped upon constantly, but really no reason is given. Same with Holly and Elias. He just didn't seem that bad to me.
There was entirely too much build up to the main action -- the book probably could have been shortened by half and still provided plenty of information. The characters I was most interested in -- Aunt Lulah, and Nicky and Alec -- we didn't see nearly enough of.
All in all, I thought the book was inconsistent. The writing itself held my interest, and the story was interesting, but I just didn't have that level of caring about the characters that is necessary to really get into a book. There were just too many places in it that caused me to say "Wait....what?" and have to pull back to figure out why that made sense (and more often than not, it didn't).
Show More
looking for another novel along the lines of the Dragon books, or Ruins of Ambrai, this is not that novel.I had real problems with this book. First, all of Rawn's books have an element of romance in them, the "One True Love" concept (Rohan & Sioned, Pol & Sionell, Tobin & Chay, Sara & Collan, Gorynel & Cai, etc). I have no problem with this in a fantasy setting; it only bothers me when the setting is the "Real World," because it just doesn't work that way.
Also, the Magic in the book was really confusing me. At first it seemed that a person's magic (something they were born with) and their religion or faith were separate things (hence being a Catholic Witch). But at other points in the book it became clear that if you were born a Witch than you became a Wiccan. The description of Holly's family is a prime example of that. Despite everyone else in the family being at least nominally Christian, if you were born with the talent, then you were Wiccan. Why? Doesn't jibe with things spouted by the characters at various other places in the book.
Holly's character was inconsistent. She was apparently supposed to be this big, strong woman, who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to go it alone, etc etc, prime example of feminist womanhood, blah blah blah. Except she dissolved into tears and insecurity at a moment's notice, particularly regarding men, she constantly whinged on and on about WHAT she was, and despite that educated intelligence she was supposed to have, that was so good at understanding other people, she hadn't the faintest clue what was going on with herself. I know that is common, but it seemed a little excessive with her. It's rare that I don't like a main character, but Holly pretty much just got on my nerves.
The whole scene with Evan and his breakdown just irritated the hell out of me. If it really did happen like it was described in the book, no way would he have been treated like that.
The fact that Evan and Elias don't like each other is harped upon constantly, but really no reason is given. Same with Holly and Elias. He just didn't seem that bad to me.
There was entirely too much build up to the main action -- the book probably could have been shortened by half and still provided plenty of information. The characters I was most interested in -- Aunt Lulah, and Nicky and Alec -- we didn't see nearly enough of.
All in all, I thought the book was inconsistent. The writing itself held my interest, and the story was interesting, but I just didn't have that level of caring about the characters that is necessary to really get into a book. There were just too many places in it that caused me to say "Wait....what?" and have to pull back to figure out why that made sense (and more often than not, it didn't).
Show Less
LibraryThing member starstorm
In the past, Melanie Rawn did such a wonderful job of incorporating romance into her books that I didn't think this one could possibly miss... but for me it did. I'm not even really sure how to describe *what* exactly put me off, except that it almost seemed like she was trying to do too much with
Show More
this book, that it was going in too many different directions at once. The subtitle of the book, "A Love Story With Magical Interruptions" is completely appropriate, because there were many places where I perceived the magical aspect of the story as an interruption to the romance aspect; to me they just didn't blend well a lot of the time. It also felt a bit like she was attempting to explain too much about magic at times (the terms and accouterments especially), maybe to prove that she'd done her homework? It just felt like a bit too much information that wasn't truly necessary for a reader to enjoy the story. That isn't to say that I didn't have any issues with the romance part, and maybe it's for the same reason noted by one of the other reviewers... that the "real world" setting made it less believable for how quickly/deeply they fell, only to be torn apart by something that shouldn't have caused such a rift in my opinion. That being said, there were bits I enjoyed; where I was able to engage with the story and characters, or where I literally laughed out loud at the clever dialog--these are the things I'm used to with Melanie's other books. There just weren't enough of them in this book for me to really recommend it. I'm so glad to see that Melanie's gotten back to a point in her life where she's able to write again, and I'm hoping that she also regains the true magic of her writing that I've seen in the past, no matter whether she chooses a fantasy or real-world setting. Show Less
LibraryThing member victorianrose869
9-9-2008
This is the second book I’ve given up on this year, but it at least helped me come to the decision that I’m no longer going to force myself to finish books I don’t like. Like someone else said, life is too short. It’s very difficult for me to give up on a book when I feel like
This is NOT necessarily a bad book, though. I don’t want to say that. Rawn is an experienced and skilled writer well known already for her Dragon Star, Dragon Prince and Exiles fantasy series’, and it’s just the style and characters I personally don’t like. The synopsis sounded fantastic! The story centers around a modern urban witch, Holly McClure, her new relationship with an Irish cop, and the issue of a local rogue coven practicing black magick that Holly’s coven must stop. All of the characters live in NYC and have day jobs, mostly in the judiciary branch, and the strongest draw of the book for me was that it went beyond your usual “Witch 101” mentality and started at a more advanced level. In other words, it makes the assumption that you’re already a little bit schooled in the realm of the occult, witchcraft, and magickal theory. After practicing myself for almost 20 years now, that really appealed to me. I thought, “Ah, what a relief! We won’t have to go through all the introductory “here’s what a witch does” rigamarole!
I bought this in hardcover when it came out in 2006 because at that time I thought, given my own involvement and interest in witchcraft and the paranormal, surely the burgeoning occult fiction genre was going to appeal to me - a la Jim Butcher, Laurell K. Hamilton, Rachel Caine, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, and others. I was wrong.
What I specifically do not care for is the bantering, chick-litty and very simplistic style all of these authors seem to have adopted. At first it seemed kind of edgy, but the novelty wore off quickly and now I really hate it. They all read like Live Journal blogs. It’s quite the fad and permeates a lot of contemporary fiction, which I think is a shame because at the risk of sounding melodramatic, I think the art of fine lyrical prose is becoming lost in favor of witty repartee that is, frankly, pretentious, overused, and just plain dull. I just prefer more artistry in my reading, if that makes sense.
In this book specifically there was far too much romantic/flirty banter between the two main characters just in the first 50 pages; far too much going on about how fabulous and sexy they found each other…just passages and passages of each character extolling the other’s virtues: “he’d never met a woman like her, who could make him feel this way” kind of stuff. You know what I’m talking about. Fifty pages of that was enough for me.
However, that doesn’t make it a “bad” book. In fact, I might actually recommend it (at least as much as I can recommend something I only read 50 pages of) to anyone who enjoys a strong modern romantic aspect to their genre fiction and likes that gum-snapping, kinda-tough-but-still-girly style – kind of a cross between Stephanie Plum and Samantha Stephens.
For those like me who want the more advanced occult element without the fluff and kissy-face, Rosemary Edghill’s Bast books are going to be a more satisfying choice.
This is the second book I’ve given up on this year, but it at least helped me come to the decision that I’m no longer going to force myself to finish books I don’t like. Like someone else said, life is too short. It’s very difficult for me to give up on a book when I feel like
Show More
I’ve invested both time and money in it, and I do always want to give the author a fair shake. But again, life is just too short to spend tormenting oneself over bad books. This is NOT necessarily a bad book, though. I don’t want to say that. Rawn is an experienced and skilled writer well known already for her Dragon Star, Dragon Prince and Exiles fantasy series’, and it’s just the style and characters I personally don’t like. The synopsis sounded fantastic! The story centers around a modern urban witch, Holly McClure, her new relationship with an Irish cop, and the issue of a local rogue coven practicing black magick that Holly’s coven must stop. All of the characters live in NYC and have day jobs, mostly in the judiciary branch, and the strongest draw of the book for me was that it went beyond your usual “Witch 101” mentality and started at a more advanced level. In other words, it makes the assumption that you’re already a little bit schooled in the realm of the occult, witchcraft, and magickal theory. After practicing myself for almost 20 years now, that really appealed to me. I thought, “Ah, what a relief! We won’t have to go through all the introductory “here’s what a witch does” rigamarole!
I bought this in hardcover when it came out in 2006 because at that time I thought, given my own involvement and interest in witchcraft and the paranormal, surely the burgeoning occult fiction genre was going to appeal to me - a la Jim Butcher, Laurell K. Hamilton, Rachel Caine, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, and others. I was wrong.
What I specifically do not care for is the bantering, chick-litty and very simplistic style all of these authors seem to have adopted. At first it seemed kind of edgy, but the novelty wore off quickly and now I really hate it. They all read like Live Journal blogs. It’s quite the fad and permeates a lot of contemporary fiction, which I think is a shame because at the risk of sounding melodramatic, I think the art of fine lyrical prose is becoming lost in favor of witty repartee that is, frankly, pretentious, overused, and just plain dull. I just prefer more artistry in my reading, if that makes sense.
In this book specifically there was far too much romantic/flirty banter between the two main characters just in the first 50 pages; far too much going on about how fabulous and sexy they found each other…just passages and passages of each character extolling the other’s virtues: “he’d never met a woman like her, who could make him feel this way” kind of stuff. You know what I’m talking about. Fifty pages of that was enough for me.
However, that doesn’t make it a “bad” book. In fact, I might actually recommend it (at least as much as I can recommend something I only read 50 pages of) to anyone who enjoys a strong modern romantic aspect to their genre fiction and likes that gum-snapping, kinda-tough-but-still-girly style – kind of a cross between Stephanie Plum and Samantha Stephens.
For those like me who want the more advanced occult element without the fluff and kissy-face, Rosemary Edghill’s Bast books are going to be a more satisfying choice.
Show Less
LibraryThing member flourishing
This was a pretty outstandingly terrible book. I borrowed it in hopes - Melanie Rawn isn't a bad fantasy novelist. But her character here is a terrible Mary Sue, and not even an unusual or special Mary Sue - she's an Irishwoman, a Southern belle, and a famous fiction author who has a lot of money
Show More
(and it gets ground into you that she has a lot of money, since the love interest is an alpha male who can't stand the fact that she makes more than he does). I kept feeling like this was a 1980s novel, one of those ones that are romance masquerading as literary fiction - but it isn't.Then, to add insult to injury, the plot doesn't go anywhere - just sort of meanders around, never gripping your interest. I couldn't even finish it, it was so boring.Do yourself a favor: skip this one and just go for some paranormal romance that's written by a real romance novelist. Show Less
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
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 -
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.
Show More
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.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ErasmusRob
A delightful tale, particularly from the point of view of an experienced Wiccan. Ms. Rawn has clearly done her homework, but has equally clearly done a bit of writing of her own ideas into the story, which is exactly how such a thing should be done, if you ask me.
As the subtitle says, it's a love
Don't read it to learn about Wicca, but do read it for an enjoyable tale.
As the subtitle says, it's a love
Show More
story with magical interruptions. The character development is a bit predictable, I think, or at least the *relationship* development is, but there's also a murder/horror element that keeps everything going along quite nicely.Don't read it to learn about Wicca, but do read it for an enjoyable tale.
Show Less
LibraryThing member flourishing
This was a pretty outstandingly terrible book. I borrowed it in hopes - Melanie Rawn isn't a bad fantasy novelist. But her character here is a terrible Mary Sue, and not even an unusual or special Mary Sue - she's an Irishwoman, a Southern belle, and a famous fiction author who has a lot of money
Show More
(and it gets ground into you that she has a lot of money, since the love interest is an alpha male who can't stand the fact that she makes more than he does). I kept feeling like this was a 1980s novel, one of those ones that are romance masquerading as literary fiction - but it isn't.Then, to add insult to injury, the plot doesn't go anywhere - just sort of meanders around, never gripping your interest. I couldn't even finish it, it was so boring.Do yourself a favor: skip this one and just go for some paranormal romance that's written by a real romance novelist. Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Many years ago, in fact enough years ago that I really don't want to admit to them, I read Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince etc., and enjoyed them. This book's afterword explains why she took so long to write something new, depression can be ugly.
This is an interesting story of a group of magicians,
I enjoyed the read and I look forward to the sequel Fire Raiser.
This is an interesting story of a group of magicians,
Show More
the focus is Holly McClure, whose blood can "fix" spells and make them more potent. Her boyfriend and her coven have to fight evil in New York City, and it's an interesting mix. Yes, it has romance, but it's not "a romance" per say, it is as it is billed, a love story with magical interruptions. Evan Lachan is a great balance to Holly and he has to deal realistically with his own issues before dealing with hers.I enjoyed the read and I look forward to the sequel Fire Raiser.
Show Less
LibraryThing member helver
In the author's note at the end of the book, Melanie Rawn explains to her readers that because of her bout with depression, she felt like she had to do something different and something not at all like her previous books. This book, to me, is altogether a different beast.
Set in the current day,
It took me a little while to force my way into the book. I thought a lot of the banter between Holly and Evan was charming, but their falling out seemed very contrived. I was completely overwhelmed by the unending stream of detail regarding stones, flowers, herbs, incenses, days of the year, colors ... and how those various things contribute to spells. The addition of a whole slew of mythos from around the world just added to the jumble. I even had to read the final confrontation three times to try to understand what was going on... and I'm still not sure I know what the author was trying to convey there.
At the end of the day, though, I thought the book redeemed itself. It also doesn't hurt to have a hero that's (like me) approaching middle age, but still manages to get the girl...
Set in the current day,
Show More
Spellbinder tells the story of a coven of modern day witches and warlocks in their battle against a sociopath with delusions of grandeur on a previously unseen scale - basically he wants to conquer death and become a god. Also joining the fray is a New York cop who just happens to fall madly in love with our heroine, the Spellbinder, a most unique and potent individual.It took me a little while to force my way into the book. I thought a lot of the banter between Holly and Evan was charming, but their falling out seemed very contrived. I was completely overwhelmed by the unending stream of detail regarding stones, flowers, herbs, incenses, days of the year, colors ... and how those various things contribute to spells. The addition of a whole slew of mythos from around the world just added to the jumble. I even had to read the final confrontation three times to try to understand what was going on... and I'm still not sure I know what the author was trying to convey there.
At the end of the day, though, I thought the book redeemed itself. It also doesn't hurt to have a hero that's (like me) approaching middle age, but still manages to get the girl...
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2006-09-28
Physical description
400 p.; 6.52 inches
ISBN
0765315327 / 9780765315328