Tempting Fate

Alasdair MacCorran is bored. He is a master mage living in Seattle, and he’s just not interested anymore – not in magic, not in women, not in anything. In an attempt to jolt him out of his doldrums, his friend Geoff Grayson bets him that he can’t train the first woman to pass by their booth in the restaurant to compete in the next annual Luna Ascesa (sort of like a convention and competition of magic combined), a little more than a month away. Mac, always one to rise to the challenge, and with the added incentive of Geoff’s promise to get Mac’s little sister into the Dalamor Bardic Academy, takes him up on his bet.

The first woman to pass by is Meg Tempest, a waitress at the restaurant. Meg is certain that her life is cursed because nothing has ever worked out right for her in her 28 years. She’s suspicious when a strange man walks up to her and offers to make her his apprentice. But with nothing left to lose, she reluctantly agrees to the bargain and sets out to learn magic under Mac’s guidance.

I’m usually a little skeptical about paranormal romances, because in my experience although the two different worlds may be well written, they don’t mesh well together, and that fails to get me beyond my “suspension of disbelief” barrier. That’s why I was very pleased to see that Ms. Mitchell has melded two very disparate fictional worlds, and made both of them believable. The characters in this novel are three-dimensional, even the secondary and bit players. The hero, Mac, and the heroine, Meg, are extremely complex people, which comes across in the writing. I enjoyed seeing Mac and Meg’s relationship grow and deepen throughout the book. The supporting plot had just enough suspense, and a lot of love scenes. I thought the love scenes themselves were emotional and fulfilling, and hovered just between sensuous and erotic – the love scenes were detailed and yet the author refrained from using the graphic wording which can be offensive to some readers. I liked this book a lot – in fact, it’s a keeper on my virtual shelves!

Reviewed by: Jean