The Sorcerer’s Mark

Wyldelock Talan DeCroft, a sorcerer, has slept the sleep of the punished for many years. Now, though, something has changed. He is awakening slowly, remembering why it is that he is trapped in isolation. He has suffered this punishment for the betrayal of friendship, but there is more to the curse. Never again will he take from the innocent indiscriminately. Never again will he use and discard the affections of the women who want him. The curse will see that he remains true to the one woman destiny has chosen for him.

Olivia Morgan, descended from a line of witches, has grown up in the shadow of Byrne’s Keep. As a child, she’d promised her grandmother that she’d never explore the ramshackle building that was once the pride and joy of their family, but now, as a woman, something in the tumbledown ruin recognizes her...calls to her. She finds a link with the past among the shards of the abandoned house, and is startled and then amused at the run-in she has with an owl. When the Keep is sold and the mysterious new owner, William Talbot, comes to town, Olivia must fight her growing attraction to the man and try to keep herself from harm.

Dietrick Von Der Weilde was the one who cursed Wyldelock all of those years ago. They were blood brothers, inseparable, and Wyldelock’s betrayal cut deeply, as did his rejection. When Dietrick is called by Olivia’s grandmother to protect her from an apparent threat, will he make the same mistakes he did before in his quest to save her?

Revenge, betrayal, passion and a love for all time - The Sorcerer’s Mask blends all of these and more into a time-bending, swirling story. Ellen Ashe crafts her characters carefully and timelessly, with reincarnation being leaned on heavily as a theme for this book. To say that The Sorcerer’s Mask has plot twists is the understatement of the millennium, and the turns and switchbacks serve only to enhance the magical and powerful punch of this piece. Ellen Ashe drives her point home with strong supporting characters. The Sorcerer’s Mask is a darkly modern Gothic-styled romance that defies time, and proves the old adage ‘what comes around, goes around’.

Reviewed by: Michelle