Carin Rafferty

Ariels brother is a journalist who disappears while on one of his undercover investigations into a secretive cult.The last person he ever spoke with was with a man who had left the cult named Lucien Morgret. She decides to go to his seedy bar and ask him about where precisely he sent her brother.

Lucien Morgret turns out to be a man who makes her feel vaguely uncomfortable and even more so when he uses his warlock powers to prod her mind and send her scurrying off home again,

She is surprised and a bit alarmed when Lucien suddenly appears at her home and offers her a deal -so he still wont tell her where her brother is but he will show her and she has to follow his instructions all the way or their agreement is off.

Ariel thinking this is her only chance of figuring out where her brother is accepts.

But what she doesnt know is he is using her to infiltrate his old coven lands from wich he was cast out.

What can I say about this book?

Starting out I had a good feeling about it but about the same time Lucien arrives at Ariels home I started to have my doubts wich turned out to be wellfounded. From then on any promise it had vanished like Ariels inhibitions does while engaging in mystical dream sex with Lucien.

Not to mention the the thing with her bedroom...ugh I mean you can be sensual underneath a prim exterior without going overboard and turning your bedroom into a gaudy brothel boudoir. Did I mention that she is a Virgin?

And Ariel made me frustrated in other ways too.

She hates Lucien! No she loves, him she distrusts she loves him etc

Inconsistency thy name is Ariel.

Same with her belief in magic..she thinks its true,magic cant possibly exist bla bla This happens even after she witnesses magic happening right in front of her eyes

And then every once suddenly she will get an attack of Christianity. Oh noes Satanism!

Lucien never says he believes in satan and none of the other characters wear placards declaring that they do either. True they are witches and warlocks but no one actually commits to being a devil-worshipper. She just jumps to that conclusion herself.

This was very odd and I couldnt help but wonder if there was a lot of media attention at the time this was written to satanic cults.

This book was written in the 80s before so it feels very dated with no cellphones or things like that,but if a book engages you can usually forget these things.

But what really got to me was how the ending feel like its turned into a Q and A session as if only by then did the author have the heroine ask the hero alot of things that could have just been brought up more naturally if she had asked him during the course of the book.

And then theres the too tidy wrapping up of loose ends wich made me think the author just remembered she ran out of time to write them in but wanted to include some other things just BECAUSE
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