Indifferent shrugs

As a powerful hedgewitch and psychic, there isn’t much I can’t work to my advantage and finesse with a spell. Love, fortune, and even the perfect cup of coffee are all possible with the snap of my fingers.

But some things are utterly beyond my control.

Like the powerful and broody warlock who’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember—and even the lifetimes I often can’t. Things almost as dangerous as Lucien Bergeron’s hold on me and the breathtaking smiles only I get to see.

Or the evil still stalking the streets of New Orleans that beckons to me to see. To feel. To die.

With everything riding on a razors-edge, and things that have been portended coming to fruition, threatening both me and those I love, I’m not sure if I’m strong enough to resist my fate. Or his charm.

If I work with Lucien, it could mean the end for both of us.

If I don’t, those I love most will pay.

Kristen Proby brings in all the stops for Halloween with ‘Spells’ – a book about some latent evil bring that goes around tormenting 3 paranormally-gifted sisters, all of whom find their HEA whilst battling the forces threatening to upend their lives.

But if I was intrigued by Proby’s ‘Shadows’, the first book in the series, ‘Spells’ fell somewhat flat even though it’s a continuation of a narrative that walked the same line about the supernatural being well and alive among us.

There’s the seductive idea of Millie and Lucien being partners in the numerous past-lives that they’ve ever lived, but it was never explored fully; instead, this was a side point that was shunted away in favour of trying to counter the evil Horace who seems to have an unexplained hatred for all of them.

From avoiding Lucien her whole life, Millie suddenly decided that he was the one for her…and off their story went. What were the intricacies of Millie/Lucien always finding each other in every lifetime? How did they find each other? Was there a reason behind it? And on and on the questions went…and I was disappointed that this pairing was too easily set in stone without the more detailed take on the rich idea of past-lives, say in a book like Jude Devereaux’s ‘Remembrance’.

The unexplainable takes precedence here; there are however, too many loose ends and cryptic sayings that I thought ‘Spells’ left hanging, even though there is the final book to come a year later, presumably for the next Halloween season.