Customer Reviews

The Sun Witch (Fyne Witches, Book 1)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For three hundred years, the Fyne women have called the small cottage on the mountain their home. Fearing their powers, the villagers stay away, even though Isadora, Juliet, and Sophie use their powers for good. Years ago a spurned wizard put a curse on their family making true love beyond the reach of the Fyne women. Sophie's two elder sisters, have accepted their fate after Isadora fell in love and her young husband died after a very brief marriage. Both Isadora and Juliet have vowed a lifetime of celibacy but Sophie has been dreaming of a green-eyed stranger and when she discovers him, wounded and bedraggled on the other side of her bathing pool, she invites him to be her first lover. After loving and lying with him she leaves him still sleeping, but before she left and not realizing her true powers, she laid her hands over him and wished his body healed, and wished him luck!
A year later, the stranger Kane, has had unbelievable luck in his life since the day an `angel' rose out of the water and lay with him or so he thought. He's never forgotten her, and now has returned to discover if she was real or to banish all together the haunting image of what he feels must have been a dream. Instead, he discovers his `angel' with a child at her [...] - Ariana, his child. He wants to marry her, yet Sophie knows that if she lets herself truly care for and love him, it would mean his demise.
When a spurned suitor from the village of Shandley kidnaps baby Araiana in an attempt to gain power and riches once he discovered that Sophie's father was a highly placed minister of the emperor, Kane and Sophie join forces and set out on a dangerous journey to save their daughter. Passing through the land of the Anwyn on their way to the emperor's palace, Sophie herself was kidnapped by an Anwyn in search of his life's mate. Finally releasing her, Sophie and Kane continue on to even more dangers as they enter the city in search of their daughter and to find the answers to end the curse.
*** As a first time reader of this author's work, I was amazingly entertained and completely blown away by this highly imaginative and totally engrossing novel. While the main story featuring Kane and Sophie's pairing was amazing with a deeply sensual connection and romance, there was also a secondary relationship of love/hate going on between Kane's sister Liane and her captor, the emperor Sebestyen that was also totally HOT! Writing with a fresh and vividly alive slant, I simply couldn't put this book down. It totally satisfied me on all levels! I am certainly putting this author on my `watch list' and will be eagerly awaiting the next installment featuring Sophie's sister Judith and the Anwyn still in search of his life's mate, in this marvelously original Sisters of the Sun series.

[...]

As a long time fan of Linda Winstead Jones' faerytale books, like the Hound of Haskell Hall, I was sorry to see her talent channelled into the contemporary tales of Silhouette Intimate Moments. She has a special magical way about her. A new Publisher and a new series, FINALLY, more geared to her special talent. This is the first tale of three sisters (Moon Witch comes in May) from Berkley Sensations. It's a tale of three special sisters, the women of Fyne. The three sisters have lived on an enchanted mountain, as all the women of Fyne have for three centuries, hiding their supernatural abilities. They are witches and have been curst to fall passionately in love, but their love with bring only sorrow as the men they love are destined to die before their 30th birthday.

This story is about Sophie Fyne. Sophie is the youngest and weakest in power of the Fyne Witches. She watched her older sister, Isadora, fall in love and marry, only to have her young husband die after their brief marriage. Sophie, Isadora and Juliet have resigned themselves to their fate. Only Sophie yearns to have a child. Isadora and Juliet have taken a vow never to have anything to do with men again, but Sophie knows there is only one way to have the child she wants. As dreams of a green-eyed stranger haunts her, she is startled to discover the wounded stranger - with green eyes - by the side of her favourite bathing pool. She lays hands upon him, healing, but she cannot resist him so she uses the night to father the child she so desperately wants. She leaves him sleeping and healed, and her with the child she craves.

A year later, still haunted by the visions of the angel who healed him, not quite believing her real, Kane returns to discover if the woman was real or a product of his being wounded. He finds the angel, only to discover she is not an angel, but a witch, and has his child. He wants to marry her, yet Sophie is ever mindful of the curse and how his life will be lost if she binds herself to him. However, fate pushes them together, when Shandley, a man who desire Sophie, kidnaps her child. Kane and Sophie must join together to save their child from the evil Shandley.

It's Jones at her very magical best. I am very glad to see her back in the genre where she shines the most and eagerly look forward to Juliet's and Isadora's stories.

I wrote a full review on the website for the third, and final, book but liked this series so much that I had to put a few words in at books one and two.

This is an excellent five star read that will pull you in and not let you go. I heartily recommend that you buy all 3 books at once and prepare for a sleepless weekend!

The characters are wonderfully drawn and intriguing. Their stories unfold one right after the other and flow from book to book - separate but intertwined - like the destinies of the three sisters. It's an edge-of-your-seat kind of knuckle-biting series.

The Sun Witch was my favorite of the three. I cannot give this series enough raves. I will be looking for anything from Ms. Jones in the future.

This is my first review on amazon and my first book by Ms. Jones. I found the Sun Witch to be well written, and the idea of the three sister witches under a family curse very intriguing and plan on reading the rest of the series to see how it plays out. My reason for giving this book only 2 stars is because I just could not like Sophie and Kane. I just did not believe them to be realistic characters and found her transformation from doubting-witch to all-powerful witch to be rushed and rather unbelieveable, and the love between Kane and Sophie to be much to superficial and unrealistic. I'm going to get these books from the library rather than buy the rest of the series.

In Southern Province Columbyana, in the mountains of the small town of Shandley, live three sisters. Plagued by a curse made by a wizard who was spurned by one of their ancestors, the Fyne sisters, just like the other Fyne women before them, cannot marry and fall in love with any man. For to do so would mean death to that poor man by the time he turns thirty. But with her older sisters seem intent on never having any child, Sophie fears the extinction of the Fyne name. And having dreamt of a man with sad green eyes for the last three nights, Sophie ventures out of their cabin into the pond, intent on enjoying his company.

Kane Varden has watched the death of his brothers in war. Injured and all alone, he thought he has finally succumbed to death when an enchantress rose out of the water and came to him. There they make love and, soon after, Sophie leaves him, but not before healing his heart and wishing him good fortune. When Kane wakes, he thought that he's dreamt of the woman he called Angel until he finds proof that what happened was real. After his search for her turned out futile, he leaves the mountain, but not the same man as after the war, but completely different and also with the devils luck. Until a year later, when he returns to the same spot and is astounded to find Sophie nursing a baby - his very own.

Wanting to provide for both of them, he offers to marry her, but Sophie refuses afraid of the family curse. She drives him away, but when a rejected suitor kidnaps their baby, they know that they must work together to bring her back. And as their journey begins to save their daughter, it occurs to Sophie that she may not be strong enough to fight her growing feelings for Kane.

Having picked this up on impulse, I wasn't sure what to expect from this novel. I must admit that I was starting to regret my choice in the first quarter of the book, but I'm glad I decided to stick with it. Sophie is a very likeable heroine, innocence and strength rolled into one. I loved seeing her mature and develop her magical skills. It was great to read how she slowly discovers the strength of her powers. Kane is the perfect partner for her. I liked how protective he became of Sophie and their baby, and loved the part when he accepts the Fyne curse and tells Sophie how he would rather live a year with them than live another fifty without them.

There is also a subplot featuring the love/hate relationship between the emperor Sebestyen and his concubine Liane. What I found tedious in the beginning turned out to be an interesting read as I read more about those two.

Overall, THE SUN WITCH is a fun and entertaining fantasy romance. Beware though: you'll have to read this first before Juliet's story, as the ending suggests that the saga in breaking the Fyne curse has only just started.

Having read Ms Jones' second trilogy, (The Prophesy of The first Born), first is is very interesting to go back and read the first trilogy. In The Sun Witch we get a look at the youngest Fyne sister. This book is one of the best that I have ever read. Ms Jones is a master storyteller and and enchantress herself. She makes you care about what happens to the characters and what they are going through. It is a wonderful story and you get a look at what is to come in the second book also. The story is easy to follow and down right entertaining. She even makes villans that you can relate to even as you hate them. It's masterful and enchanting.

In Colubyana, the Fyne witch rejected the wizard making him so angry he cursed the Fyne women so that their love will always die. Over the next three centuries any Fyne witch who married for love watched either their mate die young or ultimately hate them. Of the three current generations of Fyne siblings, the oldest Isadore watched her spouse die as he neared his thirtieth birthday. She and her sisters vow to never marry or fall in love. Still the youngest Sophie plans to enjoy men.

After watching his brother die and their cause fail against the emperor's army, rebel Kane Varden wants to die until he meets Sophie. They make love and she leaves him with a spell of good luck. Over the next year Kane wanders the empire with success in cards and women, but never forgot Sophie. He travels to find her and see the woman of his dreams holding their infant daughter. He wants both in his life, but she fears the Fyne curse.

This entertaining fantasy romance will elate readers with the troubles that affection causes for anyone foolish enough to fall in love with a Fyne witch. The fast-paced story line moves forward rather quickly due to the lead couple as Kane wants to press his luck by risking his life in his love for Sophie who fears he will die if she allows her heart to rule. Sophie's intriguing older sisters, the taller and more dangerous than most men Isadore and the nurturing visionary Juliet, add depth to understanding the curse and other magical elements. Readers will take immense delight with this tale and look forward to Juliet's turn to challenge the curse.

Harriet Klausner

This story has it all: magic, danger, love, lust, betrayal, and not to mention a 300 year old curse! The three Fyne sisters are destined to live their lives without love, lest they doom their men to an early death. The Sun Witch gives us the story of the youngest sister, Sophie. Sophie has yet to come into her powers until, after dreaming of him for three nights, she meets Kane, a rebel fighting in the war, and the two share an unforgettable afternoon of passion, not to mention create a child together. The two separate for a year, and during this time Sophie's powers abound! The story continues flawlessly, encompassing an entire country.
I plowed through this book in what seemed only hours - it was that engrossing! The characters are so easy to relate to, and the aspect of love and magic adds a flavor and spice that only enhances the existing story.
Can't wait for the other sisters' stories!

Two years ago I spiral-broke my leg and was wheel chaired bound for three months. I was bored and depressed and soon found myself consumed with the "Charmed" series on the television. I watched every episode and was anxious to read the books. I was saddened to realize that they were written for young adults. I got on Amazon and did some research. Thanks to the reviews, I found this three book series. I read Sun Witch today and loved it. I can't wait to start Moon Witch. If you enjoy watching Charmed, then you will love this author's immense talent of taking her reader's and transporting them into a time of magic, lust, and the devotion of three sisters.

Yet another enjoyable reccomendation from Amazon. If you enjoy paranormal or fantasy novels with sugar-sweet romance this book will most likely appeal, but not if you're looking for something dark.

The title alone should tell you this book is about a witch and the fact that she is the "sun" witch should give away this is not a dark or truly tragic tale. Built around a curse that keeps the Fyne sisters from falling in love lest their love die an untimely death, the story centers around their need to break the curse. In the focus of this first tale is Sophie the youngest Fyne sister, one of three witches who live in relative seclusion on Fyne Mountain, and the father of her daughter Kane. When their baby daughter is kidnapped they must journey across their world to rescue her and along the way their journey reveals several things from their growing love to the identity of Sophie's father. In a secondary plotline we find Kane's long missing sister Lianne, a concubine living with the shut-in Emperor, leading a side story of court intrigue that helps to tie some of the story together.

I enjoyed the story as a whole but felt that oft times things were discovered with no conflict to strengthen the outcome. I was quite excited by the introduction of the character Ryn, whom I found intriguing, but felt like he was shoved into the story at random to prepare readers for the next book and that did not do him justice. The ending didn't quite satisfy me as a reader who likes more closure but knowing there are more tales of the Fyne sisters I will certainly read them and enjoy. If you're looking for a light, fluffy romance in a fantasy setting this book will likely please.