Customer Reviews

Witch Blood (Elemental Witches, Book 2)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ever since her sister was savagely murdered at the hands of the demon summoned by a cabal of evil warlocks, Isabelle Novak has had one reason for living - revenge. Failing to find the demon in question, she'll settle for the next best thing - the leader of the warlocks that summoned the creature to the human world.

Foiled at the last stage of her vengeful plot by the irresistible Thomas Monahan, powerful earth witch and head of the local Coven, she reluctantly admits that revenge doesn't taste quite as sweet as she'd imagined, and now there is a much more urgent mission afoot for which they need that very warlock's grudging assistance with.

More witches are dying, in the most gruesome way imaginable, slaughtered by the very same demon that that killed Isabelle's sister. It quickly becomes apparent that the selection of victims is by no means random, and Isabelle herself seems to be the demon's end game.

Trapped between the demon intent on stealing her life and the sexy earth-witch determined to win her heart, Isabelle fights to save everyone she cares for, even if it means sacrificing herself to do it.

The moment I finished the first book in Anya Bast's Elemental Witches series, I was ready to launch into the second. Unfortunately for me, it was nowhere near its release date at that time, forcing a patience I was loathe to give. Now the release date for Elemental Witches, Book 2: Witch Blood is imminent, and the advance copy I have been fortunate enough to read and review leaves me with this same yearning for the next book in this mesmerizing saga! In other words, this book was well worth the wait.

In this series, Ms. Bast crafts a world that is full and rich, but requires no effort on the part of the reader to absorb and understand. Indeed, once you finish these books, you are left with the odd feeling that perhaps somehow you have always known this fascinating world, and simply needed the author to prod distant memories from your own subconscious. Anya Bast's world-building feels just that natural.

Having first met Thomas Monahan in the previous book, Witch Fire, I found him to be a charismatic leader, engaging more than just my curiosity. It was with great pleasure I found he was the hero of this new edition of the Elemental Witches series. With his solid leadership and empathetic nature, he proves himself as both the perfect lover for the skittish Isabelle and a hero capable of standing against the demon who threatens his people.

Isabelle herself goes through a profound personal evolution during the progression of Witch Blood. Although a powerful water witch and the very picture of courage when facing any opponent, inside she is too frightened to develop lasting relationships with anyone, preferring a nomadic lifestyle that prevents anyone from becoming too attached to her. Her forced proximity with Thomas as they hunt the demon affords him the opportunity to methodically break down her barriers until she needs him as much as he needs her.

Although the second in this series, Witch Blood can easily be read as a standalone novel, allowing readers new to this series the chance to read this release before reading Witch Fire. Of course, the stories are enhanced by reading them in order, but are not dependent on each other to make sense.

Lovers of magic and paranormal romances will doubtless find themselves enraptured by the gripping plot and intense sensuality of Witch Blood. Be prepared to read it straight through, because you will not be putting this book down once you begin reading it!

Series Order:
Witch Fire (Elemental Witches, Book 1)
Witch Blood

Eh, I liked the first one better. This second one capitalized on the characters introduced in the first book but other than that the characters seemed terribly flat.

Isabelle's motive for seeking out Stephen (the new leader of the warlocks) but even that seems flat. Her motivating actions are weak and the plot with the demon having a 'crush' on her seems a bit contrived.

Even the part where Thomas gets stuck in the other world and Isabelle has a chance to prove herself gets a little murky. With the help of a mysterious new friend Thomas somehow breaks free and manages (again, we don't really know how) to break through to the world where he is supposed to be.

Even their romance stuff seemed flat although she is just as explicit in this book as the last. I hope the third one (due out in January 2009) will be better.

Oh, and the cover art looks a little too ... something. She looks like a plastic Barbie in pain.

Well, I just finished Witch Blood by Anya Bast and I am a little bit staggered by the level of crapness in this book. Not only is the main character a flippant, random, TSTL, wench. She absolutely made no sense to me. I don't get any of Isabelle's motives. She is obviously distraught over the violent death of her sister at the hands of a shape shifting demon, but after not being able to find said demon, she moves on to the son of the man who might have summoned the demon way back when. Then she is joined by her former coven of elemental witches who are also after the demon but never thought to tell her that and Isabelle is suddenly, idiotically, all recalsitrant about joining them. When they actually come face to face with the demon everyone almost dies except Isabel, who happens to have a handy copper knife on her and manages to stab the demon with an ACTUAL weapon. When the coven get back to their headquarters, the dude they have searching demon info is all "Oh, ah yeah, copper does hurt demons. Sorry guys." What? What kind of coven are they? How could they know absolutely nothing about a race of demons that supposedly sired their own kind and completely threatens humans and the witches own existence?
The writing in this book was kind of poor and slap dash. Heaps of the times, aspects of the plot were way too over explained and repeated, there are a few paragraphs of about the coven chasing down leads and histories on the demon they are after in order to work out where he might be, clearly, but then we are given a paragraph explaining just why they are doing these perfectly obvious things and the game plan is rehashed. When the reader gets things ten times faster than the heroine... we have a problem.
The romance in this novel was really quick and in my oppinion, rushed. The two lovers fall into bed pretty much instantly and without any interest in either characters or their relationship, the sex scenes fall flat.

This is the first and only Anya Bast book I have read and others disagree with me, so if you are a lover of paranormal romance and arent fussy about somewhat slipshod writing, then maybe you should give this book a try, but I would suggest the library.

I was all prepared to give this book 3-stars until the last 80-pages or so kept me riveted to each page. I agree with another reviewer that said most of the book is predictable, however, there is also a high entertainment factor to it. The plot was interesting and solid. To be honest after the first sex scene, I breezed through most of the additional sex parts and just stuck to the story itself. I mostly read dark urban fantasy but found myself completely fascinated by the depicted demon world and race. I loved the train of thinking that perhaps humans have been victimizing demons by dragging them from their lives involuntarily upon summoning. That perhaps demons come from a parallel world much like our own. Isabella, a water witch, was spunky, smart and powerful and to my relief, didn't have an ounce of unnecessary bratty or stupidity in her. Together she and Thomas, the leader of the witch coven, made an interesting team. I look forward to reading the next book in the series Witch Heart. I also recommend this book to dark urban fantasy readers who have the patience to wade through many of the sex scenes to extract the plot.

I also recommend:
Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 2)
Succubus Heat (Georgina Kincaid, Book 4)
The Outlaw Demon Wails (Rachel Morgan, Book 6)
The Outlaw Demon Wails (The Hollows, Book 6)
Personal Demons

Isabelle Novak is a water witch with only one thing on her mind - revenge for her sister's death. Isabelle has spent months trying to locate the demon that killed her sister and now driven by grief alone, she is going after the only person she can find. Since revenge is not part of the "harm ye none" that the Coven follows, Isabelle has left it and gone out on her own.

Thomas Monahan is an earth witch and the head of the Coven and once he discovers what Isabelle is up to, he decides to bring her back into the Coven so they can help each other with a common goal - to defeat the demon. Thomas is known as a no nonsense type of person, however Isabelle has brought emotions and feelings to Thomas that he has not felt before.

Isabelle and Thomas begin an alliance of sorts -the watchful and waiting type. Trust is an uneasy thing between them and passion seems to flare every time they are near each other. As the danger comes nearer and nearer and their passion explodes, what is going to happen when Isabelle and Thomas are unexpectedly caught somewhere they never expected to be?

Witch Blood takes a water witch filled with the need for revenge and an earth witch who is trying to protect not only the Coven but Isabelle to. While I could feel for Isabelle and her need to avenge her sister, I was hoping that Thomas would be able to show Isabelle that there are several ways to conquer a foe. I was flipping pages as quickly as I could read them as not only the intrigue and danger grabbed me, but also as the red-hot feelings between Isabelle and Thomas kept being ramped up higher and higher. I absolutely loved the sensual passion that Ms. Bast developed and grew between Isabelle and Thomas. When I put that with the intense danger aspects and a plot that will keep you intrigued, I can guarantee that any lover of paranormals and romance will find Witch Blood has a place on their keeper shelf.

Jo
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This book had me chuckling more than the previous one. I love Isabelle's attitude and personality. Her and Thomas are well suited for one another.
At first I thought they were to different and the chemistry would seemed forced, but I was soon eating my own words. I completely and utterly saw where Isabelle was coming from after the horrific death of her sister. Me personally I would've done more than just freezing off a couple of testicles. I won't go into plot detail here since others have already done so, but I will say go read this book. The only downside to this book was that it was too short and I would've liked a little bit more background info (or update on Jack and his wife).

(disclaimer: Anya Bast is a dear friend. She's like one of the nicest people I've ever met. She rarely says a mean thing about anyone or anything (I know, it boggles as to why she likes me too). She's also a really fabulous writer who's taught me many things about craft in the years I've read and then knew her. That said, I do have the ability to like and dislike things and I don't need to lie about what a fabulous book this is)

In this installment, we get Thomas, who we meet in Witch Blood. Thomas is a man wearing the very heavy mantle of leadership of his Coven in some dangerous times. He's strong, an earth witch to Isabelle's water witch powers. She's chaos and emotion and he's quiet intensity but no less emotional, he's just more contained.

I loved this book. I loved it from the first paragraph until the very end. The action part of the story is strong, interesting and really well told. Anya's strength at drawing you into the world she's writing really shines here. You care about the Coven and her witches, you care about the people, you can see the rooms right down to the wood grain in the floors and you can feel the silk of Thomas' hair as he lets it down for Isabelle.

Isabelle is a woman filled with conflicts and guilt, she needs revenge for her sister. But she's not wild and stupid, she's impassioned and needs to make things right for this woman who accepted her, warts and all. I loved that about Isabelle actually. I loved that we know she's hard and rootless but her anchor in life was her sister who's now gone. That element was very emotional for me and I think Anya nailed it and has really shown Isabelle rather than told us about her.

The romance is strong and sexy. The love scenes are, whew, hot, guh! And totally elemental to the story. The way Thomas falls for Isabelle is startling and well written and Isabelle's reluctance is not one of those romance novel moments when you wrinkle your nose and tell the heroine she's a twit.

Little unique details like where and how Thomas' power is stored really made the book extra special. I cannot wait for the next book! Anya Bast has scored yet another hit with her Elemental Witches.

This is the second book in Ms. Bast's "Elemental Witches" series which starts with Witch Fire (Elemental Witches, Book 1). I enjoyed book 1 very much and have to say that book 2 is a nice follow up and continues to deepen the complexity of the mythology. Although this is a follow up, it CAN be read on its own- though I'm guessing once you read it, you will want to back up and read the first one.

I recommend this as a staple paranormal romance series for those days when you need a little danger, a little magic and to know that there is some hot romance out there somewhere!

Our male lead Thomas was introduced in book 1 and nicely developed here. He never proves to be the most dynamic or complicated of characters, but he is a solid, archetypal leader. Isabelle's character is a nice match- the spark over his still waters, if you will. She has plenty of depth, plenty of spunk and easily adopted as heroine. Their romance builds nicely from sexual tension to a more solid relationship- perhaps even devotion.

The plot is well done and easily stands on its own. It both serves to enhance the romance and relationship building and gives you a conflict you can sink your teeth into. More of this Elemental Witch world is revealed, including tantalizing glimpses into another dimension full of demons who may not be all that different from the human world- or as evil as believed. Overall, the colorful universe Ms. Bast has created is addictive and easily imagined.

As a romance, it is somewhat predictable- in a comforting way, but the larger story line keeps up the intrigue and complexity. This is a fairly light read- atmospherically and literally- and won't take much time. It isn't that there is a huge amount of humor, but the dark is balanced by the light. The writing is smooth and consistent.

Similar series might be the 'Spellbound' series by Sydney Somers Don't Let Go (Spellbound)
or even Kelley Armstrong's 'Otherworld' series, which bounces between witches, werewolves and demons Bitten: A Novel (The Otherworld)

This just got better from the first book. You maybe be able to read any book from the series as a stand-alone but to avoid spoilers I suggest read them in order:
1. Witch Fire (Elemental Witches, Book 1)
2. Witch Blood (Elemental Witches, Book 2)
3. Witch Heart (Elemental Witches, Book 3)
4. Witch Fury (Elemental Witches, Book 4)

The writing style is a little commonplace but the stories are really researched and well detailed. Thomas Monahan (head of Chicago coven)is Mira's cousin from Book 1, who got his HEA with Isabelle Novak. Their personalities are totally opposite but they found love to bind them. So have fun, I have.

Here we have Isabelle, a wild water witch who trusts no one . She is hell bent on destroying the man she holds responsible for her sister's death, Stefan the new Duskoff international leader. (which leads to a really hot scene where she tries to freeze his man hood off.) The head of the Coven, Thomas, stops her just in time and reminds her that witches agree to "harm ye none". Thomas promises to help her bring the demon that Stefan released to justice. Together with the coven they hunt a very powerful demon hell bent on stopping it from killing witches in order to open a portal to his world. All the while Isabelle and Thomas try to deny their growing relationship. This love story is a really sweet one that pulled on my heart stings a little.

This is the second book in the Elemental Witch series. Anya Bast turns the story up and gives you a lot of background information, however she does it without over whelming you with so many details it bores you. This book has a wonderful mix of hot love, dangerous battles and worlds beyond our earth.