Book: 52/100
Ripley Todd isn’t like her two coven sisters. She doesn’t embrace the power she has been born with it – she knows the danger it can wreck. Determined to not use it, she is now forced to take another look. The three hundred year old curse is in full force now, with all three descendants of the Three original Sisters present on the piece of land created by the original coven. Ripley feels the power leaking through, unable to hold it back. She knows it is because she unleashed it to save Nell alongside Mia, but can’t blame them.
She is reminded how different she is when Mac Booke arrives on Three Sisters. With his PhD in paranormal science, he is searching for evidence that his theories about the island are true. Mia Devlin agrees to work with him on his research, annoying Ripley as a side benefit. The two ladies were tight as children, but they drifted apart after Mia got her heart broken, and Ripley couldn’t hold back her anger at seeing her friend hurt, sinking her brother’s ship with a thunderbolt. He was unharmed, but Ripley knew that embracing her power meant endangering others. She never told Mia her reasons for turning away from power or from their friendship, and their relationship stays thorny years after the incident.
Her attraction to Mac causes her some distress and anger, as he studies the very thing she rejects. After she loses a bet, he gets an hour from her to interview. They discuss his theories, looking at the curse from all the angles.
The dark spirit intent on destroying the Three Sisters moved from Evan Remington, who is locked in a mental institution, to a reporter who wants to write a book about Nell’s escape and journey. He goes on the path that led Nell to the island. Even though he initially has good intentions, the spirit corrupts his mind and he sees her how Evan saw her – as a manipulative whore.
Mac and Ripley fall deeply in love, and it is a learning curve for both. For their relationship to work, they need to accept the respective course each takes in life, and their beliefs. Ripley makes peace with her power to a certain extent and Mac starts to interview and test her as part of his research.
The reporter shows up on the island, and the three witches immediately know why he is there. Ripley confronts him, and he places her under the impression that he killed her beloved dog. She is faced with her anger, and her desire to kill him. She fights back without violence, breaking her third of the curse. When her Sisters show up they brand the monster that haunts them so that they can recognize him in another form.
Rating: 5.5/10
I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the first book, Dance Upon the Air, but it was still a good read. Ripley is so much different from Nell – she is fiercely independent, loves getting into confrontations, and is brutally straight forward. These characteristics made her dependency on Mac (when she started trusting him) a bit contradictory. Mac is endearing as a braniac who specialises in supernatural powers. I like how he finds ways to prove things that aren’t logical. Their relationship was amusing – Ripley dating a guy that explores what she represses.
All in all, an enjoyable read.
Read my review of the first book, Dance Upon the Air, here
Life of this city girl 