Harlequin Enterprises/Silhouette Nocturne #14
Category Romance
Paranormal Romance/Dark Fantasy
Mass Market Paperback
Rating: 4
Elena Jones is a witch who has denied her heritage for most of her life, especially since her mother had been Persecuted by Elena’s father's mother. Her gift, or curse as she sees it, is prophetic visions. Her latest visions show the continuation of the witch hunt against her family, resulting in the death of her beloved young daughter Stacia. Elena will do anything to prevent that, even seeking aid from unlikely sources which could result in her own death.
Joseph Dolce is the CEO of Elena's hated grandmother's company and has no liking for Elena, though he is attached to Stacia. He is no hero by his own admission, having lived a harsh life on the streets growing up. Elena's desperation to protect her daughter touches a place he thought long hidden and he finds himself drawn into the fight. He never expected that a Witch Hunt would make his enemy become his love.
I have not yet read the first book in the Witch Hunt trilogy, Haunted, and while I can see how reading that one would have helped with the back story, I felt Persecuted stood quite well on its own. The reunion of Elena with one of her sisters, Ariel (see Haunted) is important to the story, but of greater impact is their continued search for their youngest sister, Irina before she is found by the witch hunter and murdered. This adds significant tension to the story, and adds a sense of urgency, especially once the villain is revealed. In fact, the search for Irina is as crucial to the story as Elena’s desperation to save Stacia from death at the hands of a madman.
The sexual tension between Elena and Joseph is very intense. They have very strong beliefs as to why they cannot give in to their passion, all the while they become even more tightly bound as the story progresses. Each one of them have reasons for their denial of the attraction – Elena because all she initially sees in Joseph is that he is a lackey of her grandmother and Joseph because his former life on the streets makes him unworthy of someone as high in society as Elena is.
The glimpses we receive into the mind of the witch hunter are quite chilling as we discover his twisted reasons for his quest. Persecuted is an fast paced and intense book and makes me very interested in picking up the other two books in the series, especially the conclusion, to see how everything resolves itself in the end.
© Kelley A. Hartsell, March 2008. All rights reserved.
~eHQ April 2008 Member of the Month~
