Books Not Decaf

Dáinn the Devourer has spent the last two hundred years of his undead life reluctantly bonded to a dark witch, doing her dirtiest work. Devouring corrupt souls may not be satisfying for a wraith, but it keeps him fed.

Sent on a job to Burr Island, Dáinn is forced by his mistress to devour the soul of a powerful rival witch, Jasper Prescott. Dáinn is busy devouring the witch when he’s interrupted by a human. With one word, this human does what no being has ever done…she takes his breath away.

Forced to stop feeding, Dáinn is shattered as the soul he was devouring slips back inside the dying witch. Who is this human? And what dark magic must she possess to stop a wraith? The more Dáinn learns about Birdie Rhodes, hapless historian and sometimes shop girl, the more determined he is to become part of her world.

Sweet Birdie works for the witch Dáinn was ordered to devour. Now Jasper Prescott is on the hunt too. For answers. As a powerful witch, with a coven at his command, Jasper will stop at nothing to find out what magical mischief is happening on his island. Why is a wraith haunting his tea shop? Which fellow witch wants him dead? And who the hell is Birdie Rhodes?

Dáinn, Jasper, and Birdie become entangled in a magical love affair which could lead to their ruin.

I liked the premise, I liked the potential, I liked all the bits and bobs presented… I just didn’t find the execution to be all that great.

The pacing was off kilter, the plot took a while to get rolling, and the characters’ persistent screaming of “I’m a loner with intimacy issues” while tonguing and groping each other was exasperating. There is more I could say, but honestly, I had to force myself to finally finish this so I could move on, so I’m pretty ready to do just that.

I didn’t hate it, I just felt like it could have used a bit of fine tuning.

Rating: 3.25/5
Spice: 3.5?/5 I loathe to give it a 4, but by technicality it isn’t quite a 3…

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book!