DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC

Author: Ann Macela ISBN: 1933836164 10/2007 PARANORMAL Publisher: MEDALLION PRESS

After a bad relationship, Francie Stevens has decided to avoid any further involvements with computer wizard Clay Morgan, but the hacker plaguing her company's network forces her into an investigation led by Clay, who is determined to win Francie’s heart. Now Clay must convince Francie that magic exists in the form of an ancient force called the soulmate imperative that brings together practitioners and their destined mates. When Francie unexpectedly starts using the imperative itself against him, however, the destiny of their love is suddenly up for grabs.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I wanted to believe in the magic of Ann Macela's second release in her "Magic" series, but it didn't happen for me.

Clay Morgan is a member of a witch family who has already seen one sibling find their soul mate (see the first book, THE OLDEST KIND OF MAGIC), but isn't too concerned when he feels a special connection to frumpy Francie Stevens. After all, he's allowed to have sex with non-witches and he can tell she's sexy under the unattractive clothes and glasses. The itching around his solar plexus should tell him that she's his soul mate, but it doesn't, not until his family points this out to him.

Clay and Francie are thrown together because of a corporate espionage investigation, which means that there are a lot of date scenes going on. Date scenes are hard to make interesting, as is corporate drama. There's also a lot of head hopping, which gets distracting. Since we know who the bad guy is, there isn't much suspense being generated either.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC flows well and is a quick, sexy read, but I didn't find it a dynamic one, unfortunately. I just wasn't drawn in.

Heather Hiestand