GONE WITH THE WITCH

Author: Annette Blair ISBN: 9780425221211 5/2008 CONTEMP/PARANORMAL Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION

Shelter... Beautiful bad girl Storm Wartwright can be charming when she wants to be. So when she hears the sound of a baby crying every time she's near Aiden McCloud, she turns on the charm. Because she's sure the weeping means a child is in need—and that the handsome antiques restorer is the key to finding that helpless child... In a Storm... From the start, Aiden is attracted to Storm. Yet this gorgeous goth girl won't stop talking baby nonsense. Then Storm sets up a seductive trap, kidnapping him in his very own RV! While Storm follows the sound of the cries, something magical starts happening between her and Aiden. But can they keep the magic alive once Storm finally finds what she's looking for?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

GONE WITH THE WITCH is Annette Blair's second story in her triplet witch sister trilogy. The story of Storm, the triplet with an attitude, started out slow but ended in a big way!

Storm has always heard babies crying, and whenever she's around Aiden McCloud, the cries get louder. She knows that Aiden has a child out there, somewhere, in need of their help and she is going to lead him to that child! But Aiden is skeptical of Storm's claims, especially since he knows he has no children. But as the spunky witch kidnaps him in his motor coach and sets off to find the crying child, Aiden is willing to overlook her grandiose claims if their time together allows he and Storm to get closer.

The flirting and heated kisses of the past few weeks, leading up to the marriage of his best friend and her sister, have not been enough. Their attraction wasn't instantaneous but has built into a raging fire nonetheless, and Aiden is more than ready to get some relief.  But as their journey continues and leads them to finding missing children, Aiden starts to get hot under the collar for a different reason altogether. Could he really have a child out there somewhere? Storm says he does and she isn't willing to let it go until that child is discovered.

GONE WITH THE WITCH is the fifth full length novel I have read by Annette Blair. Her first magick related series was about three best friends who were all witches (THE KITCHEN WITCH, MY FAVORITE WITCH, and THE SCOT, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE) and I enjoyed those tales so much I was more than ready to read her next trilogy, which actually ties into the first as the triplet sisters are half-sisters with the heroine in THE SCOT, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. As always, Blair pleases with a wonderfully woven tale of mischief, with spells and magick thrown in for fun.

Storm is the sister with sass and attitude, but it's mostly bluster as she tries to hide her feelings of inferiority. The triplets were abandoned by their mother after birth, and Storm believes it was because only two babies were expected, not three, and she is the reason they were left. But along their journey, Storm meets up with her biological mother and another half-sister, Pepper, and learns the true reason of why the triplets were given up. But more importantly she gains Pepper, and slowly, the shell she has put up around her heart begins to crack. Aiden, too, has issues from the past which keep him wandering and not ready to put down roots. But as he deals with those issues, he starts to warm up to the idea of roots, especially if Storm will be by his side.

The momentum of GONE WITH THE WITCH was slow, at first, but kicked in very soon and was everything I had hoped for—and more after that. I loved watching Storm and Aiden fall in love and all their antics together. The supporting cast was great as they, too, added to the fun of this novel. I could not put this book down until I knew all would be right in their world. I look forward to the last novel of this trilogy, triplet sister Destiny's tale in NEVER BEEN WITCHED. Annette Blair is an auto buy author for me as she never disappoints with her magickal stories of love!

Maame Kanbi