boeklogboek: Lisa Plumley – My favorite witch

A stand alone novel, published September 1, 2009.
Genre: paranormal romance
Cover: totally not representing the book, though it is cute.

Dayna Sterling's always been betwixt and between. Born in a desert town populated by witches and blissfully ignorant humans, Dayna had magic, but no clue how to handle it. So she left to forge a workaday life among ordinary Joes. Which is fine, really - until the day one most extraordinary Joe turns everything upside down...The assignment is simple. Trace the runaway witch; bring her home for compulsory 'cusping' training. So why does Dayna set T.J. McAllister's half-warlock blood buzzing? Maybe it's the bonding spell that spontaneously connects them. Or the fact that T.J.'s powers go wonky whenever he's around Dayna. In any case, the attraction is making it damn hard for T.J. to accomplish his most important mission: prevent a dangerous uprising by locating a powerful witch prophesied to help him. She could be anywhere. She could be closer than he thinks...

Okay, first let’s talk about the cover. I like it. But it has nothing to do with the book itself. A spooky kind of love it says. There is no ghost or spook or anything like that in the book. No graveyeard, no church, no bats. Only lots of witches and warlocks, but they are certainly not flying on a broomstick. Yes, it does take place around Halloween. Irritatingly spelled in a strange way in this book.

Dayna Sterling is a witch who ran away from home after highschool. Highschool was a horrible time for her. She is miserable at doing magic, most spells go wrong for her, and she is the laughingstock of the school. Her parents will never be proud of her. So she has gone to live in the human world, forsaking her magic. But now she has turned 30, her powers seem to be on the fritz even more than usual. But she likes her new life, her friends, and her work. She is good at what she does.

And then a tracer shows up at her work, determined to bring her forcefully back to Covenhaven. And so he just kidnaps her. He doesn’t even give her the time to change her wet clothes, and pack her bags. What does she need human made stuff for in
Covenhaven? She can just conjure up whatever she needs. Yeah, if only! But something goes wrong, when they accidentally bond together. The unwanted attraction between them is hard to ignore.

When dumped in the streets of Covenhaven by TJ and the driver, Deuce, a turned human, she is ordered to report in at AID at once. The only problem is, her magic is so non existent, she can’t see the magicked entrance to the offices. As it appears, when a witch hits 30, her powers come more strongly on line, called “cusping”. And now she has been brought back here for witch classes, so she can learn to control her magic and pass her exams. Going back to highschool for three weeks is the most horrible thing she can imagine, especially when all the witches she grew up with will be there as well. And o yeah, classes started yesterday, so she is already behind on the rest. But if there is no other choice, and she really doesn’t want to endanger innocent humans with her runaway magic, she straightens her shoulders, and goes for it.
And it is every bit as horrible as she imagined. Even her best friend from back then is changed beyond recognition. She is wearing a pastel twin set, works at a child care facility, is married, a mother, owns a dog and is a member of the PTA. All the things they swore they would never do. But well, when Dayna left for the human world, she also left her best friend behind without keeping in touch. Still, it is great to see her again.

When Dayna realises she is not being house in a dorm room, with roommates and a chaperone, like told before, but living with Deuce instead, because his partner asked him to keep an eye on her, she doesn’t know what to think. But having sex is a very casual and necessary thing for witches and warlocks, so when she finds TJ outside, sunbathing in the nude, she knows she wants him. Yes, she does know that consummating their relationship will cement the matingbond between them, but she still thinks that will only be temporarily. After graduation, she will go back to her normal life.
And when a witch wants a warlock, the warlock usually has little chance of telling her no. They truly are a horny lot.

TJ is half warlock, and half Patayan, but fully powerful with magic. He is the best tracer the buro has, but now he has been put on suspension when he refuses to dance to his bosses demands. His Patayan magus has told him some dark magic is brewing in Covenhaven, the Old Ways are back, and he needs to find a Vixen witch to help them fight it. And so he tails some of the witches in Dayna’s class, finding it impossible to stay out of her way. He is determined to do his job, and save mankind. But can he trust this unknown witch enough to let her safe the day?

I am still not sure if I liked this book or not. The first part, the brutal abduction from her life, was getting my hackles up. They could have informed her by letter or telephone, that she needed to come back home for training, explaining things. And if she did not comply, then they could have send a tracer to bring her in. But just abducting her from her normal life, that felt so wrong.
Dayna accepted it pretty quick though, resigning herself to her fate. She has a strange relationship with her parents, and when they finally revealed what happened in Dayna’s childhood, I really was flabbergasted. How could they do that to her? Did they not see how terribly unhappy she was?
So when the cool girls finally reached out to her, seeming to accept her in their midst, I think Dayna should have been more leary. But she was just happy to be bonding. Witches are not meant to be solitary in this world.

The evil plot was evil indeed, but I did enjoy the ending of the book.
I did like Dayna, how she perseveres and studies, and does her best, even though her magic keeps backfiring. She wants to graduate, and get back to her normal life. But TJ makes her doubt her plans when she falls for him more and more.
And TJ is a strange mixture of magics and heritage. Sunbathing in the nude gets his powers revved up, and a betrayal of his trust is almost killing him from the pain of it. Not all is well at IAD though, and it takes quite a while for him to figure it all out.

The story itself was surprising, and good, but at times I found it a bit childish. Lots of sex, a nice sense of humor, but still not enough for me to make me really like this book and want to read more by this author. Still, this is a stand alone novel, and perhaps I will try one of her series someday. It really is not bad, but just not for me.

6 stars