Witch Heart

Well, Anya Bast continues building her intricate universe with "Witch Heart", book three in her 'Elemental Witches' series. Bast has made a very successful crossover from smaller erotica publishers to wicked hot mainstream publishing. Her stories still carry the added oomph that's characteristic of her writing background. This series is building to what should be a battle of epic proportions if she keeps it up! With each book, as soon as I begin I'm pulled back into her worlds of daemons and witches and can't stop reading until I run out of pages!

If you've been following this series (and I DON'T suggest you try to pick it up here cause you'll miss a lot), then you already met Claire, the heroine witch of this book, in book two "Witch show more Blood". Although a human witch, when Claire was six her mother dragged into the daemon world in a bid for power. For twenty-three years Claire has been the 'pet' and experiment of the most powerful of one of the daemon races. When that race is attacked by another, her 'owner' inserts a powerful magical weapon into Claire and then pushes her through a gate to Earth...chased by two warrior daemons! Because of her upbringing, Claire is extremely naive regarding the customs and pleasures of Earth and manages to find herself in trouble pretty quickly.

Adam is a fire witch and a healer who lost his human wife to violence and has never gotten over the guilt of her loss. He's a love-'em-and-leave-'em type who, in a way, uses meaningless sex to overcome his internal pain while on the outside, he's a happy-go-lucky a$$-kicker for the Coven. When he is on the team sent to 'rescue' Claire, he's immediately drawn to her and the more time he spends with her the stronger the pull. Between running from daemons and exposing Claire to all (and I do mean ALL) she's missed so far in her life, he's falling hard and fast, though angrily, in love with her. But the daemons chasing Claire have no intention of leaving Earth without the weapon she carries, and they're perfectly happy...no, ecstatic, to kill her in order to get it.

Another tense run of magic, love, battle, and sex. Bast's pacing keeps you turning the pages eager to find out what happens next. The HEA is good without being at all sappy and the sexual tension and sex scenes are smokin'! My only beef was with Adam's initial waffling...I'd have either kicked him in the goods or thrown him down to suffer my attentions, but Claire's reactions were dead on for someone with her level of relationship experience. Now I'm chewing my nails and waiting for "Witch Fury" which should hit the shelves in June 2009. show less

The world of the demons has been the only home the heroine has ever known. Favored by the leader of a demonic faction, she has a complex relationship with the man who is truly her master and owner. A man who mind raped her for years, changing her DNA and evolving her powers into something beyond recognition. But in a strange way he was like a father to her, a protector and a provider. Now the other faction has risen up and in a bid to save a immense power within him, the demon has infused that weapon within her and pushed her through the gateway and back onto her native Earth. Lost and confused in a strange land- homesick for the life she knew and hunted by the enemy who want to kill her and steal the power within her, the heroine show more fights daily for her life. She's a first met with scorn from the humans who think her a vagrant. She's imprisoned in a psych hospital after talking about demons chasing her. But finally, the elemental witches she's been seeking find her and break her out. The hero is one of the witches charged with protecting her. A widower who's mask of happiness and playboy personality hides his true grief and guilt from the world, the hero is frightened to be feeling what he starts to feel for the petite woman raised by demons. He desires her yes. Fire and air are very compatible and always seem drawn to one another. But he knows it goes far deeper than that. She's not just a one time lay. He desires her like he desired his dead wife and that makes his uneasy and skittish around her. Trapped together as they run desperately from safe house to safe house trying to keep one step ahead of the demons chasing her, the hero and heroine neither the less feel compelled to one another and soon she becomes very important to him. But the stress of the chase is weighing heavily on her soul. She was not meant to carry such a powerful weapon despite all the improvements her demon master made to her genetic makeup but she can't remove it without killing herself in the process. And she can't use her magic without serious psychical consequences. And it seems that no matter how hard or far they run, the demons are always one step behind and she's guilt ridden over the deaths they leave in their wake. If only her demon master was alive, he could remove the owner from within her and she could live a normal life with the man she loves. But the faction leader is presumed dead and the heroine doesn't know how much longer she can hold out. I enjoyed this book. It was fast paced, action packed yet still dedicated a healthy portion to delving into both of the characters pasts and inner workings. The hero-depicted as a fun loving, ladies man in the previous books is actually a grieving widow who hides a mountain of sadness behind that smile. The heroine is tormented by how many people are hurt or killed because of her-because of what the demons want is inside of her. And she's lost in a new world alternating between grief over the death of her foster father and at the same time knowing she was slave, a possession and she's finally free now. It wasn't perfect though. I found the plot to be repetitive by the end with the characters finding a safe place for the night, screwing like bunnies and then fighting for their lives when the demons find them again. But overall it was an exciting read with compelling characters and well developed storyline. show less

Slightly different plot, a bit more action. Claire kicked-ass but annoyed me a touch. These books could easily be read as stand alone novels, you don't have to have read the earlier books.

The third book continues the trend of reducing the hot and heavy sex found in this series in favor of a actual story line.
It's a bit bare of embellishment, being the story of how they ran to keep Claire safe from Tavan and Kai, but there is a good story going and I read the book in a couple of day.
This book continues to build on the Elemental Witches Universe as we learn a bit more about them, their history, what kinds of abilities they can have - all that kind of stuff woven into the main story line.

This is my second favorite from this series. Claire kicked ass. I

Claire spent most her life enslaved to the daemon's. After being thrust back to Earth she is on the run from the evil daemon's with Adam trying to keep her safe. Adam is all messed in the head still morning his long dead wife. His attraction to Claire making feel as he is betraying his wife's memory. That part was annoying.

Not very memorable paranormal romance.