Captivated

Very successful scriptwriter Nash Kirkland is in Monterey researching his next script. He is noted for his horror films. This time he's interested in witchcraft and hears the Margana Donovan is a witch.

Morgana Donovan comes from a family of hereditary witches. At first, she's amused when he comes to her to do some research on witches. Then, she becomes irritated when he doesn't believe that she is a witch and thinks she's running some sort of elaborate scam.

Despite their differences, Morgana falls in love with him. Kirk doesn't believe in love either. His very difficult childhood with an absent mother, an overly religious grandmother and many stops in foster care have made him a solitary person who doesn't trust in love.

When he finds show more himself falling in love with her, Kirk immediately jumps to the conclusion that Morgana has cast a love spell on him and instigates a terrible fight. Still, this is a romance and things do work out.

The story is filled with Roberts's trademark loving family and intense romance. show less

This is the first book in the series about the magical Donovan family. It was written in 1992, for Silhouette. Which has quite a bit to do with my feelings about it. I don't always succeed, but I always try to judge a book (or a movie or whatever) by how well it sets out to do what I think it was trying to do. In other words, I try not to criticize comedies because they're not tear-jerkers.

Captivated is a short (250 pages in the original, though the reissue presumably has fewer words per page because it's expanded to 298 pages), light paranormal romance written at a time when paranormals weren't as popular as they are now. It's ridiculous to compare it to one of her 500+ page romantic suspense novels written 10 years later.

*deep breath* show more I've really got to stop reading the Amazon reviews before writing my own.

Nash Kirkland is a screenwriter of horror movies. He wants to write about a witch in his next movie, so he figures he'll research self-proclaimed "witch" Morgana Donovan.

Except that Morgana's the last thing he expected--the real thing, and someone he finds himself falling in love with.

I'm a little annoyed with the back cover blurb (a good reason not to read blurbs) that, in both editions, talks about Nash wondering whether he was really in love or if she'd bewitched him. That doesn't happen until near the end of the book, which in my opinion, makes it a spoiler. What's worse, though, is that the real story is much more interesting than that.

As a writer of fantastic tales, Nash knows better than anyone that there's no such thing as magic. The real story is about Nash learning to believe in the unbelievable. And it's a lovely story.

Both Nash and Morgana were very appealing to me--they both accepted things as they were, and were logical, practical, non-judgmental people. Well, Nash didn't quite accept the magic, but that's because he knew there was no such thing. When he started to believe, he accepted it.

How someone reacts to the existence of the magical is one of the most interesting facets of paranormal romance or contemporary fantasy for me, but it doesn't always have the focus I'd like. This story does it very well. I could believe in Nash's practical skepticism, and I could believe in his gradual acceptance. It's how I'd like to think I'd react in his place. show less

This is a nostalgic reread for me as I read this trilogy in real time as a 15 year old in the fall of 1992; thankfully back then the books came out I think a month or so after each other which was great (rather than around a year for sequels nowadays). Back then I was fascinated with witchcraft and love, and this was a wonderful read for me; now I look back on it with fondness and as a comfort to immerse myself in.

I was not captivated, DNF at 10 percent.

I was hoping for a long satisfying romance read and this was not it. The book moved so slow and I could not take the main heroine, Morgana Donovan, seriously. She's a witch, living in Ireland, as one does apparently. When she started talking about meditation and looking into her scrying ball (I probably spelled it wrong, who cares) I was over it. I can take magical realism and science fiction, but this book just read as not very realistic fantasy. I also thought the hero's name was laughable bad (it's Nash Kirkland).

Book One of the Donovan Legacy is Captivated. Morgana Donovan is a beautiful woman with one of those trendy New Age shops in Monterey, California. She is content to be a single, thirty-something, business owner who lives with a dog and a cat and practices magic in her spare time. She is proud of her legacy as she comes from a long line of witches from Ireland. Nash Kirkland is a successful screenwriter, known for his horror films. He is on the prowl for information on his next topic of terror, witches. He comes to Morgana's shop in the hopes of interviewing a real live witch...only he doesn't believe in such a thing for real. What follows is Morgana's attempt to convince him her powers are real and Nash's struggle to not fall in love show more with what he doesn't believe. From there, it's a pretty cut and dried love story. show less

Nash Kirkland is a screenwriter and Morgana Donovan is providing him with background information. Nash doesn't believe in magic but Morgana can do magic. She has to try to either convince him of the truth or their relationship is doomed before it starts.

It reads somewhat like a episode of Charmed done by Nora Roberts.

I tried to get into this paranormal story but there was too much make believe and the action moved slow with lots of ruminating. Eventually I started skimming all but dialog but I did finish. Screen-writer Nash seeks out Morgana, a supposed witch, to research a new movie.