November 8th, 2009 — Guest Blogger, Magic Users, V-Z
by Linda Wisdom, guest blogger
I love the idea of small towns because there’s so much you can do with them. A small mountain town for witchy Stasi Romanov and fellow witch Blair Fitzpatrick seemed right since they had lived there on and off for about 150 years by reinventing themselves over the decades.
You can also have quirky characters although there’s nothing more quirky than Horace, Stasi’s gargoyle, who hangs out in her lingerie boutique, because he enjoys hanging out in the dressing rooms with the customers who have no idea he’s real. It sure makes me think twice of trying on clothes at the store! And Stasi’s dog, Bogie, who floats instead of walks and disappears at will.
But a small town means everyone knows what’s going on and now that Stasi and Blair have outed themselves as witches, the town’s okay with that. At least, they were until Stasi’s accused of using a hexed sachet and being sued in Wizards Court and the human woman suing her is making sure everyone knows what an evil person Stasi is.
Even wizard lawyer Trev Barnes working for the plaintiff soon sees that all is not what it should be, not to mention he’s attracted to the sweet-natured witch.
But there’s still something going on in the town that can’t be explained. A lake that’s been harmed by magick. People Stasi considered as close friends now suddenly afraid of her and they’re using the word “witch” as if she’s suddenly turned evil.
All it takes is a snowstorm closing the town off to the outside world and a massive power outage to bring that fear to a high level and it’s up to Stasi, Trev and her friends to find out just what’s going on there and hopefully do it before it’s too late.
I always saw Stasi as the witch with soul of romance and her need to see women empowered by their sensuality. For her to be treated this way is hurtful and she sees the need to fight back.
When I came up with the idea for Wicked By Any Other Name I knew there would be darkness there. A town that couldn’t call out for help and with a fear that slipped through it like a disease and what they saw as an obvious villain and why not a witch? Shades of Olde Salem and I brought that up too because there was no reason why a 700+ year young witch couldn’t have lived there during that dark time.
And romance with a yummy wizard, humor with a pervert of a gargoyle along with some old friends such as Jazz, Nick and Irma. Yes, Fluff and Puff too. And some new characters that I hope will make you smile.
I love writing my witches. They make me smile. They make me laugh and yes, sometimes I have a sniffle or two. I hope you see them the same way and also enjoy the epilogue in Wicked by Any Other Name, which stars Fluff and Puff going up against Cupid.
Linda
Originally posted 2009-03-11 05:19:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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November 5th, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, 4 Stars, Entrepreneur, Guest Reviews, Lawyer, Magic Users, Paranormal, United States of America, V-Z
By: Mailani, guest reviewer
Banned to the mortal world for an undistinguished amount of time, Staci Romanov and her good intentioned trouble making friends weave through the centuries masking themselves as ordinary muggles. Early on in the gold rush, Staci and her best friend Blair stumble upon the town located near the power radiating Moonstone Lake. Staci owns a lingerie shop in the small present day town, to which she and Blair have vowed to protect; both friends see the town as home and the townspeople as family.
Staci places a charm on a satchel she sells to Carrie Anderson (a townsperson) to allow her husband to see what kind of person Carrie truly is. Right from the beginning of the novel you find out that Carrie has filed suit on Staci in Wizard's Court- a very aggressive legal medium. Trev Barnes, a wizard and Carrie's cut throat counsel, soon meets Miss Romanov in her small town, under the humorous insistence of his aged secretary.
With the Cupid's hearts dancing above both Trev and Staci's heads, this book makes for a very lighthearted mystery romance novel. Their meeting was nothing less than love at first sight. Even with the upcoming lunar eclipse and Mercury in Retrograde there is something still forbidding in the air that has the town's friendly ghosts trembling with shock and fear. Staci and Blair both put it upon themselves to find out what's causing the upset, later assisted by a motley crew of supernatural friends. The search leads them to Moonstone Lake, originally used as a sanctuary for the witches, now guarded by power-sucking orbs and a dangerous ward by an unknown assailant. The witches in the town are quickly placed under suspicion for causing the upset. Trev, whom is unable to remove the bitter Carrie from his case load- due to wizard's law- doesn't seem to mind crossing the social boundaries he has with Staci (as wizard's law isn't specific with interaction of opposed counsels).
I found the story funny and very entertaining. Some of the sex scenes were short and lacked description that I craved. The compilations sounded like an entrance and orgasm before I even knew what was going on. I enjoyed the food play in the book- always a treat or tea in a character's hand, which made the story seem more realistic to me. It also slowed the plot to allow the characters to develop. I felt like there were too many characters and time spent on too many side plots instead of being solely focused on the main plot. I found the mystery of Moonstone Lake’s mystic upset to be a great driver to push the character's forward, but would have enjoyed more interaction between the two protagonists. In short, Wicked by Any Other Name is well written with great flow.
Rating: 3.5 – 4 Stars
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Originally posted 2009-03-08 14:19:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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